100-627: The Maunsell Forts are towers built in the Thames and Mersey estuaries during the Second World War to help defend the United Kingdom . They were operated as army and navy forts, and named for their designer, Guy Maunsell . The forts were decommissioned during the late 1950s and later used for other activities including pirate radio broadcasting. One of the forts is managed by the unrecognised Principality of Sealand ; boats visit
200-531: A sandbar located approximately 11 kilometres (6 nmi) from the coast of Suffolk and 13 kilometres (7 nmi) from the coast of Essex . Fort Roughs or the "Rough Towers" was "the first of originally four naval forts designed by G. Maunsell to protect the Thames Estuary". The artificial sea fort was constructed in dry dock at Red Lion Wharf, Gravesend , and was commissioned "H.M. Fort Roughs" on 8 February 1942. After an eventful journey its grounding
300-431: A connection to London with intermediate stops at other major towns, such as Ipswich, Colchester , Witham , Chelmsford and Brentwood . A weekday service departs daily at 07:20 and returns at 18:00, while the weekend service departs at 07:55 and returns at 18:00. Felixstowe is administered by Suffolk County Council , East Suffolk Council and Felixstowe Town Council. The local parish council, Felixstowe Town Council,
400-511: A constitution, flag, and national anthem, among other things, for the Principality of Sealand (founded on 2 September 1967). Sunk Head fort was situated approximately 18 kilometres (10 nmi) from the coast off Essex and was grounded on 1 June 1942. The fort was decommissioned on 14 June 1945 though maintained until 1956 when it was abandoned. Unlike some of the other forts, Sunk Head was clearly well outside territorial waters, and when
500-422: A gun deck, on which an upper deck and a central tower unit were constructed. QF 3.7 inch anti-aircraft guns were positioned at each end of this main deck, with a further two Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft guns and the central tower radar installations atop a central living area that contained a galley, medical, and officers quarters. The design of these concrete structures is equal to a military grade bunker, due to
600-525: A saint and the first bishop of the East Angles in the seventh century, although this is unlikely as the name Felixstowe is not recorded for almost 900 years. An alternative etymology is from the Anglo-Saxon or Old English name "Filicia" and "stōw", meaning a place of location. Literally Filicia's place. The earliest recorded names "Filchestou" from 1254, and "Filchestowe" in 1291 support this idea. It
700-611: A success and subsequently further buoys and beacons were lit by Trinity House using the same system, in the Estuary and beyond. Today the Port of London Authority's Thames Navigation Service (established in 1959) is responsible for buoyage, beaconage and bridge lights on the Tideway. Trinity House remains responsible for aids to navigation in the wider estuary (and beyond). Download coordinates as: This table shows, from west to east,
800-473: A test flight. It was preparing for an 8,000-mile flight to Cape Town, South Africa. The wireless operator, Lt. MacLeod, was killed, and the six passengers were rescued. The wreckage was towed ashore. Wallis Simpson stayed in Felixstowe in 1936 in order to claim residence for her divorce from Ernest Simpson so that she could marry Edward VIII . The divorce and marriage sparked the abdication crisis in
900-530: A train along the coast, two Sea Forts can be seen in the water. The Red Sands Fort and Radio City feature in the Glam Rock band, Slade 's movie, Slade in Flame . The newly formed band, Flame, are interviewed by the pirate radio station, just as an attack is begun on the forts. The Shivering Sands Forts, filmed from a North Sea ferry, appeared in the 1984 music video for the song " A Sort of Homecoming ", by
1000-404: A twice-weekly visit by a boatman for cleaning and maintenance). Broadness was lit by Pintsch gas , and Stoneness by a Lindberg light (which burned petroleum naphtha ). At the same time Trinity House began experimenting with the application of lamps to buoys, using Pintsch's oil-gas system, beginning with three in the Thames Estuary (East Oaze, Ovens and Sheerness Middle); the experiment was deemed
1100-602: A whole provided a linchpin in England's defence, as proved in 1667 when Dutch soldiers landed near the Fludyers area and tried (unsuccessfully) in the Battle of Landguard Fort to capture Landguard Fort due to strategic location. The town only became related to a major port in 1886 when the port opened to trade, following the initial construction of the dock basin in 1882. In 1810 or 1811 seven Martello Towers were built along
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#17327722735191200-553: Is a port town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk , England. The estimated population in 2017 was 24,521. The Port of Felixstowe is the largest container port in the United Kingdom. Felixstowe is approximately 72 miles (116 km) northeast of London. There are competing theories as to how the name of Felixstowe arose. One is that the town is named after Felix of Burgundy ,
1300-596: Is a scheduled ancient monument and visitor attraction with a nearby nature reserve . At the opposite end of the town is Felixstowe Ferry Golf Club , which is amongst the oldest in the UK, having been established in 1881. The Rt. Hon. Arthur Balfour , Captain of the Golf Club in 1889, became captain of the R&;A in 1894 and British Prime Minister from 1902 to 1905. Felixstowe has a recently refurbished sandy beach south from
