Site Records

Site Name: Coldblow ACE HIGH relay station

Coldblow Lane
Thurnham, Kent
OS Grid Ref: TQ824585

Sub Brit site visit 9th January 2004

THE SITE DESCRIBED
The site, which is surrounded by a chain link fence, is located on the east side of Coldblow Lane with a short access road from it. The WW2 communications site is sited alongside the access road but outside the Ace High compound. A wooden lattice mast from this station survives and is still in use with a number of modern communications aerials mounted at the top. Three brick buildings from the 1940's stand close by. The smallest building to the west has a door at both ends and probably housed a sub station. To the east the next building has some electrical switchgear mounted on the wall inside and would have been the power house. Both buildings are open and the power house is used as a stable. The third and largest building, adjacent to the wooden mast is locked and some modern radio equipment can be seen through the window, this would have been the communications equipment building.

Just inside the gate to the ace high compound is the guardhouse, a single storey 'L' shaped brick building. The building is open and internally vandalized. The Ace High sub-station and standby set house are to the right of the road with a portacabin and transmitter building to the left.

The station in the 1980's - Photo by Bob Jenner

The sub-station is still in use and the standby set house has been renovated with a new roof. On the south side of the building there is a small walled enclosure with the concrete mountings for two fuel tanks. A portacabin with concrete steps for access was sited opposite the sub-station. It was used as a workshop and still retains a work bench and tool board.

Behind the portacabin is the emergency water supply stored in a large Braithwaite steel tank still clearly labeled EWS. The transmitter building is a single storey 'L' shaped structure. The main part of the building has a hipped roof and is similar to the transmitter building (now demolished) at the Ace High station at Stenigot. The shorter arm of the 'L' which is not present at Stenigot has a flat roof.

Entrance is through double doors at the west end. Just inside the door there is a toilet on the left with two cubicles one conaining a WC and the other a hand basin. There is a small shower room to the right side of the lobby. Beyond these is a short spine corridor with two rooms on the right, the first of which was the office. There is a corridor to the left into the shorter arm of the 'L'. The room at the end of the corridor appears to have been a rest room with a small kitchen next to it.

Back in the main spine corridor the next room on the left was a workshop and still retains a workbench and tool board. The next room was the BT room with some cabling still in place. This part of the building is completely wrecked, fire damaged and roofless. There is a burnt out car sitting at one end of the spine corridor. At the end of the corridor are the three equipment rooms, each accessed from the previous room through a set of double doors. The first room, the control room, is also roofless and wrecked. On the south side of the room there are two ventilation louvre panels with a small brick ventilation stack on the outside of the building. At the back of the control room there is a large window and another set of double doors into the transmitter hall, the largest room in the building. The fire didn't spread into this room and the roof is intact. There is some electrical switch gear in one corner and a large tool and spares board in another. There are two sets of ventilation louvre panels on the two long walls with two brick ventilation stacks on each of the outside walls of the building. There are windows at ceiling level along both long walls. (To see what this room would have looked like with its transmitters in place see the Stenigot Ace High picture gallery).

At the back of the room, double doors lead into the electrical plant room which has a tiled floor and no windows. There are two ventilation slots at ground level on each of the two long walls with metal ventilation trunking on the outside of the building. There are also four short ventilation stacks in the roof. At the side of the room a doorway leads into a small extension on the south side of the building.

Behind the transmitter building is the current MOD compound with a metal lattice mast. Communications equipment is housed in two new buildings.

Three further buildings stand at the end of the road into the site. There is a block of two buildings butting on to each other close to the western perimeter fence one building is a three bay dog kennel, the wire fencing for the dog runs at the rear of the building has been removed. The adjacent building is a preparation room for the dogs' food. The final building is a prefabricated bar/lounge and recreation room with a decorative serving area in the middle of one side. This building is in poor condition and likely to be demolished.

It should be noted that the site is alarmed with a guard dog running loose when the studio is not in use and the owner would not welcome casual visitors.

For further pictures of the Cold Blow ACE HIGH relay station click here

See also Nevada Microwave & Tower LLC web site which has pictures of Mormond Hill (click on The Vault)

Sources:

• Bob Jenner
• Andy Emmerson
• Jane's Military Communications for 1987

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