Jodrell Bank Observatory: Link Hut (Cosmic Noise Hut)

The Link Hut, also known as the Cosmic Noise Hut, is a research building constructed in 1949 with a 1953 extension, and subsequently altered in 1955 for Robert Hanbury Brown, with later modifications. The building is of standard construction, using pre-cast concrete framing, concrete block walls, metal windows, and a felt roof.

The building stands on ‘The Green’ at Jodrell Bank Observatory and is attached to the Development Lab and the 21ft Telescope Control Room. It is a single-storey structure arranged in an L-plan, with the front facing south. The windows are metal-framed, multi-paned casements with concrete surrounds, though the extension has only sills. The walls are largely of large concrete blockwork, now painted. The front wall contains a blocked doorway on the left, followed by two windows, a doorway with paired replacement part-glazed timber doors and an overlight, and then a further window, the central one incorporating a mullion. A grey plastic gutter runs along the eaves, with downpipes at each end. The extension is set back on the right and features a large central window and a lower, flat roof.

Around the west wall, two windows are positioned close to the centre. The rear (north) wall contains a half-glazed timber door with a window to its left, and two further windows. Metal ducting carries cabling out of the building. The east wall of the extension is partially obscured by the Development Lab, though the southern portion of the original hut’s east wall, with its window, is visible. The roof slopes slightly from either side of a central ridge.

Inside the original hut, the concrete frame is exposed, featuring posts with projecting heads that support the roof beams. The extension has load-bearing walls of concrete block at the front and sides and brick at the rear. The walls are unlined and painted. The building has a herringbone parquet floor throughout, with linear edgings marking the former locations of partitions. Modern electrical and heating services have been installed, and the ceilings are of fibreboard panels within a metal grid. Within the extension, two concrete pads within the parquet floor are related to early optical intensity interferometry experiments undertaken there.