| Summary : A Royal Air Force Radar Station in operation between 1938-1955. During the Second World War this was a Chain Home station that provided early warning of enemy aircraft approaching Sheffield and Nottingham and the central midlands. The station comprised transmission and receiver blocks, four 240ft timber receiver aerial towers, four 350ft steel transmitter aerial towers that stood on concrete pads, and other buildings such as dispersed accommodation huts, guard huts and standby set houses. From 1940 defensive measures were installed at radar stations, including Light Anti-Aircraft gun emplacements, pill boxes, road blocks and air raid shelters. In the early 1950s the station was remodelled and technically restored as part of the Rotor programme. It was in use until 1955. Aerial photography from 1997 shows that the transmission and receiver blocks remain in good condition. Two sets of the original four receiver aerial base sets are visible. Concrete pads remain for three of the four sets of transmitter aerial bases, the fourth survives complete with its mast. A triangular pillbox is located at the western perimeter, as is a large ancillary building. The guardhouse remains at the southern entrance. A Nato Forward Scatter Station was built at the former Royal Air Force site in 1960 (see HOB UID 1309788). The site is owned by the Ministry of Defence. |
More information : TF 255 828. The Radio Direction Finding (RDF), or Radar Station at RAF Stenigot was built in 1938 as one of twenty Chain Home (CH) RDF stations, which provided long range early warning of aerial attack, from the Isle of Wight to the Orkneys. The site stands 151m above sea level and is about 16 km south-west of Louth, near to the village of Donnington on Bain. It originally occupied an area of 15 hectares and was enclosed by a chain link perimeter fence, defended by eight pillboxes. The main `A' site was equipped with four 360 ft self-supporting steel transmitter towers and four 240 ft self-supporting receiver towers associated with the buried reserve. The transmitter block, the receiver block, and the stand-by set house were also located on the `A' site. The domestic `B' site was located at the new buildings, approximately 1 km to the north-east. RAF Stenigot was upgraded post-war and was included in the `Rotor' plan of the early 1950s.
Currently the site occupies 5.56 hectares and many of the more ephemeral structures have been demolished. The surviving structures include; the receiver block, the base of two receiver towers, the transmitter block, a steel transmitter tower, an air raid shelter, a water tower, the stand-by set house, two pillboxes, a Turner's curved asbestos hut, a pair of married quarters, a guard room and various footings. The A site also contains structures and features associated with two 'Gee' (radio navigation) stations, dating from 1941 and circa 1956. In addition to the steel transmitter mast, the site is dominated by the four parabolic dishes of the NATO `Ace High' forward tropsperic scatter station, which was built within its own perimeter in the A site in 1960. The NATO site is a separate record (TF 28 SE 72).
A full written report has been prepared on the site and the site has been recorded by ground photography. (1)
A Chain Home Station located at Stenigot (TF 255 826), known as site CH34. It was established by 18-APR-1941. Chain Home stations commonly comprised transmission and receiver blocks, four 240ft timber receiver aerial towers, four 350ft steel transmitter aerial towers that stood on concrete pads, and other buildings such as dispersed accommodation huts, guard huts and standby set houses. From 1940 defensive measures were installed at radar stations, including Light Anti-Aircraft (LAA) gun emplacements, pill boxes, road blocks and air raid shelters. LAA emplacements were positioned at Vulnerable Points (VP). At Stenigot the LAA was located at VP 254 (A) at TF 257 826. (2)
A Chain Home Station at Stenigot. Aerial photography from 1997 shows that the transmission and receiver blocks remain in good condition. Two sets of the original four receiver aerial base sets are visible. Concrete pads remain for three of the four sets of transmitter aerial bases, the fourth survives complete with its mast. A triangular pillbox is located at the western perimeter, as is a large ancillary building. The guard house remains at the southern entrance. There are also bases for 2-3 ancillary structures. Building bases to the western edge of the site and to the north by the receiver block are from operational buildings used between the 1960s and the 1980s that were removed in the 1990s. (3)
The Rotor programme was developed to advance the wartime radar technology in detecting and locating fast-flying jets. It was approved by the Air Council in June 1950. The first phase of the programme, Rotor 1, was to technically restore existing Chain Home, centrimetric early warning, Chain Home Extra Low and Ground Controlled Interception stations and put them under the control of RAF Fighter Command. There were three main components to the Rotor stations: the technical site, including the radars, operation blocks and other installations; the domestic site, where personnel were accommodated; and the stand-by set house, a reserve power supply. The technical site for Stenigot Rotor station was located at TF 256 827. The domestic site was located at TF 266 832 and the stand-by set house was co-located at the technical site. (4-6)
Aerial photography from 1975 shows dilapidated buildings and some building bases at the domestic site. (7) |