Former Radar Station, Torr Road, Ballycastle, Co. Antrim, BT54

This former radar station is located on the north side of Torr Road, on the eastern slope of the eastern summit of Greenanmore (297 metres). The site comprises six original buildings of mid-20th century date, three more recent structures, and a prehistoric megalith on the hill's summit.

Building 1 - Technical/Domestic Block

This single-storey, multi-bay building is the main structure in the complex and is approached along a track from the public road. It sits on a wide terrace excavated out of the east side of the hillside. The building comprises two main sections: the Technical Block, which is aligned northeast-southwest and originally contained the communications equipment, and the Domestic Block to its southwest, connected to it by a corridor and containing a kitchen, rest rooms and toilets. The entire building is now derelict, although parts are in use as animal byres.

The roofs are of flat reinforced-concrete with bituminous waterproofing and oversailing eaves. There are three levels of roof. That over room 03 is slightly higher than the rest of the Technical Block, whilst that over rooms 02 and 07-12 is slightly lower. Two vertical metal ventilators project from the roof of room 16. The edges of the roofs are slightly raised, behind which are replacement plastic rainwater down pipes. The walls are of cement-rendered concrete blockwork and the openings have flat heads; the windows have concrete cills. No doors survive, but all the multi-paned metal-framed windows are largely intact; some have fixed panes and others have bucket openings.

The main entrance was via a sliding doorway at the northeast end of the building. The horizontal rail on which the door was mounted is clearly evident. To its left is a 5x3-paned window (to the guardroom). To the right are two large doorways on the southeast elevations of rooms 19 and 20; room 20 also has a small doorway at its northeast end. The southeast elevation can be divided into four sections, from left to right: room 06 has a 3x3-paned opening and, to its right, a modern insertion with Perspex cover; room 03 is slightly higher and has two 5x4-paned windows (with 3x2-paned bucket opening to middle); set back is a corridor section with three 4x3-paned windows (with 2x2-paned opening section); the projecting section at right (room 02) is blank.

At the right-hand end of the southwest elevation is the blank wall of room 06. The middle section comprises the linking corridor between the Technical and Domestic blocks. There is an original doorway to centre, now sheeted over. To its right is a projecting bay with 3x3-paned window and to its left is a 5x2-paned window. Left of the corridor is the Domestic Block with four 1x3-paned windows to its southeast elevation and 5x3-paned window (with 3x2 opening) to southwest.

The northwest elevation has, at its right-hand end, the projecting Domestic Block with a 3x3-paned window to middle (some frames missing), and flanking 5x3 windows (with 3x2-pane openings). The northeast side of this block has three 1x3-pane windows to left and a 5x3-paned window (with 3x2-pane opening) to right. Its southeast elevation has three 1x3-pane windows. The Technical Block comprises the rest of this elevation and has, from left to right, the following windows: 2x3/ 3x3/ 2x3 windows (room 18), 3x3 window (room 17), 5x3 window with two rectangular vent openings below, now sheeted over with corrugated iron (room 16), 3x3 window (room 15), and 2x3/ 3x3/ 2x3 windows (room 14). A hole has been punched through room 13 to illuminate the interior and is covered with Perspex.

Building 2 - Standby Set House

This single-storey, three-bay building originally housed a back-up engine and electricity generator in the event of a power failure in the Technical Block. It is situated just northeast of the latter, to which it is now connected by a modern concrete block wall. It is now disused and derelict. The central section is aligned northwest-southeast and has a lower bay at southeast and northeast. A later single-storey building has been built along its northeast side.

The three original bays all have flat oversailing felted reinforced-concrete roofs and rendered concrete block walls. The southeast end has a pair of replacement double-leaf corrugated metal doors. Above it is a short length of projecting pipe and at top left is a projecting square metal plate. The (originally) exposed section of the southwest and northeast elevations each have a doorway with 3x3 metal-framed casement overlight. The latter doorway is now externally obscured by the later addition to this side. There are two high-level and two low-level square ventilators on the northwest end.

The roof and walls of the two wings are detailed as the main bay. The southwest bay has a doorway on its southeast elevation and an infilled doorway at northwest. The northeast bay has a large door on its southeast elevation only. In both cases, the actual doors are missing. The later addition at northwest has a flat felted timber roof and rendered concrete block walls. It has a wooden door and two timber-framed windows along its northeast side.

