Site of Second World War Chain Home radar station 'CH22' (or 'RAF Canewdon Radar Station') receiver site, Lambourne Hall Road (EHER 19574)

Partially destroyed. The receiver site of a Royal Air Force Chain Home radar station at Canewdon. It was built between 1936 and 1938 to provide early warning of enemy aircraft approaching the Thames Estuary. The facilities at Canewdon were important in providing early warning during the Battle of Britain. The stations commonly comprised transmission and receiver blocks, four 240ft timber receiver aerial towers, four 350ft steel transmitter aerial towers that stood on concrete pads, and other buildings such as dispersed accommodation huts, guard huts and standby set houses. From 1940 defensive measures were installed at radar stations, including Light Anti-Aircraft gun emplacements, pill boxes, road blocks and air raid shelters. The Canewdon station was split into two halves, the receiver site north of Lambourne Hall Road (this record) and the transmitter site south of Gardeners Lane (EHER 19575). Aerial photography from 1970 shows that the transmission block survives in fair condition, with four sets of aerial bases visible. The married wardens quarters or guard house survives, as do some ancillary buildings. The remote aerials and transmitters at TQ 908 947 have since been removed. The only remains of the receiver site are two surviving pill boxes.

2003. World War Two Defences in Rochford survey: site visit and desktop research. World War Two radar receiving site. A Second World War radar site (Air Ministry Experimental Station Type 1) was sited on the edge of Canewdon village, it was the fourth to be built in Britain. The site comprised both a 'receiving' (this record) and 'transmission' site (EHER 19575) with four masts on each. <1> January 2004. Radar (Radio Direction and Ranging), which was to play such an important part in the defence of Britain during the Second World War, was developed amid great secrecy in the latter half of the 1930s. The site at Canewdon, completed in 1938, was one of the first to be established, along with Bawdsey, Great Bromley, Dunkirk (Kent) and Dover. By the outbreak of war in September 1939 it formed part of a network of 20 such ‘Chain Home’ stations protecting the east coast of Britain, stretching from Scotland to the Isle-of-Wight. The station was split into two halves, the 'Receiver Site', with four 240 foot timber towers, located north of Lambourne Hall Road, and the 'Transmitter Site', with four 350 foot steel towers, south of Gardeners Lane (EHER 19575). The layout of the 'receiver' site can be partly determined from an aerial photograph taken in June 1960. The entrance was off Lambourne Hall Road between a pillbox (EHER 20768), and a house, 'Wild Winds', both of which still survive. This led to a large 'L-shaped' tract of land on the brow of the hill overlooking the valley of the River Crouch to the north. Approximately six buildings can be made out dotted across the site. In the centre, at TQ 9048 9469, is a large, rectangular, flat-roofed building, semi-sunken with a blast wall. This was undoubtedly the 'receiver block'. The concrete foundations of the four towers can be seen at TQ 9042 9479, TQ 9043 9455, TQ 9047 9466 and TQ 9057 9474, the last of these still retaining its 240 foot wooden tower at that time. The site was bordered by steel dacoit fencing and thick hedges. Along this boundary, five pillboxes can be seen in the photograph, including that by the site entrance (EHER 20766 - EHER 20770). Outside, the hillside was broken up into small fields by more hedging. In 2003, the area has changed considerably. During the past 40 years almost every hedge across the hillside has been taken up and the landscape is now a wide expanse of open agricultural land. The dacoit fencing and hedges around the site boundary have gone. Within the area of the site nothing of the structures which could be seen on the 1960 aerial photograph appears to remain. Until recently, four of the original five pillboxes still stood, giving a partial outline to the site, but within the last four years two of these have been demolished (EHER 20766 and EHER 20769) and now just two remain (EHER 20767 and EHER 20768), the last surviving elements of the wartime receiver site. <2> - <5> One photo. <6> NRHE data transfer: 1995-2002. Defence of Britain survey. Radar station. Letter with list of sites. RDF. Recorder- A. Hill. <7> <8> A Chain Home radar station at located at Canewdon (TQ 905 946), known as CH22. Chain Home stations commonly comprised transmission and receiver blocks (see EHER 19575), four 240ft timber receiver aerial towers, four 350ft steel transmitter aerial towers that stood on concrete pads, and other buildings such as dispersed accommodation huts, guard huts and standby set houses. From 1940 defensive measures were installed at radar stations, including Light Anti-Aircraft (LAA) gun emplacements, pill boxes, road blocks and air raid shelters. LAA emplacements were located at identified Vulnerable Points (VP). At Canewdon these were VP 127 (River) at TQ 908 957; VP 127 (Pond) at TQ 902 938); VP 127 (Post Office) at TQ 902 943 and VP 127 (New Hall) at TQ 908 945. <9> A Chain Home station at Canewdon. Aerial photography from 1970 shows that the transmission block survives in fair condition, with four sets of aerial bases visible. The married wardens quarters or guard house survives, as do some ancillary buildings. The remote aerials and transmitters at TQ 908 947 have since been removed. The only remains of the receiver section of the site are two surviving pill boxes. <10> Canewdon was a chain home station that lay within the key area of 11 Group RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain. It and provided long range early warning for the Thames Estuary and the north-eastern approaches to London during the battle. <11> NRHE summary description: The site of a Royal Air Force Chain Home radar station at Canewdon. It was built between 1936 and 1938 to provide early warning of enemy aircraft approaching the Thames Estuary. The facilities at Canewdon were important in providing early warning during the Battle of Britain. The stations commonly comprised transmission and receiver blocks, four 240ft timber receiver aerial towers, four 350ft steel transmitter aerial towers that stood on concrete pads, and other buildings such as dispersed accommodation huts, guard huts and standby set houses. From 1940 defensive measures were installed at radar stations, including Light Anti-Aircraft gun emplacements, pill boxes, road blocks and air raid shelters. The Canewdon station was split into two halves, the receiver site north of Lambourne Hall Road and the transmitter site south of Gardeners Lane. Aerial photography from 1970 shows that the transmission block survives in fair condition, with four sets of aerial bases visible. The married wardens quarters or guard house survives, as do some ancillary buildings. The remote aerials and transmitters at TQ 908 947 have since been removed. The only remains of the receiver site are two surviving pill boxes.