1400-411: Is a walkway and is the start of the 50-mile Suffolk Coast Path . At low tide from Jacob's Ladder, it is possible to glimpse the seaweed-covered remains of a Roman fort , which could possibly be the place of Dommoc , in the water about 50 yards from the coast, where it suggested St Felix first landed in England. Perhaps the most striking building on the front is Harvest House. Originally built as
1500-463: Is an archetypal, well-developed economy urban, upper river estuary with its sedimentary deposition restricted through manmade embankments and occasional dredging of parts. It is mainly a freshwater river about as far east as Battersea , insofar as the average salinity is very low and the fish fauna consists predominantly of freshwater species such as roach , dace , carp , perch , and pike . It becomes brackish between Battersea and Gravesend , and
1600-678: Is based in Felixstowe Town Hall , on the seafront at Undercliff Road West. Felixstowe lies within the Suffolk Coastal parliamentary constituency; Jenny Riddell-Carpenter of the Labour Party was elected as the Member of Parliament in the 2024 General Election . In 1894 an urban district called "Felixstowe and Walton" was formed which contained the parishes of "Felixstowe" and "Walton", in 1889 it became part of
1700-449: Is one of the largest of 170 such inlets on the coast of Great Britain . It constitutes a major shipping route , with thousands of movements each year, including: large oil tankers , container ships , bulk carriers (of loose materials/liquids), and roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) ferries. It is the accessway for the Port of London (including London Gateway, associated Tilbury and Purfleet) and
1800-601: Is owned by Hutchison Port Holdings Ltd with additional land on the peninsula owned by Trinity College, Cambridge . The port has its own Police Authority , which also currently has jurisdiction over the area local to the port, with permission from Suffolk Constabulary 's Chief Constable. Alongside the Port Police, they also have their own joint ambulance and fire service; one of the port ambulances, call sign Alpha 1 , can also come off port to attend 999 emergencies in Felixstowe. The Harwich Harbour Ferry operates between
1900-560: Is partially functional to this day as an amusement arcade . Indeed, during the late Victorian period (after circa 1880) it became a fashionable resort, a trend initiated by the opening of Felixstowe Town railway station , the pier and a visit by the German imperial family in 1891. It was in this buoyant period that Felixstowe was the first British town to adopt beach huts as stationary permanent structures (rather than wheeled bathing machines) and there are photographic records of beach huts at
2000-456: Is possible that the later reworking of Filicia/Filche was made with the intention of referencing Felix of Burgundy. The old Felixstowe hamlet was centred on a pub and church, having stood on the site since long before the Norman conquest of England . The early history of Felixstowe, including its Roman , Anglo-Saxon , Norman and medieval defences, is told under the name of Walton , because
2100-499: Is similar in some respects to early "fixed" offshore oil platforms . It consisted of a rectangular 168-by-88-foot (51 by 27 m) reinforced concrete pontoon base with a support superstructure of two 60-foot (18 m) tall, 24-foot (7.3 m) diameter hollow reinforced concrete towers, walls roughly 3.5 inches (9 cm) thick; overall weight is estimated to have been approximately 4,500 tons. The twin concrete supporting towers were divided into seven floors, four for crew quarters;
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#17327722735192200-605: The Maplin Sands (1841) and at Gunfleet (1856). Meanwhile, one of the outlying sandbanks of the Estuary was marked by a lightvessel at Kentish Knock (in 1840); and in due course the southern approach was marked by lightvessels at the Tongue (1847) and Girdler (1848) sands, with another being added (between these two) in the Princes Channel (1856). In 1851 two more screw-pile lighthouses were built further upriver, on
2300-645: The Marine, &c., Broadcasting (Offences) Act 1967 came into effect in August 1967 the Government was anxious to ensure that it would not be taken over again by an offshore broadcaster. On 18 August 1967 Sunk Head was boarded by a contingent of the 24th Field Squadron of Royal Engineers from Maidstone from the tug Collie, commanded by Major David Ives. The Fort was weakened by acetylene cutting torches and 3,200 pounds of explosives were set. On 21 August 1967 Sunk Head
2400-479: The Medway Ports of Sheerness , Chatham and Thamesport . The traditional Thames sailing barge worked in this area, designed to be suitable for the shallow waters in the smaller ports. A 2000s-decade-built wind farm is 8.5 km north of Herne Bay, Kent , on a shoal south-west of Kentish Knock . It is 30 wind turbines generating typically 82.4MW of electricity. The much larger 630 MW London Array
2500-438: The "spa area" in Felixstowe dating back to 1895. It is therefore known as the home to British beach huts. Some of the beach huts in the spa area (a conservation area) date back to c.1900, so are probably the original beach huts. On the cliffs above this area sits Harvest House, which was built as The Felix Hotel in 1903, and was known as "the millionaire's hotel", because of the gentry and royal visitors it attracted. The Floral Hall
