Bawdsey Manor and the mouth of the River Deben aerial-14924955295

Bawdsey Manor stands at a prominent position at the mouth of the

River Deben The River Deben is a river in Suffolk rising to the west of Debenham, though a second, higher source runs south from the parish of Bedingfield. The river passes through Woodbridge, turning into a tidal estuary before entering the North Sea at ...

close to the village of Bawdsey in

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, England, about north-east of London. Built in 1886, it was enlarged in 1895 as the principal residence of Sir William Cuthbert Quilter. Requisitioned by the

Devonshire Regiment The Devonshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that served under various titles and served in many wars and conflicts from 1685 to 1958, such as the Second Boer War, the World War I, First World War and the World War II, ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and having been returned to the Quilter family after the war, it was purchased by the Air Ministry for £24,000 in 1936 to establish a new research station for developing the

Chain Home Chain Home, or CH for short, was the codename for the ring of coastal early warning radar stations built by the Royal Air Force (RAF) before and during the Second World War to detect and track aircraft. Initially known as RDF, and given the off ...

RDF (

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

) system.

RAF Bawdsey Royal Air Force Bawdsey or more simply RAF Bawdsey is a former Royal Air Force station situated on the eastern coast in Suffolk, England. Also known as Bawdsey Research Station (BRS), the first Chain Home radar station was built there, charact ...

was a base through the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

until the 1990s. The manor is now used by PGL for courses and children's holidays. There is a small museum in the radar transmitter block.

History

Quilter period: 1886 to 1936

Bawdsey Manor was built in 1886 and enlarged in 1895 by William Quilter who was an art collector, one of the founders of the

National Telephone Company The National Telephone Company (NTC) was a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British telephone company, which from 1881 to 1911 consolidated smaller local companies in the early years of telephone adoption. The British government natio ...

, and was Liberal/

Liberal Unionist The Liberal Unionist Party was a British political party that was formed in 1886 by a faction that broke away from the Liberal Party. Led by Lord Hartington (later the Duke of Devonshire) and Joseph Chamberlain, the party established a political ...

Member of Parliament for

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario ** Sudbury (federal electoral district) ** Sudbury (provincial electoral district) ** Sudbury Airport ** Sudbury Basin, a meteorite impact cra ...

. He established a steam-powered

chain ferry A cable ferry (including the types chain ferry, swing ferry, floating bridge, or punt) is a ferry that is guided (and in many cases propelled) across a river or large body of water by cables connected to both shores. Early cable ferries often ...

across the

in 1894 to access the nearest railway station at Felixstowe. It was known as the Bawdsey Ferry and ran until 1931. The ferry now operates using a motor-launch at weekends during the summer. Maude Marion Quilter (born about 1868) of Bawdsey Manor, daughter of Sir William Quilter, 1st Baronet, married Frederick Denny in 1888 and later had Horwood House as her country residence. It was at Bawdsey Manor that she knew of Harry Thrower, the father of the broadcaster and gardener Percy Thrower, as he was a gardener there, it being his first gardening position. When Maude wanted a head gardener at Horwood House, she recruited Harry and he remained there for the rest of his life.

RAF Base: 1936 to 1990

In February 1936 research scientists, including

Robert Watson-Watt Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt (13 April 1892 – 5 December 1973) was a Scottish radio engineer and pioneer of radio direction finding and radar technology. Watt began his career in radio physics with a job at the Met Office, where he be ...

moved into the manor to begin research and development into

for practical military use and it became known as

. Stables and outbuildings were converted into workshops and wooden receiver towers and steel transmitter towers were built. Bawdsey was the Air Ministry's secret radar research establishment until this moved away on the outbreak of war in 1939. Most of the key radar scientists of the day, and the first generation of RAF and WAAF radar personnel, were trained there. From 1937 Bawdsey was operational as the first of the RDF (radar) Chain Home, and during World War II also acquired Chain Home Low and Coast Defence/Centimetric equipment for tracking enemy ships. It continued as a radar station through most of the Cold War. Demolition of the 10 towers began in the 1960s, and they all are now gone. Bawdsey Manor continued as an RAF base through the

and

Bloodhound The bloodhound is a large scent hound, originally bred for hunting deer, wild boar, rabbits, and since the Middle Ages, for tracking people. Believed to be descended from hounds once kept at the Abbey of Saint-Hubert, Belgium, in French it is ...

surface-to-air missiles were sited on the cliffs until the Bloodhound force ceased operations in 1990, when all the missiles were withdrawn to

RAF West Raynham Royal Air Force West Raynham, or more simply RAF West Raynham, is a former Royal Air Force List of former Royal Air Force stations, station located west of West Raynham, Norfolk and southwest of Fakenham, Norfolk, England. The airfield opened ...

. RAF Bawdsey was closed in 1991.

Since 1990

The Manor, grounds, and associated buildings were used from 1994 to 2016 to house Alexanders College, a boarding and day school for children from ages 11 to 18. The Transmitter Block is a museum, with limited opening hours, and was featured in the BBC '' Restoration'' programme. The exhibit is known as "The Magic Ear", and is operated by the Bawdsey Radar Group.

2017

The property was sold to PGL Travel Ltd. and was opened for summer 2017.

References

External links

Bawdsey ManorBawdsey Radar Group – registered charityQuilter of Bawdsey ManorBawdsey Manor
{{Schools in Suffolk Country houses in Suffolk Suffolk Coastal Museums in Suffolk Military and war museums in England Telecommunications in World War II Telecommunications museums in the United Kingdom Grade II* listed buildings in Suffolk PGL centres