dead format
Well-known member
Preface
Myself and my mentor/exploring partner Electric had been to the DP meetup.. We were staying overnight in a quirky little hotel. Staring a ceramic toad and a portrait of a cat in the eye, still half-dressed from the night before and feeling a little slowed down by prosecco and ale, I realised 4 years of no reports was unacceptable. I needed to dig the camera out and actually document what we do. Perhaps pre-empting this, I had already thrown the little used LowePro sack into the boot of the car. After a hearty breakfast – surreally taken on a single table with every other guest in the hotel sitting at it – Electric and I headed on to our first location of the Sunday.
The Venue
The site itself is very derelict by now. Sadly, it seems that some “guests” have moved in at some point. Domestic rubbish and a burnt-out caravan remained on site. And of course, sadly many elements of the site have been ripped apart. However, after a while, many parts of the original use as a PO/BT building came through - and I was surpised how well they had lasted.. In the following report I will try to give an overview of the site in its current state; some focus on the ‘interesting’ bits that remain as well as a little bit of processing (sorry in advance – just to get my mojo back with PhotoShop).
The site now has another Planning Dept. notice up next to it, and the outcome looks like houses will be going up pretty soon.
As for the history of the site, Electric has once again used his excellent sources, skills and archives to piece together a pretty fantastic history of the place. It was a lot more than I expected when we first approached the site:
Backwell PO Lab first came about around 1937. Some of its first work was related to developing cooling systems for telephone exchanges. It was a highly sensitive operation in its early years. Following a number of thefts, the 'White House' - the curved building - gained a night watchman. There was also an on site fire station which seems to have been later used as a vehicle maintanance area. It operated in conjunction with the Castleton station by 1945, and mid-war it was used to relay VHF Television signals- this was one of the first stations to be experimenting with this. By 1958 it was working in conjunction with a station in Slough, and they were working on Tropospheric tests (no idea). The final experiment was for 120MBPS Data links with Castleton again – after which it closed down in 1975. Ultimately this means that Backwell had a hell of a lot to do with early TV broadcast. There is even a reference to it being involved with the first overseas TV broadcast. Looking at some of the remaining equipment, I personally believe the site was still in use for some sort of British Telecom work in the early 1980’s – maybe for training or storage etc. It was sold in 1993.
The Explore
We used my car for the Bristol trip. This meant we had to arrive in a million-pound-plus neighbourhood, in a less than conspicuous car. Blending in ‘perfectly’, we smiled warmly and bellowed a hearty hello at the tweed and Barbour clad dog walker as we walked towards the entrance. At the main gate for the site, we found a fresh padlock and chain wrapped around the high gate, so had to take the long way around. Just as we were getting swamped by springs finest foliage, I started to hear voices. Of course, noises travel further in the countryside. But after the third voice we knew there were people about. The next ten minutes was spent sitting down in a bramble bush. After a bit of time passed, we finally got comfy and considered taking lunch in the bush. But with the voices having died off, we plodded on – slightly aware we may meet people inside - and aimed for the far end of the site. Somehow, I managed to miss the cut through and we ended up at an outbuilding. So without further ado, I’ll walk you through out version of events at PO Backwell in 2017…
The first building – furthest from the entrance – was empty inside, less a few telephone junction boxes. It was nicely decayed, although someone had tried to burn the door down. All the electric metal oil heaters were rotted together and stacked up in the adjoining shed.
DSC02726 by deadformat, on Flickr
DSC02727 by deadformat, on Flickr
DSC02724 by deadformat, on Flickr
DSC02730 by deadformat, on Flickr
DSC02722 by deadformat, on Flickr
The courtyard is littered with traveller detritus. That said, it was so peaceful here with amazing views over the hills. The buildings are all without glass, and the front of the upper floor extension on the workshop building has all but collapsed.
