Foulness Island has a population of around 160 and is normally closed to non-residents, as it belongs to the Ministry of Defence. A School of Gunnery was established there in 1859 and since 2003 a private firm has been testing munitions under contract on the many firing ranges on the island. Like the village pub, the church is now closed. The dwindling population has no need for a church, the structure of which is now deemed unsafe: the isolated and potentially hostile environment of the island a fitting match to the ailing Victorian folly. View of Foulness Church from north