# RAF Hartland Point and Cleave



## exal66 (Jan 3, 2012)

This site has yet to be done on here so I thought I would! Not an awful lot remains here but it is a rather spectacular bit of coast with lots of history, well worth a visit. Take a look at Nick Catford's site for a full description http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/sites/h/hartland_point/index.html 


Google earth view of the site, the bases of the old R8 technical block and associated buildings can be seen on the bottom right along with the access road up to site of the aerials







Bases for the Type 13 Radar gantry 
















WWII Air raid shelter






Inside the shelter






Former station building now used by the Coastguard






The lighthouse with Lundy island in the background






Whilst in the area I paid a quick visit to GCHQ Bude at the former site of RAF Cleave






The Married quarters have recently been emptied and are currently up for disposal. They were put up for auction in London but did not reach the reserve, only attaining £1.2 million for 16 houses (£75,000 each, and by westcountry standards thats a steal!)


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## Krypton (Jan 3, 2012)

Looks cool, i hope the houses find a new use soon


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## night crawler (Jan 3, 2012)

I've been camping down there in the past, should have got into exploring when I was younger got pissed in the pub as you come in a few times (think it's called the anchor). Interesting photo's


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## Munchh (Jan 3, 2012)

Thanks for reporting on this. 

As a post script I'd have to say that my enjoyment of your post was somewhat overshadowed by the potential fate of the married quarters, particularly with 2 million people on the waiting list for social housing. What a waste.


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## highcannons (Jan 3, 2012)

Thanks for the post, been meaning to have a nose up there for a while. Liked the pictures


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## exal66 (Jan 3, 2012)

Its a real shame as those houses are literally right next to the dishes and have a truly amazing view. Unfortunately I don't think most people would appreciate it. Also to top it, to look at, the houses look almost brand new as being MOD they have been very well looked after. Oh well, I'm sure some wealthy person will make a huge profit from them at some point, after all everyone needs second home for the summer holidays.


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## BobClay (May 13, 2021)

They're not brand new. I lived in one for two years 1989 to 1991 and they had been restored at that time from a fairly poor condition. As of this date they're all sold. They're not bad houses with fine views from the rear windows toward Kilkhampton but they are quite remote. In the winter they face right into the west and you get some serious winds up there. (One of the big dishes was blown down while I was there, and roof tiles came off with monotonous regularity.)


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## Walrus75 (May 14, 2021)

BobClay said:


> In the winter they face right into the west and you get some serious winds up there...


That'll explain the porches being added with the doors both facing the same direction I guess.


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## Hayman (May 16, 2021)

Walrus75 said:


> That'll explain the porches being added with the doors both facing the same direction I guess.


There will be thousands/millions? of ordinary homes with porches. Apart from acting as a barrier against sudden cold entering the house on opening the front door, they are a place to change from outdoor footwear to indoor, to hang raincoats, leave wet umbrellas, etc. Very often, it would be the backdoor that had the porch, because that was the way people in working clothes entered their homes.


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## Walrus75 (May 18, 2021)

Hayman said:


> There will be thousands/millions? of ordinary homes with porches. Apart from acting as a barrier against sudden cold entering the house on opening the front door, they are a place to change from outdoor footwear to indoor, to hang raincoats, leave wet umbrellas, etc. Very often, it would be the backdoor that had the porch, because that was the way people in working clothes entered their homes.


As a 58 year old I think I've grasped the concept of porches by now but cheers for confirming my understanding of them.  Maybe I should have clarified my comment by saying "the porch doors on both houses, in fact all the houses on that row, facing in the same direction".