2600-688: The 1880s, the Humber Forts on Bull & Haile Sands, completed in late 1919, and the Nab Tower , intended as part of a World War I anti-submarine defense but only set in place in 1920. The Maunsell naval forts were built in the Thames estuary and operated by the Royal Navy , to deter and report German air raids following the Thames as a landmark , and prevent attempts to lay mines by aircraft in this important shipping channel. There were four naval forts: This artificial naval installation
2700-800: The 2023 science fiction film Last Sentinel is based on a structure modelled after a single tower of the Maunsell army forts. The Red Sands Forts are seen in Episode 1 of Whitstable Pearl , mentioned as a drop-off and pick-up point for illicit drugs, as part of the story. Thames Estuary The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea , in the south-east of Great Britain . An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salinity). For this reason
2800-787: The East and West Barrows, the Nob, the Knock, Kentish Knock , the John, the Sunk, the Girdler, and Long Sand/the Long Sands. Shallow-bottomed barges and coasters would navigate the swatchways at flood tide, and would cross the sand banks at spitways, points where the water was least shallow, and just deep enough at that point of the tide. If they missed the moment they would heave to (lay anchor) and wait for
2900-702: The Essex marshes. His The Mirror of the Sea (1906) contains a memorable description of the area as seen from the Thames. He refers to this area in the first pages of his novel Heart of Darkness , describing it as both the launching place of England's great ships of exploration and colonization and, in ancient times, the site of colonization of the British Isles by the Roman Empire. The form of speech of many of
3000-498: The Felix Hotel, it then became Fisons ' headquarters. It has now been converted to apartments for residents of retirement age, many with fabulous views over Felixstowe. This was built on the sea front, had 19 beds and was open from about 1902 until the 1970s. It was run by The London Hospital to provide a space where patients could recuperate by the sea. Nurses were also sometimes sent there from The London. After its closure
3100-638: The Felixstowe Museum. There are a number of hotels and guesthouses, self-catering properties and camping/caravanning sites catering for visitors. Felixstowe Rugby Union Football Club was founded in 1930 and plays in the Eastern Counties Leagues. Felixstowe Hockey Club has three men's teams and three ladies' team. The men's first team play in Eastern Division 2 North East. The club was voted England Hockey's "club of
Maunsell Forts - Misplaced Pages Continue
3200-455: The Fort shook violently and sections began falling into the sea. The caretaker crew sent a distress call and were rescued by HMS Uplifter . Divers later established that the foundations were solid, but in a later storm the fort took on a 15 degree list. During the mid-1960s under-scouring had further distorted the fort: large holes had appeared in east leg, sea water had flooded the lower levels and
3300-433: The Government passing legislation against the offshore stations in 1967. During the illicit radio era the Port of London Authority frequently complained that its monitoring radio link was being disrupted by the nearby Radio City transmitter. Red Sands was likewise occupied by Radio Invicta, which was renamed KING Radio and then Radio 390 , after its wavelength of approximately 390 metres. The station's managing director
3400-583: The Humber, Portsmouth & Rosyth, Belfast & Londonderry came to nothing. During World War II, the Thames estuary forts shot down 22 aircraft and about 30 flying bombs ; they were decommissioned by the Ministry of Defence during the late 1950s. Nore fort was the only one built in British territorial waters at the time it was established. Other forts were in international waters until the three-mile limit
3500-479: The Irish popular music band U2 . The 2002 video game Reign of Fire features the forts during the dragon campaign, where remnants of British Armed Forces make a last stand during a dragon apocalypse. The 2015 video game Stranded Deep includes abandoned Sea Forts that have the appearance of Maunsell Army Forts. These are difficult-to-find Easter Eggs built into the game for players to explore. The setting of
3600-512: The Netherlands, for example). Instead, coastal navigators and pilots relied on the use of transits (the alignment of prominent structures or natural features on land) for guidance. In 1566 Trinity House of Deptford (which oversaw pilotage on the Thames) was empowered to 'make, erect and set up [...] beacons, marks and signs for the sea' (albeit at its own expense). Not long afterwards,
3700-730: The Princes-Queens Channel and the South Channel to the south, to a lesser extent the Kings Channel and the Swin to the north. The Swin was used by barges and leisure craft from the Essex rivers, and coasters and colliers from the north east. These channels were made up of natural troughs; Yantlet Channel (Sea Reach), Oaze Deep, Knock John Channel, Black Deep/ Black Deep Channel which have been much-marked. These are separated by slow-moving sandbanks with names such as
3800-702: The Red Sands fort on 28-day Restricted Service Licences . The fort was subsequently declared unsafe, and Red Sands Radio has moved its operations ashore to Whitstable . Forts had been built in river mouths and similar locations to defend against ships, such as the Grain Tower Battery at the mouth of the Medway dating from 1855, Plymouth Breakwater Fort , completed 1865, the four Spithead Forts: Horse Sand Fort , No Mans Land and St Helens Forts which were built 1865–1880 and Spitbank Fort , built during
