Foulness Island passing of the Ministry of Defence Act 1946 and the subsequent rationalisation of five agencies in 1971, ownership of the island passed from the War Office to the Ministry of Defence. In 2003, a contract to manage the testing of munitions was awarded to the defence contractors QinetiQ, and they also control access to the island. In the 1850s, the South Essex Estuary and Reclamation Company proposed a grand scheme to reclaim around of land on the Essex coast, which would have included most of Foulness Sands and Maplin Sands. The civil engineer Sir John Rennie produced the plans, and
Owey Island school, which closed in 1971; its remains are still there. It had just one teacher in charge of the primary education of all ages, while for their secondary education children had to be sent to the mainland. Owey Island Owey Island ( ) is an island of the Atlantic Ocean belonging to County Donegal, Ireland. The island is around 300 acres (1.2 square kilometres) in area. It lies off the Donegal coast near Kincasslagh. The island's highest hill, Moylemore, is at 102 m. The buildings of the island are located on its southern part, being the northern one rocky and