Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

The site of a Ground Controlled Interception (GCI) radar station at Sandwich. Sandwich operated initially as a Transportable station and was upgraded in 1943 to a Final station. The station was extended during the late 1940s and remained operational until the early 1950s when it was superseded by RAF Ash. The surviving field remains, including a modified watime 'Happidrome' (operations room), floor slabs and radar plinths, provide a good example of the evolution of a wartime radar station to meet post-war needs.

Monument Types

• RADAR STATION (Modern - 1940 AD to 1953 AD)
• RADAR STATION (Modern - 1941 AD? to 1953 AD?)

Full description

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From the NMR:
The site of a Ground Controlled Interception (GCI) radar station at Sandwich. GCI stations were developed by the Air Ministry from 1940 to detect, locate and track enemy aircraft and provide inland radar coverage of Britain. Sandwich initially operated as a Transportable GCI station and in 1943 was upgraded to a Final station. Transportable stations comprised transmitter and receiver aerial arrays mounted on gantries spaced no more than 220ft (67.1 metres) apart, with operations carried out from trucks or temporary hutting. Final GCI or AMES Type 7 stations comprised a single rotating aerial array with transmitter equipment stored beneath in an underground well, plus an operations block, a standby set house for reserve power, and a guard hut for the site entrance. The station was extended during the late 1940s and remained operational until the early 1950s when it was superseded by Royal Air Force Ash. The surviving field remains, including a modified wartime 'Happidrome' (operations room), floor slabs and radar plinths, provide a good example of the evolution of a wartime radar station to meet post-war needs. The remaining buildings, hardstandings, radar foundations and gun emplacements associated with this site were mapped at 1:2500 scale from aerial photographs as part of the English Heritage Richborough Environs Project which was initiated by EH Centre for Archaeology.

TR 3213 5859. The radar station at Sandwich was established in the Second World War as a Ground Control Intercept (GCI) Station. Its function was to direct interceptor aircraft to a position close enough to intruding aircraft for them to be able to use their own airborne radar to close on to a target. The station was retained after the end of the war and was extended during the late 1940s. In the early 1950s Britain's radar defences were updated and remodelled under the Rotor program. There is evidence that the station at RAF Sandwich was refurbished before August 1953 when operations were moved 2.5km south-west to a new control centre at RAF Ash (TR 25 NE 58).

The surviving field remains, include the modified wartime 'Happidrome' (now in use as a veterinary surgery), a stand-by set house, a Type 7 radar well, an unidentified radar well, an Identifier Friend or Foe building, and a standard Rotor period Type 13 radar plinth. Other minor features also survive along with the potential for the survival of buried features. (1)

The remaining buildings, hardstandings, radar foundations and gun emplacements associated with the WWII radar station described by the previous authorities were mapped at 1:2500 scale from aerial photographs as part of the English Heritage Richborough Environs Project which was initiated by EH Centre for Archaeology.

A Ground Controlled Interception station located at Sandwich (TR 319 586), called site 39G. Ground Controlled Interception (GCI) radar stations were developed by the Air Ministry from 1940 to detect, locate and track enemy aircraft and provide inland radar coverage of Britain. The stations worked in cooperation with local Fighter Sectors that had Airborne Interception (AI) radar fitted in its aircraft to enable the crew to accurately home in on targets. By 28-JAN-1943 Sandwich initially operated as a Transportable station and later as a Final GCI station.

Transportable stations comprised transmitter and receiver aerial arrays mounted on gantries spaced no more than 220ft (67.1 metres) apart, with operations carried out from trucks or temporary hutting. Final Ground Controlled Interception sites were AMES Type 7 stations that comprised a single rotating aerial array with transmitter equipment stored in an underground well beneath, a brick operations block, a standby set house for reserve power, and a guard hut for the site entrance. Some sites were provided with additional huts for offices and recreation rooms.

From the Defence of Kent survey:
By the White Mill are large brick buildings that were the Sandwich Radar Station. Aerial platforms are in the field to the west. A buried reserve also is located in the field to the west. Buildings now used for industrial units.
Owner : Private
Publicly accessible : Yes
How accessed for survey :
Tourism Potential :
Condition : moderate
Date of visit : 23/07/07


The radar station at Sandwich was established in WWII as a Ground Control Intercept (GCI) Station [2]. It operated initially as a Transportable station and later as a Final GCI station. GCI radar stations were developed by the Air Ministry from 1940 to detect, locate and track enemy aircraft and provide inland radar coverage of Britain. Transportable stations comprised transmitter and receiver aerial arrays mounted on gantries spaced no more than 220ft (67.1 metres) apart, with operations carried out from trucks or temporary hutting. Final Ground Controlled Interception sites were AMES Type 7 stations that comprised a single rotating aerial array with transmitter equipment stored in an underground well beneath, a brick operations block, a standby set house for reserve power, and a guard hut for the site entrance. Some sites were provided with additional huts for offices and recreation rooms. The stations worked in cooperation with local Fighter Sectors that had Airborne Interception (AI) radar fitted in its aircraft to enable the crew to accurately home in on targets. The station was retained after the end of the war and was extended during the late 1940s. In the early 1950s Britain's radar defences were updated and remodelled under the Rotor programme. There is evidence that the station at RAF Sandwich was refurbished before August 1953 when operations were moved 2.5km south-west to a new control centre at RAF Ash.

The surviving field remains, include the modified wartime 'Happidrome' (now in use as a veterinary surgery), a stand-by set house, a Type 7 radar well, an unidentified radar well, an Identifier Friend or Foe building, and a standard Rotor period Type 13 radar plinth. Other minor features also survive along with the potential for the survival of buried features.

The components of the site, including buildings, hardstandings, radar foundations and gun emplacements, were mapped at 1:2500 scale from aerial photographs as part of the English Heritage Richborough Environs Project [2].

Further elements of the facility, lying to the south of Ash Road, were recorded during aerial photography analysis as part of the South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment. These features were recorded from 1940s RAF vertical aerial photography and comprise earthworks and built structures. To the south and west of the Radar Station, banks and ditches are visible which appear to demark the southern boundary of the station [3]. A ditch-defined probable gun emplacement is lying at the easternmost end of the perimeter bank [4]. Two further aerial bases are also visible lying c.140m south of the main Radar Station buildings [3].

The transcriptions produced by the Richborough Environs Project were added to those produced by the South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment (2009-10), see Associated Events. The resulting transcriptions exist as a GIS layer held by this HER [5].

English Heritage, 2001, Cold War Monuments: an assessment by the Monuments Protection Programme (Unpublished document). SKE17446.

<1> English Heritage, 1998, RAF Sandwich, Kent: Survey Report (Unpublished document). SKE17308.

<2> English Heritage, Richborough Environs Project, Kent: Report on the Aerial Photographic Transcription and Analysis (Unpublished document). SWX15714.

<2> English Heritage, Richborough Environs Project, Kent: Report on the Aerial Photographic Transcription and Analysis (Unpublished document). SWX15714.

<5> Wessex Archaeology, 2009-10, South-East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - Aerial Photographic Transcriptions (Digital archive). SWX15705.

<5> Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - (SE RCZAS) Phase 1: National Mapping Programme Report (Unpublished document). SKE25955.

<5> Cornwall Council Historic Environment Projects and Gloucestershire County Council, 2011, South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey National Mapping Programme Components 1&2: Results of NMP Mapping (Unpublished document). SKE25954.

Sources and further reading