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Old 5th Mar 2023, 3:24 pm   #1
Mach One
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Default Which Transmission Facility Might This Be?

Whiling away an hour or so looking at some old Ordnance Survey maps I came across the attached. From the look of it it is a sizeable transmission facility to the North East of Cheadle in Staffordshire. I have Googled all the permutations of the place names near there and "transmitter" or "radio station" and can find no mention of anything at all - which is unusual.

Is there someone who can enlighten me? I suspect, with the demise of radio as it were that the facility is no longer there?
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Old 5th Mar 2023, 3:29 pm   #2
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Default Re: Which Transmission Facility Might This Be?

At a guess, a radio telescope?

One possibility: https://www.jodrellbank.manchester.a...lometre-array/
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Old 5th Mar 2023, 3:36 pm   #3
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Default Re: Which Transmission Facility Might This Be?

Nothing visible on Google.

It may be something to do with the government cold war bunker at Swynnerton, which isn't too far away: https://www.subbrit.org.uk/sites/swynnerton-rghq/

Jodrell Bank is 30 miles away.

What is the date of the map?
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Old 5th Mar 2023, 4:15 pm   #4
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Default Re: Which Transmission Facility Might This Be?

Woodhead Hall - the former RAF Cheadle.

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Old 5th Mar 2023, 4:17 pm   #5
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Default Re: Which Transmission Facility Might This Be?

A map published in 1951 shows a number of masts at that location.

EDIT: Post crossed.

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Old 5th Mar 2023, 4:19 pm   #6
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Default Re: Which Transmission Facility Might This Be?

I doubt that I'm on the right track here but I do recall that Jodrell Bank did aim at some sort of Diversity type set up [ie electronically linking several smaller Radio Telescopes dishes with JB] to, effectively, create one huge Radio T dish. I think it was to be extended as far as the South Coast or maybe into Europe but don't quote me on any of this It would be late eighties or early nineties. I used to take the children there and it would be "oh no, not Jodrell Bank again?" but they usually enjoyed the day out with the Wizard Pub, the Ridge nearby and Alan Garner stories. The Harry Potter of its day I suppose!

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I crossed with Woodhead Hall which seems much more likely, given the map date!
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Old 5th Mar 2023, 4:24 pm   #7
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Default Re: Which Transmission Facility Might This Be?

Spotted this one -

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.00...!3m1!1e3?hl=en

No clues though.
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Old 5th Mar 2023, 4:24 pm   #8
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Default Re: Which Transmission Facility Might This Be?

Try this link for more information.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/property...ght-after.html
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Old 5th Mar 2023, 4:37 pm   #9
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Default Re: Which Transmission Facility Might This Be?

It's not a transmitter, turns out it was a listening station first established in 1937 and no longer standing. A little googling turns up the following:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F...le,_Staffs.JPG

https://electronicspy.fr/431651551

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Old 5th Mar 2023, 4:48 pm   #10
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Default Re: Which Transmission Facility Might This Be?

The tower/mast in Post#7 viewed from Lockwood Road:

https://goo.gl/maps/A8JifXEaRj42Ymde6

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Old 5th Mar 2023, 5:11 pm   #11
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Default Re: Which Transmission Facility Might This Be?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Stockden View Post
Woodhead Hall - the former RAF Cheadle.

Hugh
Interesting, I grew up in the area and never knew it existed.
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Old 5th Mar 2023, 5:12 pm   #12
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Default Re: Which Transmission Facility Might This Be?

After a little more reading I found out that C.S.O.S is a Composite Signals Organisation Station.

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Old 5th Mar 2023, 5:32 pm   #13
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Default Re: Which Transmission Facility Might This Be?

Do we think they would have used banks of AR88 sets in a Diversity set up?
[similar to the one they re-created at Bletchley, perhaps ].

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Old 5th Mar 2023, 5:45 pm   #14
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Default Re: Which Transmission Facility Might This Be?

Here's a shot showing a National HRO and an Eddystone 358:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan...shire-50249356

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Old 5th Mar 2023, 5:51 pm   #15
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Default Re: Which Transmission Facility Might This Be?

It's amazing what a bit of old-map-archaeology shows up sometimes.

A couple of decades back I nearly bought a house just across the road from what was left of "RAF Blakehill Farm" -

https://www.rafblakehillfarm.co.uk/cold-war
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Old 5th Mar 2023, 6:30 pm   #16
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Default Re: Which Transmission Facility Might This Be?

Quote:
Originally Posted by paulsherwin View Post
What is the date of the map?
It's dated around 1990 but I have a pile of them which I have been looking at and they are all dated around them but some of the projected roads in such maps had certainly opened by then.

Thank you for the fascinating replies. I will now have a lot of interesting information to plough through.
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Old 5th Mar 2023, 8:15 pm   #17
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Default Re: Which Transmission Facility Might This Be?

Looking at the same area now, most of the site is now gone - with a solitary mast shown.
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Old 5th Mar 2023, 8:53 pm   #18
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Default Re: Which Transmission Facility Might This Be?

Thanks for the photo Lawrence [p14]. I'm guessing this will be at the start of the war,so they used what they had [including the Murphy A ninety 2 Station master with it's superior RF stage [sorry my nine key doesn't work at present] until proper comms sets came through. I'd never heard of this place either. Talk about hiding in plain sight [on a site!]. "Eyes Wide Shut" eh!

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Old 5th Mar 2023, 10:16 pm   #19
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Default Re: Which Transmission Facility Might This Be?

Kevin is probably the man to ask. I think his workshop is within spitting distance. I used to know the area well, but not been there much in the last 30 to 40 years.
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Old 5th Mar 2023, 11:16 pm   #20
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Default Re: Which Transmission Facility Might This Be?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Moll View Post
Looking at the same area now, most of the site is now gone - with a solitary mast shown.
Certainly if you look at the site with Google Maps satellite view, you just see agricultural fields. Presumably all the equipment was removed and scrapped in the 90s.
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