3900-592: The Royal Navy. In 1953, at least 48 people died in the town during the North Sea flood . In 1993 'Fast Eddie Maher', a security van driver, stole £1.2m cash from outside Lloyds bank. He went on the run and was eventually arrested in 2012. Landguard Fort, originally known as Langer Fort, is on the site of the last opposed invasion of England in 1667, and the first land battle of the Duke of York and of Albany 's (later James II & VII ) Marines. The current fort
4000-767: The View Point (near Landguard Fort) in Felixstowe and Ha'penny Pier, Harwich and Shotley Point throughout the summer. The Bawdsey Ferry crosses the River Deben from Felixstowe Ferry . Felixstowe railway station is the eastern terminus of the passenger service to Ipswich , via the Felixstowe Branch Line ; the line itself branches before the station, the other line goes on to the Port of Felixstowe . Local bus services are operated by First Eastern Counties , with routes to Ipswich and Woodbridge . The National Express coach service 481 provides
4100-447: The administrative county of East Suffolk . In 1914 Walton parish was merged with Felixstowe and the urban district was renamed to just "Felixstowe". On 1 April 1974 the district was abolished and became part of Suffolk Coastal in the non-metropolitan county of Suffolk. A successor parish was formed covering the same area as the former district and its parish. In 2019 Felixstowe became part of East Suffolk district. Landguard Fort
Maunsell Forts - Misplaced Pages Continue
4200-434: The area of the modern day docks at a small pier popular with pleasure boats, and with a paddle steamer link to London. A dock next to the pier was approved in 1879. Felixstowe is Britain's largest container port. The main navigation channel is dredged to 47 + 1 ⁄ 2 feet (14.5 m) below chart datum and a depth of up to 49 feet (15 m) alongside the quay. Felixstowe boasts deep-water able to accommodate
4300-663: The coastline. Where higher land reaches the coast, there are some larger settlements, such as Clacton-on-Sea to the north in Essex, Herne Bay, Kent , and the Southend-on-Sea area within the narrower part of the estuary. The Thames Estuary is the focal part of the 21st-century toponym, the " Thames Gateway ", designated as one of the principal development areas in Southern England. The Thames Estuary 2050 Growth Commission report published in June 2018 identified
4400-515: The control centre and accommodation each carried a QF 3.7-inch gun , a tower to the rear of the control centre mounted Bofors 40 mm guns , while the seventh tower, set to one side of the gun towers and further out, was the searchlight tower. Three forts were placed in Liverpool Bay : and three in the Thames estuary : The Mersey forts were constructed at Bromborough Dock and the Thames forts at Gravesend. Proposals to construct forts off
4500-518: The decay of the steeple of Margate Church (an important landmark for negotiating 'the Narrows', a complex route between sandbanks used by vessels sailing to or from London along the North Kent coast) led to Trinity House marking the Narrows with buoys in the late 16th century. In his coastal survey of 1682-93, Greenvile Collins records five buoys around the Narrows, just north of Reculver , on
4600-546: The diversity of freshwater fish is smaller, primarily roach and dace. Euryhaline species then dominate, such as flounder , European seabass , mullet , and smelt . Further east salinity increases and conditions become fully marine and the fish fauna resemble that of the adjacent North Sea , a spectrum of euryhaline and stenohaline types. An alike pattern of zones applies to the aquatic plants and invertebrates. Joseph Conrad lived in Stanford-le-Hope close to
4700-425: The early 21st century, in response to proposals to demolish the fort, a group named Project Redsands was formed to try to preserve it. It was the only fort that could be visited safely from a platform in between the legs of one of the towers. The fort was inspected by the structural engineering company Structural Repairs in 2021. They found that 6 of the towers had severe structural defects, with elements already lost to
4800-574: The economic potential of the region. In 2020 the Thames Estuary Growth Board was appointed, led by government-appointed Envoy Kate Willard OBE, to unlock the potential of the UK's number one green growth opportunity. Entrepreneurs and investors have looked at the greater estuary as a possible place for a new airport , and have expanded Southend Airport in the 2010s, which has a rail link to Liverpool Street station , London among others. The Thames flowing through London
4900-443: The ends of the stilts (under water), that are locked into the ground. Many species of fish live near the forts because the forts create cover. They have provided landmark references for shipping. They were laid down in dry dock and assembled as complete units. They were then fitted out—the crews going aboard at the same time for familiarization—before being towed out and sunk onto their sand bank positions in 1942. The naval fort design
5000-560: The established local accents. The term London Accent is generally avoided, as it can have many meanings. Forms of "Estuary English", as a hybrid between Received pronunciation and various London accents, can be heard in all of the New Towns, all of the coastal resorts, and in the larger cities and towns along the Thames Estuary. For commercial shipping rounding the Nore sandbank and thus accessing Greater London, main deep-water routes were
