These strange octagonal buildings stand in a cluster around on Halnaker Hill near Chichester, West Sussex and are often mistaken for pillboxes or gun emplacements.
Actually, there is some debate about their purpose: The N.M.R. states that they are searchlight emplacements but Tyrell's List, the definitive authority on defensive structures in Sussex holds that they are the remains of an H.F.D.F. (High Frequency Direction Finding) station. Personally I favour the latter theory, as there were several R.A.F. stations nearby (Goodwood, Tangmere and Merston) although there might have been a duality of purpose at some time.
At the outbreak of W.W.II the only method of remotely determining the position of aircraft was using towers such as these. The brick enclosures would have protected a 3 storey wooden tower containing a an aerial by which high-frequency radio signals were exchanged with aircraft to guide them to their bases. The aerials were capable of being rotated through 360 degrees by a 'steering wheel' housed in the cabin below.
A rather grainy pic of an RDF tower on Beachy Head, East Sussex from Tyrell's List.
Partially demolished tower
Detail of the tower base
A more complete tower base
Baffle/blast wall entrance
Inside
Drain in floor
Another of the tower bases
Remains of concrete hardstanding
This huge tank might have been a fuel supply for the generator.
This building is behind the huge tank and is capped with a flat reinforced concrete roof. My guess is that it was the engine/generator room. The interior was inaccessible.
The hill is also shared by a neolithic causewayed enclosure and the famous Halnaker windmill, a tower mill built in the 1740s which worked until it was struck by lightning in 1905. The derelict mill was the subject of Hillaire Belloc's poem Ha'nacker Mill, a metaphor for the decay of rural England at the time. It was restored without its machinery in 1934 by Neve's, the Heathfield millwrights as a memorial to the wife of Sir William Bird, M.P. for Chichester. Further repair works were done in 1954 and 2004. It is possible that the mill also served as an observation post during WWII.
Windmill and tower base
Halnaker Mill
Looking up inside the mill. No machinery here, only the windshaft remains.
Chichester Cathedral in the distance. Spot the Rolls Royce Factory and the 'plane coming in to land at Goodwood.
Thanks for reading,
A.
Actually, there is some debate about their purpose: The N.M.R. states that they are searchlight emplacements but Tyrell's List, the definitive authority on defensive structures in Sussex holds that they are the remains of an H.F.D.F. (High Frequency Direction Finding) station. Personally I favour the latter theory, as there were several R.A.F. stations nearby (Goodwood, Tangmere and Merston) although there might have been a duality of purpose at some time.
At the outbreak of W.W.II the only method of remotely determining the position of aircraft was using towers such as these. The brick enclosures would have protected a 3 storey wooden tower containing a an aerial by which high-frequency radio signals were exchanged with aircraft to guide them to their bases. The aerials were capable of being rotated through 360 degrees by a 'steering wheel' housed in the cabin below.
A rather grainy pic of an RDF tower on Beachy Head, East Sussex from Tyrell's List.
Partially demolished tower
Detail of the tower base
A more complete tower base
Baffle/blast wall entrance
Inside
Drain in floor
Another of the tower bases
Remains of concrete hardstanding
This huge tank might have been a fuel supply for the generator.
This building is behind the huge tank and is capped with a flat reinforced concrete roof. My guess is that it was the engine/generator room. The interior was inaccessible.
The hill is also shared by a neolithic causewayed enclosure and the famous Halnaker windmill, a tower mill built in the 1740s which worked until it was struck by lightning in 1905. The derelict mill was the subject of Hillaire Belloc's poem Ha'nacker Mill, a metaphor for the decay of rural England at the time. It was restored without its machinery in 1934 by Neve's, the Heathfield millwrights as a memorial to the wife of Sir William Bird, M.P. for Chichester. Further repair works were done in 1954 and 2004. It is possible that the mill also served as an observation post during WWII.
Windmill and tower base
Halnaker Mill
Looking up inside the mill. No machinery here, only the windshaft remains.
Chichester Cathedral in the distance. Spot the Rolls Royce Factory and the 'plane coming in to land at Goodwood.
Thanks for reading,
A.