Building 3 - Radar Building

This small single-storey, single-bay building is located 135 metres west-northwest of the Technical Block, near the summit of the hill. According to Nick Catford, there was originally a Type 14 radar dish mounted on a metal gantry directly over it, long since removed. The building has a flat oversailing roof and cement-rendered concrete block walls. It has no openings except for a doorway on its east elevation, with concrete steps leading up thereto. This opening may have had a double-leaf door originally, but has been narrowed to accommodate a single-leaf modern door. Around the building are four large rectangular concrete blocks on the tops of which are the cut-off remnants of metal brackets. These were the anchor points for the angled gantry legs supporting the radar dish.

Building 4 - Dog Kennels

Just right on entry to the site from the main road, concrete steps lead down to a small single-storey, two-bay building which originally housed guard dogs. It is aligned east-west with its principal elevation facing south. It has a monopitched corrugated asbestos roof and rendered concrete block walls with small vents all around at eaves and floor level. A small circular vent rises from the roof of the east bay. There are no rainwater goods. Each bay has a doorway on its south elevation. There is a window to each elevation of the east bay, but the west bay has only one window, on its north elevation; all have flat concrete heads and cills but the actual frames have been replaced with corrugated transparent plastic sheeting.

Building 5 - Guard House

This building stood immediately northeast of the kennels. Only its concrete floor and a single concrete-block basal course now survive. Openings along its southeast side indicate that it was originally sub-divided into three rooms. Vestiges of metal uprights on top of the blockwork suggest that the walls may have been a sheeted metal-framed building.

Structure 6 - Sewage Works

At the lowest point of the site at east is a small sewage treatment works. It comprises an underground sludge settling tank, from which a pipe conveyed the liquid effluent to two contiguous filter beds. One of the steel cover plates on the tanks reads: "The Dover/ Engineering/ Works Ltd/ England/ Patent/ No 313012". The filter beds comprise rectangular tanks enclosed by low rendered brick walls and across the bottoms of which run multiple cast-iron pipes embedded in clinker. The ends of the pipes project through the walls and have metal bungs on their ends. There is another rendered brick tank just beyond the bottom (east) end of the beds. In operation, the effluent was probably ducted from the settling tank at the top (west) end into the pipes within the filters, whence it escaped through perforations on the pipes' undersides. It then percolated through the clinker, before being collected in the pit at the bottom, from which it presumably percolated away. The bungs on the pipes' ends may have been for access if unblocking was necessary.

Miscellaneous Features

Fifty metres northwest of the Technical Block is a modern guyed radio mast and two associated modern buildings enclosed by a post and wire fence. One of the buildings is a pre-fabricated container, the roof and sides of which are clad in profiled metal sheeting. The other is a small single-storey building with pitched artificial slate roof, raised gable walls, plastic rainwater goods, and cement-rendered walls. It has a pair of double-leaf doors on its north gable and ventilation duct on its south gable, but is otherwise devoid of openings.

Fifty metres west of the radio mast is a drive-in concrete-lined silo pit with loading hardstand at its northwest end. Thirty metres southeast of the Radar Building is a modern anemometer and small corrugated metal hut containing weather measuring equipment. Immediately north of the station is a concrete platform of unknown function; it may possibly have been the site of the Type 13 height finding equipment which was operated alongside the Type 14 radar dish.

On the summit of the hill is a scatter of large undressed rocks, in the middle of which are the vestiges of a Neolithic passage tomb, now a Scheduled Monument. Just outside the southern perimeter of the fence are what are thought to have been booley huts.

Setting

The site, which extends to circa 300 metres east-west by 125 metres north-south, is delineated all around by a post-and-wire security fence. The original entrance gates have been replaced with a standard galvanised steel field gate. What is undoubtedly an original metal lamp standard survives just inside the left-hand side of the entrance. The various buildings are linked by a concrete track from the public road. The ground both inside and outside the fence is open grass and heather moorland. A key aspect of this site is its strategic position which commands extensive, uninterrupted views across the North Channel to the Mull of Kintyre, perfect for spotting low-flying enemy aircraft. At Crockanore, circa 3 kilometres west-northwest of this site, were two functionally related sites, both now demolished: a VHF transmitter block and a VHF receiver block.