5100-485: The fort in 1967, but Roy Bates defended the fort with guns and petrol bombs and continued to occupy it. The British Royal Marines were alerted and the British authorities ordered Roy Bates to surrender. He and his son were arrested and charged, but the court dismissed the case as it did not have jurisdiction over international affairs: Roughs Tower lay beyond the territorial waters of Britain. Bates took this as de facto recognition of his country and seven years later issued
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#17327722735195200-535: The fort were never credible. In order to prevent further illicit broadcasting, a team of Royal Engineers laid 2,200 lbs of explosive charges on Sunk Head, commencing on 18 August 1967. At 4:18 PM on 21 August the charges were detonated, destroying the entire superstructure and most of the concrete legs above the waterline. Paddy Roy Bates occupied the Knock John Fort in 1965 and established Radio Essex , later renamed BBMS—Britain's Better Music Station, but
5300-556: The harbour entrance, and a radio and radar station. Landguard Fort is in the care of English Heritage , and is managed by the Landguard Fort Trust to make it accessible to the public. A museum telling the story of Felixstowe, with a reference library, historic maps, photo archive and fourteen rooms of artefacts from Roman finds, the Martello towers , military social and domestic history through two world wars and into
5400-595: The home became the Herman de Sterne Centre. Following a severe fire it was demolished in 2006. Two matrons who had trained at The London Hospital, under Eva Luckes were: Felixstowe draws tourist visitors and has traditional seaside offerings such as Felixstowe Pier and The Seafront Gardens. There is also the Forum Amusement Centre, Ocean Boulevard and Manning's Amusements. Visitors can also see Landguard Fort, Landguard Nature Reserve, Felixstowe Ferry and
5500-594: The limits of the Thames Estuary have been defined differently at different times and for different purposes. This limit of the estuary has been defined in two main ways: The transition between the Thames Estuary and the North Sea has been located at various notional boundaries, including: The estuary just east of the Tideway has a tidal range of 4 metres. Winds excluded, it moves at 2.6 knots (4.8 km/h; 3.0 mph) in bi-monthly spring tides. The estuary
5600-424: The local council, now managed by a contractor. Felixstowe has a Royal Air Force Air Cadet Squadron, 356 (Felixstowe) Squadron ATC. Cobbolds Point takes its name from Felix Cobbold , who built Felixstowe Lodge, now known as Cranmer House, and associated sea wall at the bottom of Maybush Lane in 1885. It is a Grade II- listed mock Elizabethan mansion by Thomas Cotman . Its listing describes it as "a fine house of
5700-532: The name Felixstowe was given retrospectively, during the 13th century, to a place which had expanded to a form beyond the boundaries of Walton alone. In the Domesday Book , for instance, only Walton is shown, and not Felixstowe, which at the time held little more than a few houses scattered over the cliff tops. Walton was a settlement on the River Orwell and in 1844 had a population of 907 compared to
5800-626: The navigation lights of the River Thames between London Bridge and Yantlet was transferred by Act of Parliament from the Thames Conservancy to the Corporation of Trinity House ; responsibility for buoyage was transferred likewise in 1878. In 1885 the beacons at Broadness and Stoneness were replaced with iron-frame experimental lighthouses, each lit by a novel system which would allow the light to function unattended (except for
5900-423: The new millennium is managed by volunteers from the Felixstowe History and Museum Society. It is located in the old submarine mining establishment building at the Landguard Peninsula, between the Fort and Port. The pier was opened in 1906, rebuilt in late 2017, and re-opened in 2018. During the Second World War the majority of the pier, at the time one of the longest in the country and complete with its own train,
6000-417: The next tide. Recreational craft are expected use channels most suited to the size of their vessel. Their main guide says to use when navigating to or from: To cross the south-east quarter of the estuary large vessels use Fisherman's Gat , and small vessels to were expected to use Foulger's Gat . Provision of buoys and beacons for the purpose of navigation came relatively late to England (compared to
6100-710: The northern foreshore of Sea Reach: at Mucking and on the Chapman sands (just off Canvey Island ). Prior to 1684 beacons were set up on the mudflats north of the Swin channel, to help vessels approaching the Thames from the north to navigate the sands. Pan-sand Beacon was set up by Trinity House in 1774 to mark a dangerous sandbank on the southern approach. Similar daymarks were set up on other nearby sandbanks in later years, including on Margate Hook (1843), Middle Ground (1844) and Shingles (1846). Trinity House also maintained beacons further upriver, including at Broadness (established in 1821), Stoneness (1839), Erith (1830) and Tripcock (1832). In 1864 responsibility for maintaining
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#17327722735196200-480: The original bungalow that forms the lower two floors of Cotman Lodge care home. He was the nephew of John Sell Cotman , the famous Norwich water-colour artist. The Art Deco style of architecture has been used for some buildings. The Cavendish Hotel in Sea Road, demolished in 1988, was in this style. There is another example in Undercliff Road West, which has been home to the Felixstowe Tourist Information Centre. From Brackenberry Fort to Felixstowe Ferry there
