History Talks – Testing landscapes; Orfordness and the atomic bomb by Wayne Cocroft (SOLD OUT)

All tickets for this talk have been sold but you can join a waiting list by contacting info@orfordmuseum.org.uk

During the First World War the remoteness of Orfordness attracted military researchers investigating how newly invented flying machines could be used as effective weapons of war. This research continued into the inter-war period and in the mid-1930s critical work was undertaken to prove the effectiveness of radio direction finding, or radar. In the Second World War research focussed on assessing the vulnerabilities of enemy aircraft.

This talk will explore the spit’s post war history with the arrival of the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment and the brief period in the 1950s and early 1960s when the work undertaken there was of national and international importance.

Wayne Cocroft is a senior archaeological investigator with Historic England’s National Specialist Services Department and is based in Cambridge. For over 30 years he has specialised in the investigation and assessment of former military sites, including explosives factories, research and development establishments, as well as large industrial sites. His published works include Dangerous Energy: The Archaeology of Gunpowder and Military Explosives Manufacture and he co-authored Cold War: Building or Nuclear Confrontation 1946- 1989; War Art Murals and Graffiti – Military Life, Power and Subversion and Archaeology of the Teufelsberg:

Exploring Western Electronic Intelligence Gathering in Cold War Berlin. His current work includes the assessment of MoD disposal sites and developing strategies for the documentation of post war power stations and obsolete civil nuclear facilities.

He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and a Member of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists.

Tickets are limited to 60 per talk.
Friends of Orford Museum £12 a talk and non-members £15.
Book three talks £30 (non-members £36), Rover ticket (7 talks) £65 (non-members £75).

To book your place, email info@orfordmuseum.org.uk saying which talks you would like to attend.