Orford Ness is a cuspate foreland shingle spit on the Suffolk coast in Great Britain, linked to the mainland at Aldeburgh and stretching along the coast to Orford and down to North Weir Point, opposite Shingle Street. It is divided from the mainland by the River Alde, and was formed by longshore drift along the coast. The material of the spit comes from places further north, such as Dunwich. Near the middle point of its length, at the foreland point or 'Ness', once stood Orfordness Lighthouse, demolished in summer 2020 owing to the encroaching sea. In the name of the lighthouse (and the radio transmitting station – see below), 'Orfordness' is written as one word. Description Orford Ness is an internationally important site for nature conservation. It contains a significant portion of the European reserve of vegetated shingle habitat, which is internationally scarce, highly fragile, and very easily damaged. Together with Havergate Island the site is a designated National Nature Reserve and forms part of: the Alde-Ore Estuary Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI); the Alde, Ore & Butley Estuaries and the Orfordness-Shingle Street Special Area of Conservation (SAC); the Alde-Ore Estuary Special Protection Area (SPA); the Alde-Ore Estuary Ramsar Site site; the Suffolk Coasts and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB); and the Suffolk Heritage Coast. It is also listed as of national importance in the Geological Conservation Review (GC), as a grade 1 site in the Nature Conservation Review. (NCR) and qualifies for the DEFRA Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) scheme. History The peninsula was formerly administered by the Ministry of Defence, which conducted secret military tests during both world wars and the Cold War. The site was selected as the location for the Orfordness Beacon, one of the earliest experiments in long-range radio navigation. The Beacon was set up in 1929 and used in the pre-war era. In the 1930s Orford Ness was the site of the first purpose-built experiments on the defence system that would later be known as radar. Having proved the technology on Orford Ness, Robert Watson-Watt and his team moved to nearby Bawdsey Manor and developed the Chain Home radar system in time for its vital role in the Battle of Britain. The Atomic Weapons Research Establishment had a base on the site, used for environmental testing, i.e. testing conducted to determine the functional performance of a component or system under conditions that