MSO7961 - Possible World War Two radio communication complex on Stent Hill (Monument)

Centred at SS 84045 47352 are three brick buildings of World War Two date. They lie on Stent Hill, a pronounced west to east ridge overlooking the Bristol Channel. Building 1. SS 84102 47336. Brick built and single storey with metal windows on north and south sides. There is a asbestos sheeting roof. It measures 7.9 metres by 5.8 metres. There is a doorway at the west end, with a second doorway at the east. Building 2. SS 84045 47352. Single storey and brick built. It measures 3.8 metres by 3.3 metres. The building is roofless. There is a doorway on north side and a single window on the west side. There is metal racking on two walls. The interior has been used to dump farm rubbish. Building 3. SS 84041 47376. A single storey brick building which measures 2.8 metres square. The building is roofless and there is a doorway on the south side. Around the site are several areas of exposed concrete and rubble. Some of these features might be interpreted as the base for a mast. Local information suggests that the site was a radio communication complex, and the farmer states that high voltage power lines were brought to the site during World War Two. John Hellis [1] writes that the complex may have been used by 80 Wing Royal Air Force as a `bromide' beam bending station for use against the German bombing navigation aids. [2] A small square building is shown on 1962 Ordnance Survey map. [3] This is the remains of an anti aircraft battery. The remains include several brick and concrete buildings and the remains of one gun mounting with the ironwork lying by the side of one of the buildings. There are also several areas which appeared to have been other sites of buildings but they have now been lost to agriculture. [4] The site is visible on aerial photographs taken in 1946. The site is centred at ST 8408 4735 and comprises four buildings. Three of the buildings were surrounded by a boundary fence enclosing a polygonal area that measures 70 metres by 47 metres at its widest points. The fourth building centred at ST 8415 4727 was 55 metres southeast of the enclosed site and measured about 4 metres by 4 metres. The site was probably defended by the searchlight battery, located 530 metres to the west and recorded as MSO7962. Accommodation was probably provided by the nissan huts located about 700 metres to the east and recorded as MSO7787. Only three buildings remain extant on aerial photographs taken in 1998. [5-7] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [8,9]