| Summary : The Beacons was originally an Anti-Aircraft Operations Room (AAOR) constructed for the Royal Artillery between 1950 and 1951, as part of the Cold War British defence policy in response to the threat posed by the atomic bomb and the necessary measures to protect its occupants from the effects of nuclear attack. It received long-range radar reports of the approach of hostile aircraft from the RAF's Master Radar Stations. The Anti-Aircraft Command was abolished in 1956, and in 1961 the bunker was acquired by Cheshire County Council and used as a Civil Defence Training Centre. The Civil Defence Corps was disbanded in 1968 and the building remained empty. It was refurbished in 1986-87, becoming the Cheshire County Standby Emergency Centre and the Cheshire Fire Brigade County Standby Control Centre.It is one of only four surface built Anti-aircraft Operations Rooms surviving in the country. It was protected from blast, heat and the initial radiation burst by being set back into the slope of a hill. The building is square on plan comprising a two-storey semi-sunken reinforced concrete structure with a central operations/plotting room surrounded on both floors by a circulating corridor, with control cabins, offices, communications rooms, plant rooms, latrines and dormitories. It is built of reinforced concrete and has steel blast doors and ventilators.The Beacons is a Grade II Listed Building. For the designation record of this site please see The National Heritage List for England. |
More information : SJ 5199 7660. The Beacons is an Emergency Planning Centre operated by Cheshire County Council. It occupies a double storey reinforced concrete bunker built about 1950 to house an Anti-Aicraft Operations Room (AAOR). It was built to control the newly established automated anti-aircraft gun sites in the Merseyside region. This role ceased in 1955 when the army relinquished responsibility for air defence.
Technically, the site at Frodsham is notable for the installation of the prototype Orange Yeoman tactical control radar in the mid 1950s. Although the AAOR ceased operation in 1955 this radar remained in place for training purposes until 1959 when it was relocated. Soon afterwards the bunker was taken over by Cheshire County Council for use as an Emergency Planning Centre. It retains this role and is in good structural condition. (1)
The Anti-Aircraft Operations Room (AAOR) was one of twenty-eight purpose-built examples constructed for the Royal Artillery between 1950 and 1951, as part of the Cold War British defence policy in response to the threat posed by the atomic bomb and the necessary measures to protect its occupants from the effects of nuclear attack. It was under the command of 4 Group, 79 Brigade and controlled the gun sites in the Mersey Gun Defended Area. The operations room received long-range radar reports of the approach of hostile aircraft from the RAF's Master Radar Stations. It is also one of only four Anti-aircraft Operations Rooms surviving in England that were built on the surface, but protected from blast, heat and the initial radiation burst by being set back into the slope of a hill.
The Anti-Aircraft Command was abolished in 1956, and in 1961 the bunker was acquired by Cheshire County Council and used as a Civil Defence Training Centre. The Civil Defence Corps was disbanded in 1968 and the building remained empty. It was refurbished in 1986-87, becoming the Cheshire County Standby Emergency Centre and the Cheshire Fire Brigade County Standby Control Centre.
The building is square on plan comprising a two-storey semi-sunken reinforced concrete structure with a central operations/plotting room surrounded on both floors by a circulating corridor, with control cabins, offices, communications rooms, plant rooms, latrines and dormitories.It is built of reinforced concrete and has steel blast doors and ventilators.
The former Anti-aircraft Operations Room is a Grade II Listed Building. For the designation record of this site please see The National Heritage List for England. (2-3)
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