My Adventures 3: Bradwell On Sea

I left home on Tuesday the 7th March 2017 for Bradwell On Sea,Essex. After an hours drive I arrived and parked up on East end Road near St Peters Chapel. Its a lovely sunny day, a relief after all the wind and rain of late.

My dog Ben and I get out and walk up towards the chapel.

Bradwell-on-Sea was a Saxon Shore fort in Roman times known as Othona. The Anglo-Saxons originally called it Ithancester. Saint Cedd founded a monastery within the old walls in 653, which survives as the restored Chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall, one of the oldest churches in Britain.

We arrive at the chapel, been meaning to come here for some time now.

The Chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall, Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex, is a Grade I listed building and among the oldest largely intact Christian churches in England; it is the 19th oldest building in the country and is still in regular use. It dates from between 660–662.

The Chapel is said to be that of "Ythanceaster" (Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica 3.22), originally constructed as an Anglo-Celtic church for the East Saxons in 654 by Cedd astride the ruins of the abandoned Roman fort of Othona.The current structure was most likely built around 660–662, incorporating the Roman bricks and stones. Cedd travelled south from Lindisfarne to spread Christianity at the behest of Sigeberht the Good, then King of the East Saxons, in 653 and returned the next year having been ordained as a bishop in order to build the Chapel, and probably others too. Following the death of Cedd in October 664 from plague, the Chapel became part of the Diocese of London.

We leave the chapel behind and come upon a sign for Othona Community.

Othona is an open and inclusive Community rooted in the Christian tradition and drawing on a wealth of other inspirations. We welcome people of all ages, abilities, backgrounds and beliefs to our two centres on the quiet coasts of Essex and Dorset. Through sharing in a daily rhythm of work, learning, worship and play, we seek personal renewal and glimpses of the sacred. In community we explore the relationship between faith and life and encourage one another in caring for the world and its people.

Looking back to St Peters Chapel

We now follow the seawall along the Blackwater Estuary.

View across to the Power Station

View across the Blackwater to Mersea Island

Views to Mersea Island

We passed a man metal detecting, was gonna chat as my Dad goes metal detecting but doubt he'd heard me with his headphones on, so we moved on.

Mersea Island

Bradwell Nuclear Power Station

Little Egret

We now reach the Nuclear Power Station.

Bradwell nuclear power station is a partially decommissioned Magnox power station located on the Dengie peninsula at the mouth of the River Blackwater, Essex.

As of 2016, China General Nuclear Power Group and China National Nuclear Corporation are considering Bradwell for the site of a new nuclear power station.

Construction of the power station, which was undertaken by a consortiumknown as the Nuclear Power Plant Company (NPPC), began in December 1957, and electricity generation started in 1962. It had two Magnox reactors with a design output of 300 MW of net electrical output, although this was reduced to 242 MW net electrical in total as a result of the discovery of breakaway oxidation of mild-steel components inside the reactor vessel. Its peak output, achieved in the early 1960s, was nearly 10% above the design value. On a typical day it could supply enough electricity to meet the needs of three towns the size of Chelmsford, Colchester and Southend put together. It is the closest power station to Southend. The reactors were supplied by The Nuclear Power Group (TNPG), and the 9 turbines and 12 gas circulators by C. A. Parsons & Co. (6 of 52 MW main turbines supplying power to the grid, 3 of 22.5 MW auxiliaries turbines, one for each reactor for driving the gas circulators, with one standby auxiliary turbine).

Bradwell was built on the edge of a former World War II airfield, 1.5 miles from the Essex coastline. Its location was deliberately chosen, as the land had minimal agricultural value, offered easy access, was geologically sound and had an unlimited source of cooling water from the North Sea.

In 1969, a new Honeywell 316 was installed as the primary reactor temperature-monitoring computer; this was in continuous use until summer 2000, when the internal 160k disk failed. Two PDP-11/70s, which had previously been secondary monitors, were moved to primary.

In 1999, it was announced that the station would cease operation in 2002 – the first UK station to be closed on a planned basis. On 28 March 2002 Lord Braybrooke, Lord Lieutenant of Essex, unveiled a plaque to mark the cessation of electricity generation and the beginning of the decommissioning stage.All spent nuclear fuel was removed from the site by 2005, the turbine hall was demolished in 2011, and by 2016 underground waste storage vaults had been emptied and decontaminated.

We stopped here by the beach for lunch before continuing onwards.

A rabbit ran across the path and into the undergrowth and just sat there as we watched each other.

We now turn inland along a path just past the Power Station.

After crossing a field of what appears something from the brassica family, I find my fist mud of the day. Thankfully I chose to wear my boots as my boot goes deep into a waterlogged muddy section.

First sign of Spring

I exit too early and walk up the road a little a bit confused to my where abouts, I stop and ask for help from a local resident. I had to backtrack a little and take a path that seems to almost double to whence I came.

I am now travelling along the correct path again towards the War memorial.

I reach the road and walk a short way back towards the Power Station where I find the War Memorial. Here is a sculpture of a 'Mosquito' aircraft.

RAF Bradwell Bay is a former Royal Air Force station located 9.5 miles (15.3 km) east of Maldon, and 3.1 miles (5.0 km) south west of West Mersea, Essex.

The airfield was first used as grass landing strip for the nearby firing ranges before being turned into a RAF station with concrete runways and hangars.The station is unique as it was the only fighter station where the Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation (FIDO) was used.

During the Second World War the airfield sited to the north-east of Bradwell Waterside was a front-line station, and named RAF Bradwell Bay. Prior to this conflict a small grass airfield was sited there for refuelling and re-arming the aircraft used by pilots practising shooting and bombing at the ranges on nearby Dengie Marshes. In 1941 the airfield was enlarged, swallowing up the pre-war grass landing ground, and three concrete runways were laid down. As it was quite near to the coast, and many aircraft in distress landed there, it had the FIDO (Fog Intensive Dispersal Operation) system installed to help pilots find a safe landing in foggy weather. Many night-fighter squadrons were based here, equipped first with the Douglas Havoc, then the de Havilland Mosquito, the ubiquitous multi-role-combat aircraft of its time. The airfield was also used as a jumping-off point for fighters escorting long-distance bombing raids on Germany, and such types as the Spitfire and North American Mustang could be seen. A recent memorial, in the shape of a crashed de Havilland Mosquito, has been placed near to the edge of the airfield to remember all those who lost their lives in defence of Britain in the Second World War whilst based at RAF Bradwell Bay.

Several of the hangars are still used as storage by the local farmers and the control tower is now a private house. Agricultural buildings, built in the '70s and '80s on runways one and two, are now home to several local businesses.