6300-434: The people of the area, principally the accents of those from Kent and Essex, is often known as Estuary English . The term is a term for a milder variety of the "London Accent". The spread of Estuary English extends many hundreds of miles outside London, and all of the neighbouring home counties around London have residents who moved from London and brought their version of London accents with them, leading to interference with
6400-449: The perimeter of the main building. The sole remaining railway station Felixstowe , was opened in 1898. The well-preserved station building now houses a supermarket and shops. In its prime the railway station saw more than twenty services a day and is now served by an hourly service to Ipswich . The station now has only one platform, which has been created from the far end of one of the original platforms. Felixstowe Beach railway station
6500-434: The period reflecting the wealth of this important Suffolk family of brewers". However Felix was involved in the banking and insurance interests of the family rather than its brewing assets. Cotman, the architect, designed many of the most famous buildings in Felixstowe including the Railway Station, Harvest House (Felix Hotel), the Orwell and Bath Hotels, Barclays and Lloyds Banks plus many others. He also designed and lived in
6600-438: The pier, and a stoney beach north of the pier. A Victorian promenade runs along part of the beach, from the nature reserve in the southwest to Cobbolds Point (Maybush Lane in east), with traditional beach huts along most of that length. An amusement arcade with snooker halls and food outlets occupies the southern end. The pier, incorporating a cafe and amusement arcade, stands before a leisure centre, with swimming pool, owned by
6700-473: The platform had become detached with huge gaps between the deck. Tongue Sands Fort finally collapsed into the under-scouring hole during storms on 21/22 February 1996, leaving only a single 18 foot stump of the south leg remaining visible above sea level. Knock John fort is situated approximately 16.1 kilometres (9 nmi) from the coast off Essex and was grounded on 1 August 1942. It was decommissioned on 14 June 1945 and evacuated on 25 June 1945. The platform
6800-449: The pressure off the defences and main watercourses. There are many smaller estuaries in Essex, including the rivers Colne , Blackwater and Crouch . Small coastal villages depend on an economy of fishing, boat-building, and yachting. The Isle of Sheppey , the Isle of Grain , Canvey Island , Two Tree Island , Havengore Island , New England Island , Rushley Island , Potton Island , Foulness Island and Mersea Island are part of
6900-522: The principal navigation lights, buoys and other marks to the north (port) and south (starboard) of the main deep-water channels of the River Thames from Gallions Reach to the Sunk Light Float. The Thames is in IALA region A so port buoys are red and starboard buoys are green. Racon T Racon T Notes wiki 51°30′N 0°35′E / 51.500°N 0.583°E / 51.500; 0.583 Felixstowe Felixstowe ( / ˈ f iː l ɪ k s t oʊ / FEE -lic-stoh )
7000-427: The relatively small Felixstowe Parish holding only 502 people. Walton had always preceded Felixstowe as a settlement as seen by the presence of Walton Castle , built by the Romans in the 3rd century, but today Walton is generally considered part of Felixstowe due to modern expansion. Felixstowe is situated at the tip of the Colneis peninsula, and was in the ancient Colneis Hundred of Suffolk. The Felixstowe area as
7100-454: The remainder provided dining, operational, and storage areas for several generators, and for fresh water tanks and antiaircraft munitions. There was a steel framework at one end supporting a landing jetty and crane which was used to hoist supplies aboard; the wooden landing stage itself became known as a " dolphin ". The towers were joined above the eventual waterline by a steel platform deck upon which other structures could be added; this became
7200-402: The remaining forts occasionally, and a consortium named Project Redsands is planning to conserve the fort situated at Red Sands. The aesthetic attraction of the Maunsell forts has been considered to be associated with the aesthetics of decay, transience and nostalgia. During the summers of 2007 and 2008 Red Sands Radio, a station commemorating the pirate radio stations of the 1960s, operated from
7300-572: The same year. Most of the south-western area of Felixstowe Urban District, between the Dock, Landguard Point, and Manor Road, was occupied by the Navy, RAF and Army. with Landguard Fort and several ruined gun emplacements and bunkers a reminder of the 1939–1945 era. It was the first base from which Second World War German E-boats and coastal convoys were systematically attacked—by flotilla led by Lt-Commanders Howes, Dickens, Hichens and Trelawney. Felixstowe
7400-408: The sea, the 7th tower also had the same defects, with elements due to imminently fall into the sea. The fort could not be accessed safely in its present condition. This group was built near the Thames estuary for anti-aircraft defence and made up of several towers north of Herne Bay 9.2 mi (8.0 nmi; 14.8 km) from the nearest land. One of the seven towers collapsed in 1963 when fog caused