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## BobClay (May 18, 2021)

You would want the porches to be side on to the prevailing westerly wind. When I lived in one of those initially, there was no porch. The winter winds could literally drive the rain through the front door edges. Often found a pool of water in the hallway. When they added the porches (while I was there,) all that went away. They also added those big heavy doors to the front facing passageway to the side building which at the time contain a coalhouse. You stepped out of the kitchen to get some coal before they were there and the wind had you at the bottom of the rear garden !!! I also see the guttering has been completely replaced since I lived there. The old guttering got blown off now and again too.
In the summer it was a great place to live, there's even a pub, The Bush Inn about 30 minutes walk away (also pretty remote.)
But in the winter ......


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## Walrus75 (May 18, 2021)

BobClay said:


> You would want the porches to be side on to the prevailing westerly wind. When I lived in one of those initially, there was no porch. The winter winds could literally drive the rain through the front door edges. ...


I lived just around the corner (kind of) at Chivenor in the early 90's so I remember the winds somewhat, no porch on our married quarter and the front door faced south-west, you certainly knew it when you opened the door 
Coincidentally the house we were in was exactly the same as the council house my grandparents lived in for all of their married lives, up t'north in Lancashire.


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## Hayman (May 18, 2021)

Sorry for the 'egg-sucking' lecture! A mud scraper - either steel bars or heavy bristles set in a heavy base - and maybe a boot puller were often part of the essential equipment, especially in a back porch. I see that the outer porch doors are at right angles to the inner house doors; so that the wind does not blow straight against the inner house doors. In the days when people had daily milk deliveries, having a porch for the milkman to put the milk bottles, cream, butter, eggs, cooking fat, etc was safer than leaving them to the elements; and a place to put the money to pay the weekly bill if one was out. A friend in west London had a porch built onto the front of his surburban house simply as a wind break. It is cluttered with all manner of things.


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## Walrus75 (May 19, 2021)

Hayman said:


> Sorry for the 'egg-sucking' lecture! ....
> ...In the days when people had daily milk deliveries, having a porch for the milkman to put the milk bottles, cream, butter, eggs, cooking fat, etc was safer than leaving them to the elements; ...


No problem mate.
And it helped in keeping the cheeky wee birds from pecking the tops of the bottles open and nicking the cream!


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## Hayman (May 20, 2021)

Walrus75 said:


> No problem mate.
> And it helped in keeping the cheeky wee birds from pecking the tops of the bottles open and nicking the cream!


Ah yes - those foil top milk nickers! In the 1950s I lived at Buckfastleigh, Devon. There was a dairy called Hill's Dairy at the western end of the old bypass, run by Marjorie Hill and her aged mother; her father who had started the business having died. There were two vans, an old Bradford (yes, Bradford) and, bought new, one of the Bedford CAs with the sliding front doors. My step-father worked with Marjorie, delivering milk, eggs, lard, cream, etc - and I earned pocket money on Saturdays and Sundays going out on either the town round or the country one.

The dairy had been built as a mill, and in the outbuildings was the detritus of decades. Amongst it were thousands of the old cardboard tops for the milk bottles with the wide necks into which the tops would fit, with a small round push-in tab so that the milk could be poured without removing the whole top. I can only imagine that, at one time, the milk was brought in bulk and bottled on site. With the cardboard tops were bottles with wide necks ranging in size from quart (two pint) to pint, to half pint to quarter pint.

When the A38 Devon Expressway was built, the buildings disappeared under it. But I still have the memories of turning round in the passenger seat of the Bedord CA, grabbing two bottles between my schoolboy fingers and, the sliding door always held back, leaping out before my step-father had brought the van to a halt. And we had 'proper milk' then, with an inch of cream at the top of each bottle. Delicious! And there was Channel Island gold top, with even more cream to enjoy.

The milk was brought by lorry very early in the morning from Daw’s Creamery at Totnes, six miles away. One winter, it was so cold that the milk froze in the bottles, pushing the aluminium foil tops off the bottles.

My grandparents lived at Staverton, halfway to Totnes, and their milk was brought by pony and trap from Triggs’s farm, in the village; two large churns sat in the trap, with the milk doled out into customers’ own enamelled cans. And I got to ride back to the farm in the trap.


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