Exploring Kent's Past

It should not be assumed that this site is publicly accessible and it may be on private property. Do not trespass.

Monument details

Summary

The former Cold War RAF Ash Radar Station.

Monument Types

• RADAR STATION (Modern - 1953 AD to 1997 AD)

Full description

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Complex of buildings, some underground, and aerial platforms covering large are. No longer used by RAF, now used by a private company for computer data storage.
Owner : Private
Publicly accessible : No
How accessed for survey :
Tourism Potential :
Condition : good
Date of visit : 23/07/07

A survey of 1998, carried out by English Heritage when the station had been decommissioned and was due to be sold, recorded the history of the site and structures. The station was built as part of the post war Rotor programme, becoming operational on 8th May 1953. The control block was an R3 type bunker, a two storey structure, the lower storey being completely below ground, the upper being partially below ground and below a reinforced earth mound. It served as a CGI (A) station, a fighter control station. The programme was short-lived and it was proposed in the early 1960s for the station to become a civil air traffic control system. It is not known what purpose the station served between the 1960s and the late 1980s. In the late 1980s a new radar control system was implemented and Ash station was used as part of this, it was also used to test new software. It was operational until 1997 and put up for sale in 1998.

Surface features include bases for radar arrays, the original entrance to the bunker (via a guardhouse) and a 1980s Yarnold type pillbox. There is also a sewage works and an electricity sub station. The legal perimeter of the site is demarcated with concrete blocks.

Housing for some of the staff was provided at the RAF Station Sandwich. (1-2)

A walkover survey in 2008 recorded surviving structures in the southern part of the site. (3)

<1> English Heritage, 1998, RAF Ash, Kent: Survey Report (Unpublished document). SKE17307.

<2> English Heritage, 2001, Cold War Monuments: an assessment by the Monuments Protection Programme (Unpublished document). SKE17446.

<3> Gifford and Partners, 2008, The Bunker: Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment (Unpublished document). SKE17898.

Sources and further reading

Related records