Orford Ness Pagodas

In the 1950s Orford Ness was one of only a few sites in the world where purpose-built facilities were created for testing the components of nuclear weapons. At the height of the Cold War the site was used for developmental work on the atomic bomb.
This image shows two of the test labs - the so-called 'Pagodas' - which have become such well-known landmarks on the Suffolk coast. The work was secret although details of Orford Ness' involvement with the research and development of the British atomic bomb may become more available over the next decades and may illustrate the priority and significance this project had to the government in the post-war years. This image was taken at sunrise and required careful alignment to capture the moment the sun appears under the pagoda's roof.