7500-520: The searchlight tower of the Shivering Sands Fort in what he described as "an artistic exploration of isolation, investigating how one's experience of time changes in isolation, and what creative contemplation means in a 21st-century context". The Liverpool sea forts were constructed in the same way the forts in the Thames estuary were; they were designed to defend Liverpool and the industrial heartland of Liverpool from an aerial attack from
7600-630: The second as the Coastal Forces MTB, MGB and ML base HMS Beehive. Between the wars the seaplane station housed the RAF experimental establishment which tested seaplanes and flying boats. Its sheds and piers were incorporated in the MTB base and later the container port. On 11 August 1919, the Felixstowe Fury sideslipped and crashed into the sea 500 yards offshore soon after take-off while on
7700-472: The ship Ribersborg to stray off course and collide with one of the towers. In 1964, the Port of London Authority placed wind and tide monitoring equipment on the Shivering Sands searchlight tower, which was isolated from the rest of the fort by the demolished tower. This relayed data to the mainland via a radio link. In August and September 2005, artist Stephen Turner spent six weeks living alone in
7800-671: The shore, of which 4 (Tower P on Wireless Green off Old Fort Road is the home of the local CoastWatch group, Q Tower in the town, and two more towards the Deben mouth) survive. Q Tower was the HQ of the Harwich-Ipswich-Martlesham Heath anti-aircraft guns between 1941 and 1945 (earlier it had been in Landguard Fort). At the turn of the century, tourism increased, and a pier was constructed in 1905, some of which
7900-585: The southern approach to the Thames. The Swin (the northern approach) was marked with buoys at the easternmost points of the Gunfleet, Middle and Buxey sands, and by beacons on the Whitaker, Shoe and Blacktail spits. A buoy marked the easternmost point of the Nore sandbank at this time, and three more buoys marked sandbanks in the middle part of the estuary (Spaniard, Red Sand and the Oaze). The Nore Lightship ,
8000-404: The towers at Shivering Sands. Sutch soon became bored with the project and sold the station to Reginald Calvert who had assisted in establishing the station and who renamed the station Radio City and expanded operations into all of the five towers that remained connected. Calvert's killing in a dispute concerning the station's ownership (found to be self-defence rather than murder) contributed to
8100-489: The village of Cliffe, Kent , where they were still visible at low tide. There are seven towers in the Red Sands group at the mouth of the Thames Estuary. The towers had been connected by metal grate walk-ways. In 1959 consideration was given to refloating the Red Sands Fort and bringing the towers ashore but the costs were prohibitive. Radio 390 (1965–1967) was a pirate radio station on Red Sands Fort. During
8200-420: The west. Originally 38 towers were intended to be built but only 21 towers were built (three forts). The forts were built from October 1941. No fort engaged in enemy action during WWII. Demolition of the structures started during the 1950s with these forts considered a priority over the Thames estuary ports due to being a hazard to shipping. Demolition was delayed in 1954 when the salvage ship working at Queens Fort
8300-669: The world's first lightvessel , was established in the Estuary as a private venture in 1732 to mark the 'best position for entering the Thames and Medway, and to clear the Nore Sand'. The coastwise approach from the north was aided by the establishment of the Sunk lightvessel in 1802 'to mark the north-east entrance to East Swin, and to guide vessels round Long Sand'. Later, the Swin channel was further marked by lightvessels at Swin Middle (1837) and Mouse (1838), and by screw-pile lighthouses on
8400-556: The world's latest generation of deep-draughted ultra post-Panamax vessels. There is a continuous quay of 2.4 km, equipped with 25 ship-to-shore gantry cranes. The town has road links to the Midlands , via the A14 , and to London , via the A12 road . The single-track railway line to Ipswich has been upgraded recently to allow larger containers; many more are now transported by rail. The port
8500-783: Was also HQ of the Harwich Harbour coast and anti-aircraft defences, and accommodated the RAF's 26th Marine Craft (Air-Sea Rescue) Unit. In 1944 the piers near the Dock were used to load troops, tanks and vehicles onto the British and American landing craft of "Force L", which reinforced the Normandy Invasion on its first and second days. In 1945 the German naval commanders in Occupied Holland arrived in E-boats at Felixstowe Dock to surrender their boats and charts to
8600-506: Was also used for the 1968 Doctor Who serial Fury from the Deep , in which the complex stood in for a North Sea gas refinery besieged by an intelligent seaweed creature. In the 2020 film Artemis Fowl , the Redsands towers, seen from the air, appear as the exterior of a secret MI6 interrogation centre. In the 2013 movie The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, as the characters travel in
8700-584: Was better known for his post-pirate activities. After the termination of BBMS in late 1966 he moved the station's equipment to Roughs Tower, further from the coast, but did not recommence broadcasting. He, or a representative, has lived in Roughs Tower since 1967, self-styling the tower as the Principality of Sealand . The 1966 television series Danger Man episode "Not-so-Jolly Roger" was filmed partly at Redsands Army Sea Fort and includes an acknowledgement to Radio 390 in its closing credits. Redsands Fort
