Former Ventnor Radar Station Receiver site and remnants of the radar station's defences

Former Ventnor Radar Station Receiver Site

This is the surviving receiver site of the Ventnor Radar Station, built in 1938-9 on St Boniface Down above Ventnor, Isle of Wight. The complex comprises the main receiver building with its three associated receiver tower bases, one of which was modified in late 1941-2 with the addition of a Variable Elevation Beam (VEB) radar building, together with remnants of the site's perimeter defences including a pillbox, small arms locker, and two cable pillars.

The former radar station site has a polygonal shape oriented broadly west to east. A roadway runs westward through the north of the site before turning northeast and then continuing in a northeast then southeast direction, now largely forming the northern boundary. To the north of this roadway are four small brick structures arranged in pairs, including a pillbox and associated cable pillars.

The Receiver Compound

The western part of the site contains the receiver (Rx) compound, which houses a rectangular receiver building oriented southwest to northeast, with three tower bases positioned to its north, west and south. Each tower base has four concrete feet; one was later modified with a VEB radar building.

The Receiver Building

The receiver building is a protected 'A' type receiver block, representing the first phase of the radar station's development in the late 1930s. It is single-storey with a flat reinforced concrete roof with a raised parapet. The building is of red brick in Flemish bond, surrounded by an earth traverse for blast protection that was revetted internally by a high concrete wall, creating a covered way around the structure. Two protected entrances pass through this traverse in the southeast and northeast elevations, each with reinforced concrete wing and blast walls. The roof would originally have been filled with shingle to a depth of approximately 1.7 metres to disperse blast, with drainage holes through the parapet wall; the shingle has since been removed and the western parapet wall dismantled. The building now contains new window openings with concrete lintels and a new door.

The interior follows the standardised layout of early receiver buildings built to Air Ministry drawing 4238/38, with a lobby, office, WC, receiver room, calculator room, plant room, switch gear room and transformer cubicle. The interior is divided broadly into three zones: two larger rooms flanked by an entrance lobby with smaller rooms in the centre. The main entrance leads into the lobby to the north, with a secondary entrance in the northeast elevation. Elements of the original colour scheme survive, including dark green-painted wooden architraves and skirtings in some areas, and one room with dark green wall paint up to a black dado band. Two rooms at the western end are white-tiled to dado height. A wide cable pit runs through the centre of the building, housing cables from the receiver towers. All original doors have been removed and no surviving plant equipment remains.

Tower Bases

The west and south receiver tower bases, located at approximately SZ 5658 7844 and SZ 5665 7843 respectively, are of standard Second World War form. Each comprises four concrete block feet, square in plan and slightly tapering in elevation, designed to support wooden receiver towers, now demolished.

The east receiver tower base, located at approximately SZ 5664 7850, is non-standard. It comprises four similar concrete feet that would have supported a wooden receiver tower, between which sits a small subterranean Variable Elevation Beam (VEB) radar building, erected in late 1941-2. This is a height-finding radar type. The building contains a main receiving room with evidence of two receiving units housed within it (one serving as a back-up system), and at least one ancillary room. In typical VEB fashion, the entrance is protected by concrete blast walls and the double entrance doors are wooden to avoid interference with receiving equipment.

Perimeter Defences

To the north of the roadway are four brick structures contemporary with the Second World War radar station.

At approximately SZ 5653 7853 is a pillbox of triangular plan, a form specific to Chain Home radar stations. It is built of red brick Flettons in English bond with a flat reinforced concrete roof. The elevations contain a series of loopholes with concrete embrasures, along with airbricks. The entrance faces southeast, towards the radar station, where footings of a protective brick blast wall survive. Above the entrance on the roof is a concrete base for a Light Anti-aircraft gun, and metal fixtures presumed to be for camouflage fixing. Within the pillbox is a black stencilled graffito of a family group in silhouette (two adults, one holding a child, and two children), understood to date from the 1980s and stencilled by a women's peace movement activist.

Adjacent to the south is a cable pillar also constructed of red brick Flettons in English bond with a reinforced concrete roof and blast wall to the east. The entrance faces south. Within the structure is a floor recess for cabling.

At approximately SZ 5666 7854 are two further structures. To the west is a second cable pillar of the same form as the first but with different orientation; the blast wall faces south and the entrance faces west. Within is a 75-centimetre drop in the floor for cabling with a visible pipe in the north wall.

Approximately 10 metres to the east is a small arms locker, a small rectangular structure of red brick Flettons in random bond with a reinforced concrete roof. The entrance faces south towards the radar station and is too low to walk through upright. On the wall opposite the entrance is a white stencilled graffito of the same family group as appears in the pillbox, of the same date and origin.