Cold War Defence Boom

Southend-on-Sea

The current Boom was built in 1944 replacing the wooden structure which was demolished, the new Boom is located 100 yards (91 m) east of the original. This was constructed by sinking re-enforced concrete piles into the seabed, stretching to the sandbanks 2 miles off shore. The Boom on the Kent coat was never replaced, with the 1939/40 Boom being demolished as a hazard to shipping. A few sections have been removed whilst other parts have collapsed, the roadway has long been removed leaving just the re-enforced piles and bracing in place, corrosion is evident across the entire structure with the bracing showing very heavy corrosion and a number of the re-enforced piles showing signs of splitting and bursting from the metal corroding inside the concrete, this said the structure does still appear to be fairly sound and should last many more years. Today fifty five years after the Cold War Boom was constructed and decades after it was abandoned, strangely it is still covered by the 1953 Official Secrets Act and is "forbidden" to be photographed!