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Summary

No longer extant. Buildings that served the Gee Master Transmitting Station on Peek Hill during the Second World War. Structures included a timber transmitting tower and a number of Nissen huts which served as the guard-room, transmitter block, stand-by set (emergency generator), cookhouse, canteen and accommodation for 35 Royal Air Force personnel.

Location

Protected Status: none recorded

Other References/Statuses

• National Monuments Record: SX57SE230
• National Record of the Historic Environment: 1454738

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• BARRACKS (World War II - 1939 AD to 1945 AD (Between))
• NISSEN HUT (World War II to Mid 20th Century - 1942 AD to 1949 AD (Between))

Full description

Royal Air Force, 1946 - 1949, Royal Air Force Aerial Photographs (Aerial Photograph). SDV342938.

Range of buildings is visible on the aerial photograph.

Wilkinson, B., 1996, RAF Sharpitor, 6-8 (Article in Serial). SDV224139.

Fletcher, M. J., 2007-2008, Walkhampton Premier Archaeological Landscape; Field Investigation Project (Report - Survey). SDV359195.

(07/05/2007) An Royal Air Force barracks established in about 1942 and abandoned by the end of 1949 was known as the 'Domestic Site' for RAF Sharpitor which stood on the northern slopes of Peek Hill (SX 57 NE 379). It accommodated up to 36 personnel including a team of 12 technicians working on the 'Technical Site' . When it was demolished the personnel were accommodated at RAF Harrowbeer, Yelverton (SX 56 NW 51). The site lay on each side of a raised road which ran up the north-facing moorland hillslope from the B3212 road to just below the summit of the hill. Wilkinson (1996) recorded that the building foundations on the eastern side of the road are of the Guardroom which stood on a plateau back from the road with a large square parking area in front; the Canteen with the Cookhouse behind and the Recreation Room. Fronting the western side of the road are the foundations of a group of buildings which comprised the Solid Fuel compound, the garage and a row of Nissen huts for office and accommodation purposes, the uppermost hut being the COs office and Orderly room. Each barrack hut which housed eight people was divided into two by a central brick wall with a coke oven on each side. Behind this row are more foundations of the ablutions huts. Some 50 yards west of the site a number of 6ft square depressions visible are Otway Pits used for the disposal of organic waste. Access to each pit was gained via a steel water butt with the base removed. There was mains electricity but no mains water. The buildings were almost completely effaced and the metalled road dug up when the site was cleared. However the slight foundations of buildings - mostly Nissen huts - can be identified as, in most cases, thin 0.15m high brick and concrete footings around concrete pads levelled into or lying along the exposed hillslope. A shallow, irregular quarry located to the left of the road may have been the source of some of the stone used in the road and building foundations.
Surveyed at 1:2500 scale.

Passmore, M., 2016, Royal Air Force Sharpitor. A Gee Master Transmitting Station South Western Gee Chain. Peek Hill, Dartmoor, 2-3 (Report - Assessment). SDV359575.

The technical site was located just below the summit of Peek Hill and the domestic site was on the lower slopes of the hill adjacent to the public highway. Structures seen at the station included a timber transmitting tower and a number of Nissen huts which served as the guard-room, transmitter block, stand-by set (emergency generator), cookhouse, canteen and accommodation. The later was moved to RAF Harrowbeer in 1949.
35 RAF personnel are said to have been at the site, 12 of whom were technicians. They were later mostly replaced by civilian employees.
In the 1950s a steel transmitting aerial was erected and a new transmitter block was constructed. The site continued in use until 1970, after the Gee system was wound down in the late 1960s. The site mast was proposed for use for police communications but this never took place and it was removed in 1971 and a proposal for a young offenders centre was refused.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV8351 - Walkhampton Premier Archaeological Landscape; Field Investigation Project

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