Historic Building Details

HB Ref No:
HB05/04/039

Address :
Former Radar Station Torr Road Ballycastle Co. Antrim BT54

Townland:
West Torr

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Survey 2:
B1

Date of Listing:
10/02/2017 00:00:00

Date of De-listing:

Current Use:
World War II Structures

Former Use
World War II Structures

Conservation Area:
No

Industrial Archaeology:
No

Vernacular:
No

Thatched:
No

Monument:
No

Derelict:
Partially

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OS Map No:
09/12NE

IG Ref:
D2142 4062

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Owner Category

Exterior Description And Setting

This site is located on the north side of Torr Road on the eastern slope of the east summit of Greenanmore (297m). It comprises six original buildings of mid-20th C date, three more recent ones, and a prehistoric megalith on the hill's summit. Building 1 - Technical/Domestic Block (grid D2142 4062) The single-storey, multi-bay building is the main one in the complex and is approached along a track from the public road. It sits on a wide terrace excavated out of the east side of the hillside. It comprises two main sections: (1) the Technical Block which is aligned NE-SW and originally contained the communications equipment, and (2) the Domestic Block to its SW, and connected to it by a corridor, and which contained a kitchen, rest rooms and toilets. The entire building is now derelict, although parts are in use as animal byres. The roofs are of flat reinforced-concrete with bituminous waterproofing with oversailing eaves. There are three levels of roof. That over room 03 (see internal description) is slightly higher than the rest of the Technical Block, whilst that over rooms 02 and 07-12 are slightly lower. Two vertical metal ventilators project from the roof of room 16. The edges of the roofs are slightly raised, behind which are replacement plastic rainwater down pipes. The walls are of cement-rendered concrete blockwork and the openings have flat heads; the windows have concrete cills. No doors survive, but all the multi-paned metal-framed windows are largely intact; some have fixed and others have bucket openings. The main entrance was via a sliding doorway at the NE end of the building. The horizontal rail on which the door was mounted is clearly evident. To its left is a 5x3-paned window (to the guardroom). To the right are two large doorways on the SE elevations of rooms 19 and 20; room 20 also has a small doorway at its NE end. The SE elevation can be divided into four sections, from left to right: (1) room 06 has a 3x3-paned opening and, to its right, a modern insertion with Perspex cover; (2) room 03 is slightly higher and has two 5x4-paned windows (with 3x2-paned bucket opening to middle) ; (3) set back is a corridor section with three 4x3-paned windows (with 2x2-paned opening section); (4) the projecting section at right (room 02) is blank. At the right-hand end of the SW elevation is the blank wall of room 06. The middle section comprises the linking corridor between the Technical and Domestic blocks. There is an original doorway to centre, now sheeted over. To its right is a projecting bay with 3x3-paned window and to its left is a 5x2-paned window. Left of the corridor is the Domestic Block with four 1x3-paned windows to its SE elevation and 5x3-paned window (with 3x2 opening) to SW. The NW elevation has, at its right-hand end, the projecting Domestic Block with a 3x3-paned window to middle (some frames missing), and flanking 5x3 windows (with 3x2-pane openings). The NE side of this block has three 1x3-pane windows to left and a 5x3-paned window (with 3x2-pane opening) to right. Its SE elevation has three 1x3-pane windows. The Technical Block comprises the rest of this elevation and has, from left to right, the following windows: 2x3/ 3x3/ 2x3 windows (room 18), 3x3 window (room 17), 5x3 window with two rectangular vent openings below, now sheeted over with corrugated iron (room 16), 3x3 window (room 15), and 2x3/ 3x3/ 2x3 windows (room 14). A hole has been punched through room 13 to illuminate the interior and is covered with Perspex. Building 2 - Standby Set House (grid D2145 4066) This single-storey, three-bay building originally housed a back-up engine and electricity generator in the event of a power failure in the Technical Block. It is situated just NE of the latter, to which is its now connected by a modern concrete block wall. It is now disused and derelict. The central section is aligned NW-SE and has a lower bay at SE and NE. A later single-storey building has been built along its NE side. The three original bays all have flat oversailing felted reinforced-concrete roofs and rendered concrete block walls. The SE end has a pair of replacement double-leaf corrugated metal doors. Above it is a short length of projecting pipe and at top left is a projecting square metal plate. The (originally) exposed section of the SW and NE elevations each have a doorway with 3x3 metal-framed casement overlight. The latter doorway is now externally obscured by the later addition to this side. There are two high-level and two low-level square ventilators on the NW end. The roof and walls of the two wings are detailed as the main bay. The SW bay has a doorway on its SE elevation and an infilled doorway at NW. The NE bay has a large door on its SE elevation only. In both cases, the actual doors are missing. The later addition at NW has a flat felted timber roof and rendered concrete block walls. It has a wooden door and two timber-framed windows along its NE side. Building 3 - Radar Building (grid D2129 4065) This small single-storey, single-bay building is located 135m WNW of the Technical Block, near the summit of the hill. According to Nick Catford, there was originally a Type 14 radar dish mounted on a metal gantry directly over it, long since removed. The building has a flat oversailing roof and cement-rendered concrete block walls. It has no openings except for a doorway on its E elevation, with concrete steps leading up thereto. This opening may have had a double-leaf door originally, but has been narrowed to accommodate a single-leaf modern door. Around the building are four large rectangular concrete blocks on the tops of which are the cut-off remnants of metal brackets. These were the anchor points for the angled gantry legs supporting the radar dish. Building 4 - Dog Kennels (grid D2147 4057) Just right on entry to the site from the main road, concrete steps lead down to a small single-storey, two-bay building which originally housed guard dogs. It is aligned E-W with its principal elevation facing S. Monopitched corrugated asbestos roof, rendered concrete block walls with small vents all around at eaves and floor level. A small circular vent rises from the roof of the E bay. No rainwater goods. Each bay has a doorway on its S elevation. There is a window to each elevation of the E bay, but the W bay has only one window, on its N elevation; all have flat concrete heads and cills but the actual frames have been replaced with corrugated transparent plastic sheeting. Building 5 - Guard House (grid D2147 4058) This building stood immediately NE of the kennels. Only its concrete floor and a single concrete-block basal course now survive. Openings along its SE side indicate that it was originally sub-divided into three rooms. Vestiges of metal uprights on top of the blockwork suggest that the walls may have been a sheeted metal-framed building. Structure 6 - Sewage Works (grid D2151 4058) At the lowest point of the site at east is a small sewage treatment works It comprises an underground sludge settling tank, from which a pipe conveyed the liquid effluent to two contiguous filter beds. One of the steel cover plates on the tanks reads: "The Dover/ Engineering/ Works Ltd/ England/ Patent/ No 313012". The filter beds comprise rectangular tanks enclosed by low rendered brick walls and across the bottoms of which run multiple cast-iron pipes embedded in clinker. The ends of the pipes project through the walls and have metal bungs on their ends. There is another rendered brick tank just beyond the bottom (E) end of the beds. In operation, the effluent was probably ducted from the settling tank at the top (W) end into the pipes within the filters, whence it escape through perforations on the pipes' undersides. It then percolated through the clinker, before being collected in the pit at the bottom, from which it presumably percolated away. The bungs on the pipes' ends may have been for access if unblocking was necessary. Miscellaneous features A - Radio Mast and associated buildings (grid D2138 4066) Fifty metres NW of the Technical Block is a modern guyed radio mast and two associated modern buildings enclosed by a post and wire fence. One of the buildings is a pre-fabricated container, the roof and sides of which are clad in profiled metal sheeting. The other is a small single-storey building with pitched artificial slate roof, raised gable walls, plastic rainwater goods, and cement-rendered walls. It has a pair of double-leaf doors on its N gable and ventilation duct on its S gable, but is otherwise devoid of openings. B - Silo Pit grid D2134 4067) Fifty metres west of the radio mast is a drive-in concrete-lined silo pit with loading hardstand at its NW end. C - Weather Station (grid D2132 4063) Thirty metres SE of the Radar Building is a modern anemometer and small corrugated metal hut containing weather measuring equipment. Immediately north of the station is a concrete platform of unknown function (grid D2132 4064); it may possibly have been the site of the Type 13 height finding equipment which was operated alognsid eht Type 14 radar dish. D- Megalith (grid D2127 4063) On the summit of the hill is a scatter of large undressed rocks, in the middle of which are the vestiges of a Neolithic passage tomb, now a Scheduled Monument (ANT 09:019) . E Booley huts (grid D2132 4040) Just outside the southern perimeter of the fence are what are thought to have been booley huts (SMR ANT 9:179). Setting: The site, which extends to c.300m E-W by 125m N-S, is delineated all around by a post-and-wire security fence. The original entrance gates have been replaced with a standard galvanised steel field gate. What is undoubtedly an original metal lamp standard survives just inside the left-hand side of the entrance. The various buildings are linked by a concrete track from the public road. The ground both inside and outside the fence is open grass and heather moorland. A key aspect of this site is its strategic position which commands extensive, uninterrupted views across the North Channel to the Mull of Kintyre, perfect for spotting low-flying enemy aircraft. At Crockanore, c.3km WNW of this site, were two functionally related sites, both now demolished: a VHF transmitter block at grid D190 414 and a VHF receiver block at grid D186 414.

