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Summary

A radar base, part of Chain Home Low (CHL) had been established at East Prawle by the summer of 1940 (Wasley).

Location

Protected Status

• SHINE: RAF West Prawle. Earthworks and structures of a former World War II Radar Station

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SX73NE/52/1
• SHINE Candidate (Yes)

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• RADAR STATION (XVIII to XXI - 1751 AD to 2009 AD)

Full description

Untitled Source (Migrated Record). SDV148050.

Waterhouse, R. /East Portlemouth heritage appraisal: an archaeological history of the parish/(September 2000)35/in PF.

Horner, W., 08/11/1995, West Prawle Radar Station (Personal Comment). SDV148010.

At the above NGR a compound of military buildings is visible on 1946 raf AP's. Extent plotted on SMR overlay. Appears to be surrounded by wire fencing, partly following existing hedge-lines. Includes four tall transmitter masts with two associated transmitter blocks and other associated structures. On the west side of the compound there is a smaller mast and associated block, the latter being surrounded possibly by foxholes.

Royal Air Force, 1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1890, 2014; HER 63/12 (Aerial Photograph). SDV169268.

Wasley, G., 1994, Devon at War 1939-1945, 52 (Monograph). SDV165766.

A radar base, part of Chain Home Low (CHL) had been established at East Prawle by the summer of 1940 (Wasley).

Dobinson, C. S., 2000, Acoustics and radar, 161 (Report - non-specific). SDV325097.

No 14 radar station, West Prawle (Dobinson). General location for radar station given as SX773374. There is also reference to a series of Vulnerable Points (VP's); (1) at SX771379, VP (2) at SX781375, VP (3) at SX776371, VP (4) at SX760375 and VP [A] at SX766375.

Passmore, M. + Passmore, A., 2006, WWII RAF Radar Receiver Block Prawle Point, Devon, 2 (Report - Survey). SDV347421.

Passmore, M. + Passmore, A., 2011, Royal Air Force Air-Defence Radar Station West Prawle, 2-3 (Leaflet). SDV347322.

RAF West Prawle was a chain home station and came into operation in 1940. Domestic accommodation was provided for station personnel in a hutted complex on the northern outskirts of East Prawle, with officers at one stage accommodated at the former Gara Rock Hotel in East Portlemouth. The station ceased to be operational in 1945, but was later to be refurbished for a role during the Cold War, and a separate Gee (navigational aids) station was established alongside the chain home station, and shared its domestic facilities. Little remains of the chain home station, which closed in 1956, and nothing of the Gee station which ceased operations in the following year. The photograph shows a Type B receiver block, now modified for agricultural use. Other details: Photographs.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events: none recorded

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