|
| ALTERNATIVE NAME: |
CHAIN HOME EXTRA LOW STATION K162, CHAIN HOME STATION CH26 |
|
|
ABOUT THIS MONUMENT
|
+
/
-
|
|
An Air Ministry Research Station to develop Radio Direction Finding equipment (radar) was established at Bawdsey Manor (see record 879544 for details of the house itself) in 1936. In 1937 a training school was established and the station became the first operational Chain Home radar station in 1937. 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. During the Battle of Britain, the facilities at Bawdsy were important in providing early warning within the key 11 Group RAF Fighter Command sector, specifically for the southern North Sea and the Channel approaches. It also gave radar cover to help protect coastal convoys. The site was upgraded in 1942 and fitted with centimetric radar to become a Chain Home Extra Low station, called site K162. The site remained operational until 1952 when it was closed and refitted as part of the Rotor programme. The new station opened in 1953 to 1954 to the north of the Second World War site and was continually refurbished and remained operational until 1975. The site was then used as a Bloodhound MKII missile site (record number 1309161) until July 1990. The site was included in the English Heritage Cold War Project. A survey in 1995 found structures and features surviving from all of the Radar Station's phases.
|
| URL: |
http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=1309533
|
| MONUMENT NUMBER: |
1309533 |
COUNTY: |
SUFFOLK
|
| NMR NUMBER: |
TM 33 NW 70 |
DISTRICT: |
SUFFOLK COASTAL |
| LAST UPDATED: |
2010 |
PARISH: |
BAWDSEY |
|
|
AREA: |
BAWDSEY MANOR |
|
|
STREET: |
N/A |
|
|
MARITIME LOCATION: |
N/A |
|
|
LOCATION: |
TM 3412 3831
|
|
MORE INFORMATION & SOURCES
|
+
/
-
|
TM 3412 3828. The Air Ministry Research Station at Bawdsey was established in 1936, in a late nineteenth century country house (TM 33 NW 62), to develop Radio Direction Finding (RDF) equipment. The site became the first operational Chain Home (CH) RDF station in 1937 and a training school was also established in the same year. A variety of other equipment was added during the Second World War and the site remained operational until 1952. Following closure, a new radar station with an underground operations room was built to the north of the former main sIte. The new station became operational 1953/54 and was re-equipped on a number of occasions before being closed in 1975. The radar arrays were dismantled two years later and the majority of the plinths were demolished to make way for a Bloodhound MKII missile site (TM 33 NW 69). The missile site remained active until July 1990, and the station was officially closed in March 1991.
Structures and features survive from all phases of the station's phases, these include: the footings of the transmitter hut and aerial tower base (c1936), a truncated Self Supporting Transmitter Tower, the bases of three transmitter towers, the bases of two receiver towers, a transmitter block, a receiver block, a stand-by set house, a central heating station, a research block, a filter school, nine married quarters, (c1937-39): an Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) cubicle, a gas decontamination block, a 2pdr (40mm) ammunition store, nine pillboxes, and a variety of ancillary structures (c1939-45): two guardrooms, a R3 underground operations block, a guardhouse, a post office, a sub station, and a sewage works (c1953-59): a R17 Type 84 modulator building (1962): twelve missile hardstandings, two radar heads, two offices, a dog section, a garage, two ready use missile stores, an Explosive Fitment Bay, three generator buildings, a store, and two emergency water supplies (c1979-1990).
The site has been described in a Level 3 report and recorded by ground photography. (1)
A Chain Home station located at Bawdsey (TM 336 380) established by September 1939. 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 Bawdsey they were located at: VP 124 (1) at TM 345 386; VP 124 (2) at TM 331 377; VP 124 (3) at TM 333 384. The receiver block was located at TM 337 380. From 1942 CHL sites were combined with the British Army's Coastal Defence/Chain Home Low (CD/CHL) sites to form one system of low-cover radar under the control of the Royal Air Force. These selected stations were upgraded with centimetric radars to become the K-series of Chain Home Extra Low (CHEL) stations. This improvement in radar technology meant that fewer stations were needed to give the same coverage and as a result many CHL and CD/CHL stations not upgraded were closed. Bawdsey became CHEL station K162. (2)
Aerial photography from 1998 shows that Bawdsey remains a well preserved site. A receiver block with four sets of aerial bases remains. The transmission block with four sets of aerial bases also remains, with one aerial retaining its radar. Buried transmitter and receiver buildings and their attached aerials are in good condition. A number of accommodation buildings remain, and a large number of ancillary buildings. Nine pillboxes are also visible. (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, an auxiliary power supply. The technical site of Bawdsey Rotor station was located at TM 347 388 and the domestic site at TM 335 380. A stand-by set was located at both sites. (4-6)
Aerial photography from 1995 shows the R1 operations building visible within the Second World War layout immediately to the south of the R1 Ground Controlled Interception site (GCI/B). The latter site comprises its guardhouse, sunked R3 operations building, Type 84 Modulator building, R7 radar plinth and other aerial arrays. The site is now mostly taken over by a Bloodhound missile site above ground. Little remains of the domestic site, but ancillary buildings connected with the sites operation remain. The domestic area was located to the north to north-west of Bawdsey Manor. (7)
During the Battle of Britain, the chain home station facilities at Bawdsy were important in providing early warning within the key 11 Group RAF Fighter Command sector: specifically for the southern North Sea and the Channel approaches. It also gave radar cover to help protect coastal convoys. (8)
|
SOURCE TEXT
(1) Field Investigators Comments
Wayne D Cocroft/22-MAR-2000/EH: Cold War project
|
(2) C S Dobinson 2000 Twentieth century fortifications in England, volume 7. Acoustics and radar: England's early warning systems 1915-1945
Page(s)45,162
|
(3) Michael J. Anderton 2000 Twentieth century military recording project: World War Two radar stations
Page(s)76
|
(4) Cocroft, Wayne D; Thomas, Roger J C 2003 Cold War: Building for Nuclear Confrontation 1946-1989
Page(s)86-110
|
(5) C.S. Dobinson 2000 Twentieth century fortifications in England. Volume XI.1. The Cold War (text)
|
(6) C.S. Dobinson 2000 Twentieth century fortifications in England. Volume XI.2. The Cold War (Appendices)
Page(s)151
|
(7) Michael J. Anderton 2000 Twentieth Century Military Recording Project: Cold War Rotor Stations
Page(s)52
|
(8) World Wide Web page
Royal Air Force 2005. 'Battle of Britain: 11 Group' http://www.raf.mod.uk/bob1940/11group.html [Accessed 13-JUL-2010]
|
|
|
|