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Description and History of Site:-

The site consists of two principal elements, adjacent to the road is the remains of the WWII Chain Home radar station while to the rear was the site of the ACE Tropospheric Radio Station, of which virtually nothing remains.

Built in 1939 by Blaw Knows Ltd the steel lattice tower is the last of the four transmitter towers that were originally located on the site.

The transmitter tower is a self-supporting 360 feet (109.72m) high steel lattice tower with internal ladders and landing stages. The tower has a foot at each corner, each sitting on a concrete pad. Two pairs of cantilevered platforms extend from the sides at 50 feet (15.2m) and 200 feet (60.95m). A higher pair of platforms originally located at 350 feet (106.67m) up the tower has been removed. (adapted from listing)

To the rear is the site of an ACE(high) radio station. Allied Command Europe(ACE) was an advanced tropospheric scatter radio communications system that was constructed in 1959 and was operational from the 1960s to the 1990s. Stenigot consisted of 4 60ft (18.29m) diameter dish antennas of which only 1 remains, the other 3 were cut up for scrap in 2018, and formed the linking station between Maidstone in Kent and Brizlee Wood in Northumberland, See Cockcroft 2003, p141

Further Reading and References:-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Stenigot
Lowery B ed, 20th Century Defences in Britain - An Introductory Guide, Council for British Archaeology, 1995 1996
Osborne M, 20th Century Defences in Britain Lincolnshire, Brassey's, 1997
Wright N R, Lincolnshire's Industrial Heritage - A Guide, Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology, 2004
Gough J, Watching The Skies - The History of Ground Radar in the Air Defence of the United Kingdom, HMSO, 1993
Cockcroft W D Thomas R J Barnell P S Ed, Cold War - Building for Nuclear Confrontation 1946-1989, English Heritage, 2003

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Key Words :- chain home high radar CH ace troposheric communications

Viewing the Site :- No public access, can be viewed from the public road

Address :- Withcall Road, Donnington on Bain, Louth, Lincolnshire, LN11 9RHG
Grid Ref :- TF 25678 82557
Co-ordinates :- Lat 53.325020 , Long -0.114514
Local Authority :- East Lindsey District Council
Pre 1974 County :- Lincolnshire - Lindsey
Site Status :- Listed - Grade II
Historic England List No - 1259301, 1259212,
Site Condition :- Site conserved
Site Dates :- 1939 -
Contributor :- John Suter - 8 December 2017

Copyright :- cc-by-nc-sa 4.0 © John Suter