Last weekend I visited Orford Ness over in Suffolk. What was once a secret military base was sold to the National Trust back in 1993.
I had sailed past the Ness as a child in the 1970s and 1980s, but had never visited there until last weekend.
While I was there I took a bunch of photographs including this one of a mysterious concrete ring in the shingle.
The information boards implied no one was sure what the purpose was.
Then three days later the BBC News published this news item on their site, Mystery of concrete ring ‘solved after 30 years’.
The purpose and function of a mysterious concrete ring at a former military testing site has been uncovered, the National Trust said. The 50m (164ft) ring at Orford Ness, Suffolk, had baffled staff and volunteers at the coastal nature reserve since the trust acquired the site in 1993. However, it said the mystery was solved after researchers Steve Clifton and Olaf Kirchner discovered the ring was part of a radar known as the R-System – designed to detect nuclear explosions and rocket launches during the Cold War.
Coincidence? Of course it was… Or was it…