Orford Ness: former RFC Officers' Mess and AWRE canteen building

The Officers' Mess was built by the RFC in approximately 1915 and was used by Watson-Watt for early experiments on radar.

MATERIALS. The former Officers' Mess is constructed from pre-cast concrete blocks with a felted and pitched timber roof; the AWRE extension to the west is in red brick.

PLAN A 'T' shape overall.

EXTERIOR The former Officers' Mess is a four-bay building with a gable roof with four timber casement windows to the north and south elevations (some are early C21 replica timber windows). The principal entrance is at the east elevation. At the south elevation is a truncated brick chimney stack, presumably for a stove or fireplace.

Attached at the west end is a single-storey, flat-roofed 1950s extension with casement windows and a door at the west elevation.

INTERIOR There are few fixtures and fittings remaining; the exposed Belfast roof trusses of the 1915 phase have been partially reconstructed.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES. A number of concrete footings and mast bases, thought to consist of 2 groups of 4  for transmitters to the north and south of the building, and one single large base for a receiver to the west, relate to the radar experimentation of the mid 1930s.