First, to set the scene here is an old wartime 'plinth' building which may have supported a now unidentifible type of radar. It is situated outside the wired-in compound and the photo serves to show the location of one of the distant VHF towers on Stenbury Down and the surrounding typical Isle of Wight countryside.

Facing the above view, just across the narrow road there now exists the current Civil Aviation Authority building within the old compound. They presently do not have any rotating radars installed.

Just inside the tall double gates, immediately on the left stood the 'bungalow' guardroom, to the rear of which was the spiral staircase down to 'The Hole'. The bungalow was demolished in 1991 and this concrete slab now covers the underground access. But since this photo was taken the slab and the bungalow foundation have been covered with chalky earth and there is no evidence at all that an underground R1 bunker ever existed. The ventilation / emergency egress tower has been removed and similarly welded, concreted and interred. Any local "heroes" attempting entry would surely be disappointed, be detected by the sophisticated site security devices that these CAA outposts have and thus risk ending up dead courtesy of the summoned anti terrorist squad!

However the Type 80 Modulator Room still remains, possibly due to its reinforced construction. The author spent many tedious long evenings or nights entombed in here. The larger left hand section of this building is the part which was straddled by the legs supporting the platform for the rotating aerial as shown in pictures in the Type 80 description. The section with the louvred shutter housed the motor / alternator set.

The wartime T Block and steel transmitter masts stood near to the building in the above photograph but R Block with its associated wooden towers were situated a hundred yards away at the south western end of the St.Boniface site. Below you can see the massive concrete block footings for one of these and the shell of R Block is close by.

R Block is surrounded by massive anti-blast earthen banks and the entrances protected by concrete walls.

Post postscript: On visiting St. Boniface 08.09.05 it was found that within the last year the main site had been further sub-divided by an additional wire fence which runs south from behind the former bungalow area near the main gate, parallel with and fairly close to the eastern wall of the Civil Aviation Authority building, then turns west behind it and turns a right angle again to return to the front fence. Thus the greater proportion of the former site is now a flattened U shaped area surrounding a much smaller NATS area, access to which is via a new pair of tall gates and a scraped roadway, which is the whiter line on the Google picture immediately to the west of the NATS section. In July 2006 work was in progress on dismantling an existing 27 metre tower which is to be replaced by a 35 metre one. There is now little indication of the position of the old bungalow guardroom, although this most excellent Google Earth picture shows some scarring of the ground to the right of the grey car parking area immediately inside the main gates. The Type 80 modulator room is to the east immediately below the round building and R Block is the grey angled rectangle on the western edge.

A few weeks afterwards the reason for this partitioning off of the Civil compound became clear. The old CH part of the site was sold by auction on the 11th.October by The Allsop Company for £61000 on behalf of site owners BT to persons as yet to be revealed. Details were available from www.allsop.co.uk

Perhaps the remaining larger eastern section has already been sold or is due to be sold later?

The Isle of Wight County Press reported on the 14th.October 2005 that the auctioneer stated that the amount of interest had been surprising in view of the planning restrictions on the site. He expected that the new owner would maintain the site and wait for a change in planning policy. The site is outside the development envelope and is adjacent to a designated site of special scientific interest. In addition it is within an area of outstanding natural beauty and a designated site of importance for nature conservancy. The IW Council Planning team leader had told enquirers prior to the auction that it was highly unlikely the plot could be used for a residential development. A local environmental campaigner Dr. Paul Hatchwell called on the IW Council to make further designations to ensure the site's historical importance was maintained.

News 03.10.06

 

 

On visiting the R Block today it was found to have been fitted with a new double bolted and padlocked plywood door. However vandalism was evident in that an original external side door which had at sometime in the past been sealed with building blocks, now has a gaping hole in it. This gives access to a small tiled room in a rear corner of the block. The room is half-tiled, but did not seem to be a lavatory. Could it have been a battery room for emergency lighting?  

 

 

 

 

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Very latest news 13.03.08 This is the current state of conversion for whatever purpose:-

All four of the eighteen inch thick walls have been pierced for narrow horizontal windows. The roof has or will be made watertight and to that end the 'bomb-proof' gravel trap has had to be removed from the roof. So it seems that apart from the windows (glass brick possibly?) R Block will remain externally much as it ever was, and if so will be as satisfactory an outcome as could be hoped for. However the slow progress of the conversion is mystifying, especially no progress was made at all during the winter of 2007/2008 and this prompts increasing conjecture about planning objections and / or the financial resources of the new owner.

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Finally Google Earth shows us what the Lowtherville Road domestic site looks like now. Most of it has been taken over for housing while the few remaining huts have been conjoined to facilitate their present industrial use. You might like to compare this with the former layout, using the Guard Room as a common reference point.