News

Unfortunately, we had our wettest and least attended open day to date. We stayed at our post and welcomed four hardy visitors. Two from Reading and 2 from the Netherlands, where many of our visitors arrive from. Being only a few miles from Parkeston Quay, where the ferry from the Hook of Holland docks, we are a favourite stop off point for people entering or leaving the UK. We still received positive feedback which is always good.

Jamie – Great!

Kees B – Interesting & stunning

Our next open day is Sunday 12th May between 11am and 3pm. Entry is free but donations are always welcome. If you haven’t visited the Radar tower since 2021, we have added many artefacts and have installed interpretation panels explaining the tower and how it worked. Hope to see you soon at this unique survivor from WWII 🙂

A big thank you to all those who came along today for our first open day of 2024. We had 22 visitors, which is slightly up on our first day last year, and some great feedback.

Kim + Sam – Very interesting. We’ll be back with more family.

Catey + Clive – Amazing place, excellent displays, we will be back. Well done.

Zoe & Phil – really interesting!

It always makes it worth while when receiving these sort of comments. We strive to present this historic building in a clear and concise manner with a good balance of technical and local information. We open again at 11:00 on Sunday 28th April. Hope to see you there 🙂

We have swept and cleaned the tower ready for our new season, beginning at 11:00 on Sunday 14th April. A couple of new exhibits for this year include models of the Maunsell Forts located off the coasts of Essex and Kent. His Majesties Fort Roughs Tower can be seen from the middle floor of the radar tower, more commonly known today as the Principality of Sealand. This was home to Joan and Roy Bates from 1967 and is still owned by their son Michael.

Our other new model shows the Chain Home Radar site located at Walton on the Naze, 5 miles south of Harwich. Only one building remains today, the rest having fallen off the cliffs since WWII due to coastal erosion.

We will be opening every other Sunday until the end of October this year. Group and private visits are possible (subject to availability). Please contact us via our contact page. If you haven’t visited before, we hope to meet you this year 🙂

Work is underway to reopen the Harwich Radar Tower in April 2024. Our first open day will be Sunday 14th April between 11am and 3pm. Entry is still free but all donations are welcome.

During the winter we have been adding to the items displayed in the tower. A model of the Radar site located at Walton on the Naze has been installed showing the layout of the site during WWII. Very little remains of the site but the original entrance can still be seen, along with parts of the concrete bases that once supported wooden huts.

If you have been to the tower before, we always welcome return visits. If you haven’t been yet, then please come along to this unique survivor from WWII. The only remaining ‘Minewatch’ Radar site in the UK open to the public, housing possibly the only surviving Type 287 aerial array in the world.

Sunday 29th October is our last open day this season. We are open between 11am and 3pm as always. Admission is free but donations are always welcome. We can open on Sundays throughout the year for group bookings but you must contact us first to arrange time and date to ensure availability of a volunteer to open up (usually me lol) A few new bits are planned for next year so if you haven’t been along to see us this year, we hope to see you in 2024 🙂

Following a successful open day season, we only have one more day left this year. October 29th will be our last day. We open between 11am and 3pm with free entry (donations welcome). We had a very successful weekend back in September with the Heritage Open Days event. 121 visitors over the two days and plenty of positive comments in the visitors book

Lever family: Very informative and a good insight to how things were during the wars.

A Belton: Very interesting & unique Radar display & artefacts.

S Tobin: (Canada) I really enjoyed the exhibits & information. It helps to have a better understanding of the wars. Thank you.

K Winter: WOW! Thanks 🙂

Peter D: Great, Very well done.

We always take the time to speak to our visitors as it is always interesting to learn where people have travelled from and to discuss the collection. We are always striving to improve the tower as a unique attraction, the only one of 11 that is open to the public. Have a few things planned during the winter and already looking forward to open day season 2024. Hope to see you soon 🙂

It’s been a fairly busy season so far. The weather hasn’t always been great, with heavy rain and chilly wind on two open days. We have still been open and receiving hardy visitors on every occasion. Had a busy day yesterday as our neighbours at Beacon Hill Fort were holding a Napoleonic event along with nearby Harwich Redoubt. Both days witnessed French and English reenactors attacking and defending the fort along with cannon and musket fire. Great to watch but very loud. We received several positive comments in our visitors book too, which is always welcomed.

Glen + Jack – So important to see history preserved Really interesting well done to you all!

Dez family – Great place with fascinating facts

T Potter – A great improvement on when I first saw this. The amount of info…..along with artifacts [sic] have made it a ‘go to’ for a part of war time history of Harwich

Adrian – History very well preserved! Wonderful atmosphere

A Miller – Great to see it so well kept

G Leonard – Great piece of history Very good

It’s comments like those above that make the effort worth while. We have a few ideas for new exhibits, some of which will be worked on during the winter and installed for next year. We have also received a couple of items from Coalhouse Fort, East Tilbury, following it’s closure in 2020. Our next open day will be Sunday 3rd September between 11am and 3pm. Admission is still free but donations are always welcome 🙂

May 2023 has proved to be a busy month here at the Radar Tower. A busy weekend at the beginning of May, a school visit, a visit from the ex-friends of the Imperial War Museum and another busy weekend to close the month.

St Philomena’s Catholic School, Frinton visited us on 10th May with 2 staff and 18 year 6 pupils. Following a visit to the tower, they were also shown around Beacon Hill Battery next door.

“Children (and adults) thoroughly engaged by an excellent tour from Peter (Curator). A great visit for our work on WWII – so informative”

The ex-friends of Imperial War Museum visited Harwich Redoubt, Radar Tower, Treadwheel Crane and the Electric Palace before walking to the seafront to visit the Kinder transport Memorial on the quay side by Ha’penny pier.

The last open day of May was our busiest so far this season with 73 visitors from far and wide including San Francisco, Manchester and Nottingham.

F Morgan – well researched, nice time

Mason Family – Very interesting and impressive history

Lindsey & Matt – Very interesting history, good exhibits, very informative

Our next open day is Sunday 11th June between 11am and 3pm. As always, entry is free but donations are always welcome. Please come and visit us at this unique survivor from WWII. Hope to see you there 🙂

Our best open day so far this year, with 64 visitors between 11am and 3pm. Some interesting questions, as always, and several positive comments. One visitor was impressed with the amount and balance of information available in the tower. He also appreciated the panel ‘what can you see?’ which can be found in the operations room on the middle floor. It shows photographs of what can be seen on the other side of the estuary, outside Landguard Fort.

Bethany R: Awesome to learn about local history

Allison M: I’m a Harwich girl, first time in having a look around. Really interesting

Fleur: Hidden Gem!

The tower has been an interesting journey for us, learning about Radio Direction Finding (Radar) and trying to represent the tower how it may have been seen in WWII. We are still sourcing material and information so hopefully it will continue to improve. Next open day Sunday 14th May, 11am to 3pm. Hope to see you there 🙂

Another fine day and some interesting questions from our visitors. Many visitors are from the Tendring, Colchester or Ipswich areas but one from Hartlepool this week which was the furthest until the last guy who was from Poland. The tower is proving equally interesting to adults and children alike which is good.

S Irwin: Amazing

D Avery: Excellent

King Family: I love the music!!!!! Great work!!!!! [Ed note: we have a period soundtrack playing in the background in the accommodation room – some of the hits from 1939, ’40, ’41 and ’42]

Our next open day will be Sunday 30th April between 11am and 3pm. As I also volunteer in Beacon Hill Battery on alternate Sundays, I can usually open the tower most Sundays for a small donation. Hope to see you there 🙂