Britain’s Strangest Manmade Island?

I was exploring Google Maps and came across this really strange (unnamed) man-made island. You can just see it here, as the perfectly round dot, to middle, bottom, right hand side of the sea…
Search: Gedney Drove End
maps.google.co.uk...
And move far right, is perfectly circular. Apologise for no pic, my ATS upload won’t upload.

It is not called Gedney Island (which is in the U.S).
It seems to be a good 4 kilometres out to sea, and 200 meters by 200 meters, with a volcano shaped centre of 125 meters diameter.

Here’s some information I could find about it…

The flat circular island out to sea is in fact man made and built in
1972 as an experimental reservoir for storing fresh water. Now it is home to a
range of seabirds, and beyond is the Norfolk coast line. microsites.lincolnshire.gov.uk...

And…

"1972: a feasibility study commissioned by the Government to build a
barrage across half of The Wash to capture the freshwater from the
four main rivers, to improve navigation through sea locks, to provide
recreational facilities and an area of land for a power station, etc.
was undertaken. This led to the circular trial bank/bund being built
to the east of Sutton Bridge and the Nene. The purpose of which was to
act as reservoirs but the report concluded it would be too costly. "
www.washestuary.org.uk...

Err… Yeah! Expensive experimental water reservoir (in a country called England) where it rains heavily & frequently.

I’m not in the business of giving away my country’s military secrets, nor would want too BUT…
This explanation surely leaves much to be desired? Besides if it’s visible on Google Maps it’s hardly top secret.

So…
Any idea what purpose(s) such an island could have?
Could it still be in use today?
It certainly seems like a structure very easy to quickly defend (high raised banks and all) and is facing the side of the ocean the Russians might have been tempted to land on. But why defend there? And what an expensive way to spend money in an age of nuclear weapons? It also lacks internal barriers against shrapnel.

I Tend to Wonder…
If something horrid, that needed cooling, was buried there i.e. something radioactive?

Just a guess…

A sneaky thing would be to request the local council records for the dates you want under a FOI request and be as broad on your request as possible so theres as little to hide via he 'you didn't ask for it' defense

In the link you provided it say's the RAF has a nearby weapons range, but apart from that I don't see anything untoward's.

Originally posted by Maxatoria
A sneaky thing would be to request the local council records for the dates you want under a FOI request and be as broad on your request as possible so theres as little to hide via he 'you didn't ask for it' defense

FOI request in England?

www.bbc.co.uk...
found this however as you say very odd for a fresh water experiment. I am going to research this, well spotted !

the outer trial bank/wash island

news.bbc.co.uk...

reply to post by WP4YT


FOI in England, yes indeedy!

You should be broad BUT you have to be specific in your request.

For example if you just ask for "all information about the island" you will not get very far, however if you break that down into specifics you will get detailed responses on each point.
Example.
Planning applications for the island
Objections to planning applications
past and current owners, managers and users etc
who has access to the island
etc etc
For some items you may be referred to specific agencies that handle those points and you can also request FOI from them.

Would be interested to see what you learn.

FYI, once you have a FOI request in place the persons you contacted have 30 days (i think ?!?!?) to respond by law, if they don't you can take it further.

Could it be some kind of entrance to a D.U.M.B?

Never know what TPTB conceal these days!

Not exactly Palm Islands





But it is strange looking, reminds me a little of telly tubby land.

Nice find, S+F

Island of Dr. No?

Perhaps it was going to be used for something like radar or an off shore radio transmitter/receiver but by the time they'd got around to it the need was no longer there so they just left it as it was

It's the Zygons. They've left Loch Ness after The Doctor defeated them years ago. Damn shapshifting giant cuttlefish!

sometimes an experimental reservoir , is just - an expeimental reservoir

at exceptionaly low tides - idiots can walk out to it - despite the fact that the salt marshes and mudbanks are treacherous

there are restrictions on visiting [ due to the birds ] - but no security - so if you ignore the signs - you can visit

there really is very little to see - its just an artificial island

the ` other half of the trail is located :

52°49'6.88"N
0°17'15.01"E

and has a footpath going to it - that is navigable in all conditions

thats about it - not everything is a conspiracy

unless you want to bring up the £3 million spent on the idiocy - when there are fare better ways of increasing the water supply to east anglia

One might almost think its a ufo sank into the sea which has sprouted grass and moss on its surface.

It was made in 1972. Not much of today's tech was even dreamnt back than. The reason of a fresh water reservoire in the midle of a river is actually a good idea, the river can get contaminated and for a short period of time some partially isolated storage would actually be a good idea. And the cost of it is not so high, the materials are quite cheap and common, most of the cost is about transporting them, something not so expensive in 1972. Beside it created a new home for wild life, so these money were not spent in vain, hence most of the wild life habitat has been destroyed all over Europe, where the highways are not designed with passages for wildlife and most of the forest dependent species have to live in less than a quarter of the habitat needed for them to actually thrive ...

This area is all part of RAF Holbeach.

It's a RAF Air Weapons range.

The 'Donut' can be found here, which is said to be an old attempt at a tidal barrage power station

Look for The Outer Trial Bank the-outer-trial-bank-lincolnshire-england


G

Looking closely at how its constructed, it very closely resembles the same methods used when installing impermeable membrane to contain runoff and prevent percolation at sanitary landfills.

Look:

ibb.co...

So the explanation of it being a water-containment testbed makes plenty of sense. Alternatively, it might have been a test of methods and materials to prevent saltwater intrusion. This is a problem when coastal areas obtain their fresh water from wells. As water is extracted, percolation of groundwater cannot keep up with demand, so seawater percs from the coast, through bedrock, and into the freshwater aquifer.

Interesting stuff for sure!