Norfolk Heritage Explorer

Location

Full description

Site of radar station.
Type 54 CHEL system together with Oboe site, important part of the precision bombing system.
Demolished in 1950s and replaced by concrete works, now in turn replaced by chalets.
See (S1).
E. Rose (NLA), 9 January 2001.

February 2006. Norfolk NMP.
NMP mapping has led to the alteration of the central grid reference of the site from TG 4984 1870 to TG 4991 1868.

The World War Two radar station described above is visible as earthworks, structures and buildings on aerial photographs taken from 1944 onwards (S2)-(S6). This extensive site stretched along approximately 700m of coastline, between TG 4983 1903 and TG 5007 1837. The site is listed in Dobinson 2000 (S7) (p 168) as a Coast Defence / Chain Home Low (CD/CHL) station. CD/CHL was initially an independent low-cover network controlled by the Army and used to monitor enemy shipping. CD/CHL stations were subsequently incorporated into a unified low-cover chain with a Triple-Service role, under RAF control. Upgraded with high-frequency centimetric equipment they became known as Chain Home Extra Low (CHEL) stations, capable of detecting and tracking very low flying aircraft for example. The Winterton site, which was also known as Blood Hill, was numbered M135 as a CD/CHL station, becoming K135 when it was upgraded to a CHEL (S7) (p 168; p 171). It was using centimetric equipment mounted on a tower by December 1942 (S8) (p130: table xiii). It was also an ‘Oboe’ or ‘9000’ site (S1), housing radar equipment used by the navigation systems of bombers attacking the continent. A second ‘Oboe’ station was located at Scratby, approximately 2.5km along the coast to the south (NHER 18359), while another was located at RAF Trimingham, also a CD/CHL and later CHEL radar station (NHER 6799). The M-series equipment at Winterton was decommissioned between January 1943 and January 1944 (S8) (p143-4, table xvii), but the K-series and ‘Oboe’ equipment may have continued in use after this date.

Various other World War Two military sites identified in the surrounding area may have been associated with the radar station. Most notably, the military camp located 150m to its south (NHER 42500), which is linked to the station by a track, almost certainly provided accommodation and other facilities for the station’s crew. The site is also likely to have had outlying defences. As well as the coast defences sited to the east of the radar station, such as the minefields on the dunes below it (NHER 42453), a pillbox located approximately 575m to its south (NHER 16791) may also have been an associated defence.

The site is first visible on aerial photographs taken in May 1944 (S2). There is no evidence of military activity here on aerial photographs taken in 1940 and the radar station was presumably constructed at some time from Spring 1941 onwards, in common with other CD/CHL sites. The site has been mapped as visible in 1944, with some elements being mapped from later aerial photographs on which they are clearer (S3)-(S6). It was almost entirely enclosed by lines of barbed wire and beach or anti tank scaffolding, which had also been used to subdivide the area into several smaller compounds. In places, this is difficult to distinguish from vegetation on the consulted aerial photographs. Consequently, some of the mapped lines may merely be vegetation while other, unmapped boundaries (such as the hedge between TG 4970 1893 and TG 4973 1877) may have been reinforced. The semi-circular lines of barbed wire visible between TG 4984 1884 and TG 4986 1877 appear to have been supplemented by a ditch.

The tower visible at TG 4980 1874 was presumably that on which the CHEL centimetric equipment was mounted, as discussed above. As at RAF Trimingham (NHER 6799), the curved-profile hut (probably a Nissen hut) immediately to its east may have been the CHEL Transmitter/Receiver Block. Similarly, an adjoining concrete building and a second building slightly to the east may have housed the latrines and the Stand-by Set House. Further huts and buildings are visible in this area of the site, most notably a small curved-profile hut and a flat-roofed building surrounded by a blast wall at TG 4975 1876.

To the east lay a large number of buildings and other structures. These encroached upon the gardens of existing houses along the cliff edge, which had presumably been requisitioned. They included a curved-profile hut with a gantry positioned over each end and surrounded by a blast wall, at TG 4994 1867. This was presumably a transmitter and/or receiver building. A blast wall surrounded a smaller curved-profile hut at TG 4993 1874. What appears to have been a partially covered shaft, walled with masonry or concrete, is visible at TG 4988 1876 on aerial photographs taken in 1952 (S6). This may have been covered by a structure on earlier aerial photographs and was perhaps an air raid shelter. Pits at TG 4982 1886 and TG 4987 1877 may have been weapons pits or gun emplacements. Further defences of this type may be visible on the 1944 aerial photographs (S2) but their identification was too uncertain to warrant mapping every possible pit or emplacement.

The dominant feature of the larger compound to the south was a block of between four and seven curved-profile huts, all surrounded by a blast wall, with gantries positioned over either end of the central hut and a longer gantry extending across the middle of all the huts. A second hut, again surrounded by a blast wall, and a smaller concrete building lay immediately to the east. An identical arrangement of structures was evident at Scratby, where they were identified as the station for the ‘Oboe’ bomber guidance system (NHER 18359). Amongst the other features visible within this area, notable structures include a single hut with a gantry over its north end at TG 4998 1861, and a shorter hut at TG 4995 1861, both of which were surrounded by blast walls. Four pits arranged in a square at TG 4994 1857 are visible on the 1945 aerial photographs (S3). They probably reflect the former presence of a structure, but what this was is not known, as nothing is visible here on the 1944 photographs. In 1944 (S2) probable vehicles are visible at approximately TG 4993 1860, as are various temporary structures (removed by 1945); the former have not been mapped. Earthworks at TG 4989 1863 and TG 4992 1863 may have been defences, similar to those described above. An area of disturbed ground, the extent of which has been mapped, at TG 4995 1864 may also represent a former earthwork or may relate to the removal of a structure.

The radar station was presumably decommissioned during or soon after the end of World War Two, and its associated buildings and structures were slowly dismantled or demolished in the post-war period. There is no evidence on recent aerial photographs of the site (S9) that any traces of it now survive above ground.
S. Tremlett (NMP), 8 February 2006.

Monument Types

• AIR RAID SHELTER? (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• ANTI TANK SCAFFOLDING (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• BARBED WIRE OBSTRUCTION (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• BEACH DEFENCE (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• BEACH SCAFFOLDING (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• BLAST WALL (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• CHAIN HOME EXTRA LOW STATION (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• COAST DEFENCE CHAIN HOME LOW STATION (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• DITCH (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• ENGINE HOUSE (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• GENERATOR HOUSE (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• GUN EMPLACEMENT (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• HUT (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• MILITARY BUILDING (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• NISSEN HUT? (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• PIT (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• RADAR BEACON (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• RADAR STATION (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• STAND BY SET HOUSE (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• TANK TRAP (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• TOWER (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• TRANSMITTER SITE (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• WEAPONS PIT (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)

Associated Finds - none

Protected Status - none

Sources and further reading

Related records

Find out more...

• Parish Summary: Winterton on Sea (Parish Summary)