More information : A Second World War radar station with associated barbed wire obstructions are visible as structures on air photographs, centred at NU 2546 2040. Only two buildings appear to be still extant on the latest 1999 Ordnance Survey vertical photography. (1)
A Coastal Defence/Chain Home Low station located at Craster (NU 264 203), called site M28. Coastal Defence/Chain Home Low (CD/CHL) radar stations were operated by the British Army to detect shipping and aircraft. CD/CHL sites opened from spring 1941 and comprised a brick or concrete operations block with an aerial gantry mounted on the roof and a separate standby set house for the reserve power. Staff were billeted where possible, but some stations had a small layout of domestic hutting situated within one mile of the site. From 1942 CD/CHL sites were combined with the Royal Air Force's Chain Home Low (CHL) sites to form one system of low-cover radar under the control of the RAF. Selected stations were upgraded with centimetric radars to become the K-series of Chain Home Extra Low (CHEL) stations. This improvement in radar technology meant that fewer stations were needed to give the same coverage and as a result many CHL and CD/CHL stations not upgraded were closed. (2)
Aerial photography from 1972 shows that two buildings survive at the site at NU 255 204. (3)
Between 2003 and 2005, English Heritage's Archaeological Survey and Investigation Team carried out an investigation and Level 3 analytical field survey at 1:1 000 scale of a World War II Chain Home Low radar station at Craster, Northumberland. In addition to the analytical field survey, which encompassed the radar station complex, ancillary buildings and surrounding fieldworks, the project also comprised documentary research, rapid architectural investigation of the standing remains and the gathering of oral testimony from local people resident in Craster during World War II. The earthwork survey was carried out using a combination of survey-grade GPS and traditional taped survey techniques. The project at Craster was undertaken at the request of The National Trust, in order to gain an understanding of the nature, survival and extent of military activity here and to inform conservation and management of the site; this followed on from the archaeological investigation of Dunstanburgh Castle, also undertaken by the Archaeological Survey and Investigation Team. A full report, part of the Research Department Report Series, is available from the NMR, reference RDRS 43/2006. (4)
English Heritage, 'Dunstanburgh Castle', guidebook (5) |