NORTH HILL CAMP |
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BELOW ARE THE REMAINS OF CAMP ON NORTH HILL
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Part of the main tank cleaning area with loading ramp in background (D) |
Loading ramp (A) |
Steps going up to a building to the right of the ramp, this building not shown on the survey (X) |
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Base of building (N) |
Base of building (M) |
Base of building (L) |
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Base of building (B) |
Tank marshalling area |
Piece of roof tile |
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Base of building (F) |
Small building (G) |
Base of building (H) |
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Base of building (I) |
Steps going down to building opposite radar station |
Base of building opposite radar station |
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Anchorage point front right of radar station |
Radar station |
Radar station |
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Mounting block at side of radar station |
Radar station |
Steps down to the radar station |
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Remains of building opposite the radar station with steps down to it in the background |
Concrete square far left on survey |
Part of building (B) |
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Radar station |
Radar Station |
Base of building (B) |
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Steps down to building opposite radar station |
Base of building (L) |
Base of building (E) |
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(all pictures copyright Mineheadonline) |
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Base of building (L) |
Base of building not marked on survey - left of B |
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For the first time I have seen the extent of the building foundations that were once used during WW2 and have often wondered what it looked like when all the building were intact, probably very like the one which still stands and is now locked. Although some were wooden and some were nisson huts. Apparently this camp was built by the British Army to train tank crews.The areas with the concrete plinths were to park up and service the tanks then to fuel up and load with live ammunition. The crews would then drive off to the gun emplacements for firing practice. When the British army moved out in 1943 the Governor General Foot Guards of Canada's 4th Armour Division took over the range and fifteen Sherman tanks arrived by rail and were driven up to North Hill as the corners leading up to the hill were too tight for transporters. |
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Memories of Dave Lloyd who was a Post office telephone engineer at the time: Below is a picture of Dave with his Post Office van taken on Winsford hill in 1941 or 1942 |
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I was born in 1923 in Minehead. My father had a china shop in Quirke Street (I think the number was 18 - next door to Mr Stradlings fish & chip shop which was no.16) later it became the Red Shoes Academy, run by Mr and Mrs Reg Howard. Later we moved to Friday Street, next to Barclays Bank. Our shop was called Lloyds Arcade. Later changed to the Arcade Stores so it wasnt confused with Floyds. Being in the communication trade I was reserved until 20 before being conscripted, and of course we only had wireless(radio) and telephones, television was just being tried out in London, in fact one of the pioneers was John Loggie Baird, and my father used to tell me that his wife used to chat with him in our shop in Friday Street. Her husband had evacuated her to Minehead with the children and they had a house or accommodation on North Hill. As I was saying, I was given the job to make up a small Telephone board to take up and fit in this newly built very hush hush building on the hill. My set up for Telephone Private Line to Hartland Point was fixed to the wall near the corner to the right of the Console, I often wondered what was at the other end of that Line in Hartland Point,was it another similar Radar station? I have also remembered that the Rectangular Mesh Antennae *on the concrete roof was a fixture and not oscillating, as I was given a chance to view the screen and it was pointed out to me the outline of Welsh mountains in distance, this was all quite fantastic at that time. The basic technology of radio-based detection and tracking evolved independently and with great secrecy in a number of nations during the second half of the 1930s. At the start of the war in Europe in September 1939, both Great Britain and Germany had begun the deployment of these systems. In Great Britain this technology was called RDF, standing for Range and Direction finding, while in Germany the name Funkmessgerät (radio measuring device) was often used. By the time of the Battle of Britain in mid-1940, the Royal Air Force had incorporated RDF stations as vital elements in Britain's air-defence capabilities. The German Funkmessgerät, could not assist in Germany's offensive capability and was thus not supported by Adolf Hitler. Also, the German Air Force did not sufficiently appreciate the importance of RDF stations in air defence, contributing to Germany's lack of success in this early stage of the war. Although the technology was first demonstrated in the United States during December 1934, it was only when war clouds loomed that the U.S. military authorities recognized the great potential of radio-based detection and tracking, and began the development of ship and land-based systems. The first of these were fielded by the U.S.Navy in early 1940, and a year later by the U.S. Army. The acronym RADAR (for RAdio Detection And Ranging) was coined by the U.S. Navy in 1940, and the subsequent name "radar" was soon widely used. Dave returns to makes a nostalgic visit to the radar station just after his 90th birthday The pictures below from the open day on Saturday 27th Aug.2011 show the inside of the old radar station: More information about this area can be seen here |
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The old radar station |
Inside the old radar station |
The hole in the roof where the antena went through |
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Jeep |
gun |
jeep |
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Ariel survey map taken in 1946 - radar station not visable |
section of previous picture - good camauflage? |
The West Myne radar station built in 1957 |