Tag: Beacon Hill

Our 2025 season is coming to an end soon, just three open days left this year. We are open today, Sunday 28th September, between 11am and 3pm. Entry is still free but donations are always welcome.

Andy: Great to finally be able to have a look inside.

Yvonne: Top floor was impressive!!

Jane: Much improved since our last visit.

We have two open days in October on the 12th and 26th, as always 11am to 3pm. We have had a great summer meeting new visitors and welcoming back several return visitors. If you have been this year, thank you. If you are planning to visit we look forward to meeting you 🙂

Our 2025 season of open days is well underway and proving popular this year. We have had many interesting questions and an increasing interest from younger visitors.

P Harris: Very interesting

Cllr D Chable: Brilliant visit Great work!

Harwich Town Cryer: Oyez Oyez Oyez Excellent!

L Low: What a great find! So informative

Just a few of the comments received in our visitor’s book this year. It is always great to meet new visitors but if you’ve been before you are welcome to return any time. Our next open day is Sunday 8th June, 11am to 3pm. Entry is still free but donations are always welcome. Dogs welcome too, but there are two fairly steep staircases to gain access to the middle and top floor so dogs are allowed at the discretion of the owners. Hope to see you soon 🙂

Last Sunday we held our last open day of the 2024 season and was glad to welcome 34 visitors during the day, Our furthest was from Australia, so we are certainly on the map now. It’s been a good year with 573 guests over 17 open days, a bit down on last year, but still good for us.

Ruby: It’s amazing to think that I am standing were [sic] the Navy Officer was standing all those years ago!

S Merry: Really interesting museum, thank you

J Oakley: Wonderful museum!

Thank you to everyone who has visited us this year, it’s been a pleasure to meet you. We are closed now until April 2025 and will post dates as soon as they are confirmed. We can still open the tower for private visits and groups, usually on a Sunday, subject to availability. If you haven’t been along yet, we look forward to meeting you in 2025 🙂

Sunday 27th October will be our last open day this year so fingers crossed for a fine day. We will be opening at 11am until 3pm as usual. Entry is still free but donations are always welcome. We have met many interesting visitors this year from far and wide. Our furthest this season was a family from Melbourne, Australia.

Lisa & Paul: Interesting, like the models

CO11 1LG: Excellent, very interesting and atmospheric

A Forbes: Lovely to see this being preserved

NR17 1SA: Well worth a visit

Just a few of the positive comments we have received in our visitors book this season. We have had a great year again and are already looking forward to reopening in April 2025. Thank you to all those who visited us this year. If you haven’t been to see us yet, please come along and you can see the only Type 287 radar array in the world, still in its original location. Hope to see you in 2025 🙂

This years event was accompanied by two days of lovely autumnal weather, this meant there was a lot of people in Harwich exploring the areas rich history. At the Radar Tower, we welcomed 41 visitors on Saturday and an impressive 67 on Sunday. We spoke to people from far and wide including Northampton, The Netherlands and even Melbourne, Australia.

E Ryan & S Hunter: Interesting very informative

Amy: Fantastic and my children absolutely loved it…lots of questions asked

Jodie & James: Amazing! So Cool

It’s always educational speaking to visitors during our open days. Most are interested in history and some are surprised how successful Radar was in it’s early days. We also had a visitor who actually made parts for one of our exhibits, a new artefact we received last year, known as a ‘Huff Duff’. This was a high frequency (radio) direction finder, used to locate downed airman and enemy submarines. We still have open days left for 2024 so if you haven’t been along to see us, there’s still time before we close for the season at the end of October. Hope to see you there 🙂

The season has picked up a bit over the past few open days. Visitor numbers are down on last year but donations are almost the same, so thank you for your kind donations if you have come along to see us. We still have several dates before we close for the season, including Heritage Weekend when we will be opening Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th September, 11am to 3pm.

S Webb: Excellent displays, really interesting facts

Sue and Eddie: It was an enjoyable visit thank you

CO11 2QN: A fascinating insight into the history of the tower and it’s purpose

We have added a few more artefacts during the year and have been donated some interesting items that could have been used in the tower during WWII. We have met some great visitors during the year with some interesting conversations and insights into history. If you haven’t visited yet, we are open on certain dates until the end of October (please see our Open Day page). Group visits can be arranged, please contact us for further information. Hope to see you there 🙂

Not quite the warm, sunny open day we were hoping for but we still had a few intrepid visitors come along to see us. We are still receiving positive feedback regarding the content and presentation of the tower and we are still adding information and artefacts to the collection. If you haven’t visited us recently, please come and see us again, we have a new display showing the Maunsell Forts and the Radar Site at Walton on the Naze.

Amazing gem – very educational

Amazing 12 out of 10 [sic]

2ppl & 3 dogs: Stunning, beautifully restored. Very atmospheric. So glad we came

We open again on Sunday 23rd June between 11am and 3pm. Fingers crossed for a lovely sunny day 🙂

Two more successful open days this month with reasonable weather and attendance. Sunday 12th saw 46 visitors coming to see us and a further 29 on the 26th. Although numbers are slightly down on 2023, the positive feedback received continues. One of the difficult tasks when setting up the displays was to interpret a complex subject and make it interesting to all ages, something I believe we have achieved.

Darlene (Canada): Such a lot of history packaged in a tiny space!

Alex: Unique experience!

Sampson: Very interesting, many thanks

Radford family: Kids loved this. They have walked past for years and wanted to see inside.

Sunday June 9th is our next open day, 11am until 3pm, admission is free but donations are always welcome. Please come along and visit us at this unique location, one of the earliest applications of Radio Direction Finding (aka Radar) in the country.

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 🙂