So Monday morning we @Stimpakman and I got told this was open after many many years. Tuesday evening we took the short journey (live in next town over) to look for ourselves. To the group that done the research.... your guys are amazing!!
Such a privilege to see this place after so many years of hearing about it
Beachy Head, the most southerly point on the chalk cliffs to the west of the town of Eastbourne, East Sussex, has a long history as a location for observation and warning.
The start of the cold war reintroduced Beachy Head’s importance as a strategic lookout. In 1950 under the Air Ministry’s top secret plan designated ROTOR that provided radar cover for the United Kingdom in the event of an attack from the air, negotiations started between the Air Ministry and the Ministry of Town and County Planning, to build a " control and reporting station" on the cliffs. The M.T.C.P was having none of it to start with, who seemed to put objections to the Air Ministry at every turn.
This infuriated the Air Commodore in charge of the program who wrote in reference to the Planning authority “If the principle to be applied is that our defences are to take second place to public amenities, then the public should, I suggest, be reminded that instead of rambling over the Sussex Downs, they may be rambling over the Russian Plains with the cheerful prospect of digging salt when their hike is over.”
Negotiations continued until a compromise was reached. The local planning authority sat in a closed session on the 21st of September 1950 and approved the construction of a “Air Ministry Radio Station”. This led to the leasing of 4 acres of land on the cliff top directly opposite the Beachy Head Hotel to the Air Ministry. The proposed station was given a code of " Site No. 3" (later coded ‘HEB’) to designate itself within Rotorplan. It was to be of an R1 type underground construction providing Centrimetric Early Warning (CEW) capabilities.
The works were awarded to George Wimpy a local civil engineering contractor, who by early 1952 had the hardened underground installation and the surface buildings completed. A domestic site for R.A.F personnel was constructed within the town of Eastbourne at a site in Rangemore Drive. (This still survives to this day as the local Air Cadet unit).
Auxiliary power was provided by the provision of a purpose built generator house built to resemble a barn on one of the nearby Council farms. Fitting and testing of the technical equipment was finally complete on the 18th December 1952 when the station was handed over to Fighter Command from the Ministry of Supply.
On the 19th December 1952 the RAF fitters, mechanics and operators commenced a fourteen day familiarization of the new ROTOR equipment that ended on the 5th January 1953. Beachy Head was now an operational station. In the summer of 1954 local residents of Eastbourne noticed the construction of a new bigger radar array upon the cliff. Beachy Head had received the new Type 80 Mk1 radar, installation works were completed by 5th September 1954.
Beachy Head was put on engineering standby on the 1st November 1957, finally closing in 1960.
In 1996 the guardhouse was demolished during extensive remodeling of the buildings at Beachy Head, the coastguard moved across the road into a purpose built station next to the Hotel. The compound that was cut into the mound where the guardhouse stood was filled back to profile and grassed over. Access was still available to the bunker for interested parties through the manhole, but due to vandals constantly breaking off the padlock’s it was locked again and buried under two tons of soil. One night a determined gang dug down to the hatch and broke in. The next day a large tree trunk was pushed down the hole by a JCB and back filled with chalk thus sealing the bunker.
Little exists to give away the location now apart from a few concrete slabs around the site. Many tourists stand now upon the mound above the bunker looking out to sea, unaware of what is below their feet.
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Such a privilege to see this place after so many years of hearing about it
Beachy Head, the most southerly point on the chalk cliffs to the west of the town of Eastbourne, East Sussex, has a long history as a location for observation and warning.
The start of the cold war reintroduced Beachy Head’s importance as a strategic lookout. In 1950 under the Air Ministry’s top secret plan designated ROTOR that provided radar cover for the United Kingdom in the event of an attack from the air, negotiations started between the Air Ministry and the Ministry of Town and County Planning, to build a " control and reporting station" on the cliffs. The M.T.C.P was having none of it to start with, who seemed to put objections to the Air Ministry at every turn.
This infuriated the Air Commodore in charge of the program who wrote in reference to the Planning authority “If the principle to be applied is that our defences are to take second place to public amenities, then the public should, I suggest, be reminded that instead of rambling over the Sussex Downs, they may be rambling over the Russian Plains with the cheerful prospect of digging salt when their hike is over.”
Negotiations continued until a compromise was reached. The local planning authority sat in a closed session on the 21st of September 1950 and approved the construction of a “Air Ministry Radio Station”. This led to the leasing of 4 acres of land on the cliff top directly opposite the Beachy Head Hotel to the Air Ministry. The proposed station was given a code of " Site No. 3" (later coded ‘HEB’) to designate itself within Rotorplan. It was to be of an R1 type underground construction providing Centrimetric Early Warning (CEW) capabilities.
The works were awarded to George Wimpy a local civil engineering contractor, who by early 1952 had the hardened underground installation and the surface buildings completed. A domestic site for R.A.F personnel was constructed within the town of Eastbourne at a site in Rangemore Drive. (This still survives to this day as the local Air Cadet unit).
Auxiliary power was provided by the provision of a purpose built generator house built to resemble a barn on one of the nearby Council farms. Fitting and testing of the technical equipment was finally complete on the 18th December 1952 when the station was handed over to Fighter Command from the Ministry of Supply.
On the 19th December 1952 the RAF fitters, mechanics and operators commenced a fourteen day familiarization of the new ROTOR equipment that ended on the 5th January 1953. Beachy Head was now an operational station. In the summer of 1954 local residents of Eastbourne noticed the construction of a new bigger radar array upon the cliff. Beachy Head had received the new Type 80 Mk1 radar, installation works were completed by 5th September 1954.
Beachy Head was put on engineering standby on the 1st November 1957, finally closing in 1960.
In 1996 the guardhouse was demolished during extensive remodeling of the buildings at Beachy Head, the coastguard moved across the road into a purpose built station next to the Hotel. The compound that was cut into the mound where the guardhouse stood was filled back to profile and grassed over. Access was still available to the bunker for interested parties through the manhole, but due to vandals constantly breaking off the padlock’s it was locked again and buried under two tons of soil. One night a determined gang dug down to the hatch and broke in. The next day a large tree trunk was pushed down the hole by a JCB and back filled with chalk thus sealing the bunker.
Little exists to give away the location now apart from a few concrete slabs around the site. Many tourists stand now upon the mound above the bunker looking out to sea, unaware of what is below their feet.
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