8800-480: Was blown, leaving 20 feet of the leg stumps remaining. Tongue Sands Fort was situated approximately 10.2 kilometres (6 nmi) from the coast off Margate , Kent and was grounded on 27 June 1942. On the night of 22/23 January 1945, fifteen German E-boats were seen on radar, with five close by. The S.119 or S.199 operating out of IJmuiden , Holland was just over 4 miles away and came under heavy fire from Tongue Sands Fort's 3.7-inch guns. The German E-Boat's captain
8900-413: Was built in 1909, and subsequently became known as The Spa Pavilion. Felixstowe remained a fashionable seaside destination until the late 1930s. In April 1914 as part of the suffragette bombing and arson campaign Bath Hotel, which was popular with elite vistors, was burnt down. Felixstowe played an important role in both world wars; in the first as Royal Naval Air Service and RAF seaplane base, and in
9000-428: Was built in the 18th century, and modified in the 19th century with substantial additional 19th/20th century outside batteries. The Fort hosts regular military re-enactments, including Darell's Day , which is a celebration of the last invasion, children's events and open-air theatre. In the two world wars the Fort was variously the HQ of the Harwich Harbour coast and anti-aircraft defences, the signal/control station for
9100-405: Was demolished in 2004, despite a storm of protest from many local people keen on saving the historic building which the council had branded as "unsafe". The station was originally opened in 1877 and was used continuously until 1959, after which it was the site of a small printers for many years until its demolition. From 1877 until 1951 there was also Felixstowe Pier railway station , sited inside
9200-482: Was diverted to assist with the urgent demolition of The Nore Fort in the Thames Estuary, which had been damaged due to a collision with a Norwegian ship, leaving remains considered hazardous to shipping in the area. Demolition of the three forts was completed in 1955. Various forts were re-occupied for pirate radio during the mid-1960s. In 1964, a few months after Radios Caroline and Atlanta began broadcasting, Screaming Lord Sutch installed Radio Sutch in one of
9300-517: Was ex-spy and thriller writer Ted Allbeury . The size of the Army forts made them ideal antenna platforms, since a large antenna could be based on the central tower and guyed from the surrounding towers. A small group of radio enthusiasts established Radio Tower on Sunk Head Naval fort, but the station had a small budget, had poor coverage and lasted only a few months. Claims by the group that they also intended to provide television service from
9400-485: Was extended to 12 nmi (14 mi; 22 km). The fort was damaged badly in 1953 during a storm, then later in the year a Norwegian ship, Baalbek , collided with it, destroying two of the towers, killing four civilians and destroying guns, radar equipment and supplies. The ruins were considered a hazard to shipping and dismantled in 1959–1960. Parts of the bases were towed ashore by the Cliffe fort at Alpha wharf near
9500-590: Was inaugurated in 2013. The term Greater Thames Estuary applies to the coast and the low-lying lands bordering the estuary. These are characterised by the presence of mudflats, low-lying open beaches, and salt marshes , namely the North Kent Marshes and the Essex Marshes. Human-made embankments are backed by reclaimed wetland grazing areas, but rising sea levels may make it necessary briefly to flood some of that land at spring tides , to take
9600-405: Was maintained until May 1956 when it was abandoned. In 2009, it was observed that there was a slight distortion of the legs when viewing the tower from west to east. It is thought that underscouring is the cause of this. Maunsell also designed forts for anti-aircraft defence . These were larger installations comprising seven connected steel platforms. Four towers arranged in a semicircle ahead of
9700-484: Was purposely demolished by the Royal Engineers to prevent it from being used as an easy landing point for enemy troops. After the war the damage was not repaired and the pier never regained its original length. The pier in its current incarnation features an amusement hall with a gambling section, traditional fish and chips and ice cream kiosks, and a restaurant/bar with indoor and outdoor seating. The deck spans
9800-403: Was supervised by Maunsell at 16:45 on 11 February 1942. With "almost 100 men" having earlier embarked at Tilbury docks, the fort began service immediately. In 1966 Paddy Roy Bates , who operated Radio Essex, and Ronan O'Rahilly , who operated Radio Caroline , landed on Fort Roughs and occupied it. However, after disagreements, Roy Bates seized the tower as his own. O'Rahilly attempted to storm
9900-485: Was the latest of several that Maunsell had devised in response to Admiralty inquiries. Early ideas had considered forts in the English Channel able to combat enemy vessels. During World War II, the Thames estuary Navy forts destroyed one German E-Boat . Rough Sands fort was built to protect the ports of Felixstowe , Harwich and the town of Ipswich from aerial and sea attack. It is situated on Rough Sands,
10000-400: Was unsure of where the attack was coming from and manoeuvred to avoid being hit, ramming another E-Boat in the process. The captain scuttled his badly damaged vessel. The Tongue Sands Fort was decommissioned on 14 February 1945 and reduced to care and maintenance until 1949 when it was abandoned. The fort had settled badly when it was grounded and as a result became unstable. On 5 December 1947
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