DSC02806 by deadformat, on Flickr
DSC02805 by deadformat, on Flickr
DSC02803 by deadformat, on Flickr
DSC02791 by deadformat, on Flickr
DSC02739 by deadformat, on Flickr
DSC02733 by deadformat, on Flickr
The rooms were by and large the same. A few fixtures remaining. Light switches gone in many but no sign of serious metal thieves. The plant room was fairly intact. The rest of it was mainly peely paint and smashed porcelain.
DSC02737 by deadformat, on Flickr
DSC02743 by deadformat, on Flickr
DSC02751 by deadformat, on Flickr
DSC02753 by deadformat, on Flickr
DSC02754 by deadformat, on Flickr
DSC02756 by deadformat, on Flickr
DSC02757 by deadformat, on Flickr
DSC02758 by deadformat, on Flickr
DSC02761 by deadformat, on Flickr
DSC02769 by deadformat, on Flickr
DSC02770 by deadformat, on Flickr
DSC02771 by deadformat, on Flickr
DSC02776 by deadformat, on Flickr
DSC02778 by deadformat, on Flickr
DSC02780 by deadformat, on Flickr
DSC02795 by deadformat, on Flickr
DSC02814 by deadformat, on Flickr
This next bit is one of the remaining insights to the site. It’s one of the main telecom rooms for the site – the wooden cabinet is quite well preserved and was used for patching the internal phone lines and PA system together. The Test Units have labels on from the early 1980’s suggesting the site was still maintained for a while.
DSC02796 by deadformat, on Flickr
DSC02801 by deadformat, on Flickr
The fire station/motor workshop - complete with vehicle pit and metal racking.
DSC02808 by deadformat, on Flickr
DSC02809 by deadformat, on Flickr
And finally - just because
HDR_Paintpeel by deadformat, on Flickr
HDR_Room by deadformat, on Flickr
So that's it. A very peaceful explore overall (once the voices had dissapeared). I expected a trashed site, so went in with the mindset of focusing on the history and trying to spot signs of its previous use. I hope we have brought you a slightly different insight to what seems to be a forgotten part of the history of broadcast! Any criticism or input warmly recieved however!
You'll be hearing more from me soon - sooner than 4 years
DSC02816 by deadformat, on Flickr
Myself and my mentor/exploring partner Electric had been to the DP meetup.. We were staying overnight in a quirky little hotel. Staring a ceramic toad and a portrait of a cat in the eye, still half-dressed from the night before and feeling a little slowed down by prosecco and ale, I realised 4 years of no reports was unacceptable. I needed to dig the camera out and actually document what we do. Perhaps pre-empting this, I had already thrown the little used LowePro sack into the boot of the car. After a hearty breakfast – surreally taken on a single table with every other guest in the hotel sitting at it – Electric and I headed on to our first location of the Sunday.
The Venue
The site itself is very derelict by now. Sadly, it seems that some “guests” have moved in at some point. Domestic rubbish and a burnt-out caravan remained on site. And of course, sadly many elements of the site have been ripped apart. However, after a while, many parts of the original use as a PO/BT building came through - and I was surpised how well they had lasted.. In the following report I will try to give an overview of the site in its current state; some focus on the ‘interesting’ bits that remain as well as a little bit of processing (sorry in advance – just to get my mojo back with PhotoShop).
The site now has another Planning Dept. notice up next to it, and the outcome looks like houses will be going up pretty soon.
As for the history of the site, Electric has once again used his excellent sources, skills and archives to piece together a pretty fantastic history of the place. It was a lot more than I expected when we first approached the site:
Backwell PO Lab first came about around 1937. Some of its first work was related to developing cooling systems for telephone exchanges. It was a highly sensitive operation in its early years. Following a number of thefts, the 'White House' - the curved building - gained a night watchman. There was also an on site fire station which seems to have been later used as a vehicle maintanance area. It operated in conjunction with the Castleton station by 1945, and mid-war it was used to relay VHF Television signals- this was one of the first stations to be experimenting with this. By 1958 it was working in conjunction with a station in Slough, and they were working on Tropospheric tests (no idea). The final experiment was for 120MBPS Data links with Castleton again – after which it closed down in 1975. Ultimately this means that Backwell had a hell of a lot to do with early TV broadcast. There is even a reference to it being involved with the first overseas TV broadcast. Looking at some of the remaining equipment, I personally believe the site was still in use for some sort of British Telecom work in the early 1980’s – maybe for training or storage etc. It was sold in 1993.
