Building record MAB23549 - WINDYHEADS HILL

Remains of a radar site dating from World War II, 'Gee' station, situated on the summit of Windyheads Hill.

Remains of a radar site dating from World War II, 'Gee' station, situated on the summit of Windyheads Hill. The surviving remains comprise concrete bases of two (of the four) transmitting/receiving (Tx/Rx) blocks (at NJ 85242 61757 and NJ 85486 61872) each surrounded by brick blast-walls (and some evidence of them being surrounded by barbed wire) , concrete footings of two mast bases (at NJ 85527 61886 and NJ 85519 62099), a bunker and an octagonal-plan High Frequency/Direction Finding (HF/DF) building with walls of bituminous felt-clad timber boarding over a frame on a concrete base. Evidence from RAF photographs taken in 1946 suggests that each Tx/Rx block was provided with its own power supply generator. Four 'bird-tables' (comprising a flat concrete slab inscribed with a bearing on an upright column) are located around the site, the flat surface used to place a small low power transmitted which was used for calibration. On the summit of the hill a post-war wireless station, still in use (NJ86SE0094), now occupies the site of one of the Tx/Rx blocks, comprising a main block, observation post, wind and temperature gauges and a small mast. The fourth Tx/Rx block appears to have been cleared in the 1970s or later. Immediately south of the station (at NJ 8520 6160) are the remains of one of its accommodation camps which had 12-14 Nissen huts, and of which the square-plan water tower survives. The 1946 aerial photographs show no anti-aircraft defences although several machine gun positions can be seen. The main accommodation camp site (NJ86SE0093) lies to the north. Windyhead Hill was a ground station for the Gee Radar Navigation aid, equipped with a type 7000 set. The Gee technology was invented by RJ Dippy in 1938 and became operational in 1942 to provide RAF bomber navigators with a rapid means of determining their position. Gee was superseded by radar before the end of the war. There are only three other known examples of Gee Stations in the UK: this station has many similarities to the complementary 'Gee' station at Burifa Hill, Caithness.

GUY, JA, 1992, WORLD WAR I & II DEFENCES, 3-17-11-92 (Bibliographic reference). SAB662.

Nov 17 1992 , 3-17-11-92, 3-17-11-92 (Ground Photograph). SAB16257.

Oct 8 2022 , PUB-GR-22-10-001 - 011, PUB-GR-22-10-001 - 011 (Ground Photograph). SAB36191.

Record last edited

Apr 9 2026 2:59PM