I WOULD be very pleased to hear from any readers who have photographs or knowledge of the wireless station built on the Downs above Bishops Cannings in 1913 to 14 and converted for military purposes around 1915.
It reverted to civilian use in 1920 and was demolished in 1929.
Plans made in late 1915, now held at the Public Record Office, show a line of masts 300 feet high stretching 2,700 yards from Smallgrain Plantation across the golf course to Shepherds' Shore.
A 1922 map shows a shorter line of masts and a cluster of huts below Furze Knoll.
The Gazette described the station's original construction by F Rendell and Sons, but censorship prevented references during the war, and in memoirs published in 1934, a staff member still felt the need to be discreet about its purpose.
It has been suggested that it had a role in detecting enemy aircraft and that it was Britain's major base for wireless intelligence and therefore the forerunner of GCHQ in Cheltenham.
TERRY CRAWFORD
1 Mapledurham View
Oak Tree Road,
Tilehurst
Reading RG31 6LF
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