The Explore
We used my car for the Bristol trip. This meant we had to arrive in a million-pound-plus neighbourhood, in a less than conspicuous car. Blending in ‘perfectly’, we smiled warmly and bellowed a hearty hello at the tweed and Barbour clad dog walker as we walked towards the entrance. At the main gate for the site, we found a fresh padlock and chain wrapped around the high gate, so had to take the long way around. Just as we were getting swamped by springs finest foliage, I started to hear voices. Of course, noises travel further in the countryside. But after the third voice we knew there were people about. The next ten minutes was spent sitting down in a bramble bush. After a bit of time passed, we finally got comfy and considered taking lunch in the bush. But with the voices having died off, we plodded on – slightly aware we may meet people inside - and aimed for the far end of the site. Somehow, I managed to miss the cut through and we ended up at an outbuilding. So without further ado, I’ll walk you through out version of events at PO Backwell in 2017…
The first building – furthest from the entrance – was empty inside, less a few telephone junction boxes. It was nicely decayed, although someone had tried to burn the door down. All the electric metal oil heaters were rotted together and stacked up in the adjoining shed.
DSC02726 by deadformat, on FlickrDSC02727 by deadformat, on FlickrDSC02724 by deadformat, on FlickrDSC02730 by deadformat, on FlickrDSC02722 by deadformat, on FlickrThe courtyard is littered with traveller detritus. That said, it was so peaceful here with amazing views over the hills. The buildings are all without glass, and the front of the upper floor extension on the workshop building has all but collapsed.
DSC02806 by deadformat, on FlickrDSC02805 by deadformat, on FlickrDSC02803 by deadformat, on FlickrDSC02791 by deadformat, on FlickrDSC02739 by deadformat, on FlickrDSC02733 by deadformat, on FlickrThe rooms were by and large the same. A few fixtures remaining. Light switches gone in many but no sign of serious metal thieves. The plant room was fairly intact. The rest of it was mainly peely paint and smashed porcelain.
DSC02737 by deadformat, on FlickrDSC02743 by deadformat, on FlickrDSC02751 by deadformat, on FlickrDSC02753 by deadformat, on FlickrDSC02754 by deadformat, on FlickrDSC02756 by deadformat, on FlickrDSC02757 by deadformat, on FlickrDSC02758 by deadformat, on FlickrDSC02761 by deadformat, on FlickrDSC02769 by deadformat, on FlickrDSC02770 by deadformat, on FlickrDSC02771 by deadformat, on FlickrDSC02776 by deadformat, on FlickrDSC02778 by deadformat, on FlickrDSC02780 by deadformat, on FlickrDSC02795 by deadformat, on FlickrDSC02814 by deadformat, on FlickrThis next bit is one of the remaining insights to the site. It’s one of the main telecom rooms for the site – the wooden cabinet is quite well preserved and was used for patching the internal phone lines and PA system together. The Test Units have labels on from the early 1980’s suggesting the site was still maintained for a while.
DSC02796 by deadformat, on FlickrDSC02801 by deadformat, on FlickrThe fire station/motor workshop - complete with vehicle pit and metal racking.
DSC02808 by deadformat, on FlickrDSC02809 by deadformat, on FlickrAnd finally - just because
HDR_Paintpeel by deadformat, on FlickrHDR_Room by deadformat, on FlickrSo that's it. A very peaceful explore overall (once the voices had dissapeared). I expected a trashed site, so went in with the mindset of focusing on the history and trying to spot signs of its previous use. I hope we have brought you a slightly different insight to what seems to be a forgotten part of the history of broadcast! Any criticism or input warmly recieved however!
You'll be hearing more from me soon - sooner than 4 years
DSC02816 by deadformat, on Flickr