Architects

Historical Information

This extensive complex was built by the Air Ministry in 1955-56 as part of the Government's early warning system to detect and intercept potential nuclear attacks by Soviet bombers during the Cold War era. Code named 'ROTOR', this air defence system was developed in three stages: ROTOR 1 (1952-54), ROTOR 2 (1952-58), and ROTOR 3 (1954-57). The first two phases were focused on Britain which was regarded as being most vulnerable to attack. The last phase entailed the construction of an additional 14 surface sites to cover the UK's northern and western approaches. The station under review was part of ROTOR 3 and was officially known as RAF Murlough Bay CHEL R11 ROTOR Radar Station. 'CHEL' denotes the Chain Home Extra Low radar system employed to detect planes flying very low over the sea to escape normal radar detection. 'R11' signifies the specific type of building erected on the site, in this case an above-ground one similar to the R2-type underground bunkers found along the more vulnerable eastern coast of Britain. The station was officially codenamed 'URB' and was provided with a Type 14 Mk IX search radar on a gantry and a Type 13 Mk VII height finder on a plinth. This equipment was probably supplied by Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company. There were only two other ROTOR sites in Northern Ireland, both of a different type to Murlough Bay: at Killard Point, near Strangford, Co Down (NIEA DHP 311), and Castlerock, Co Londonderry (NIEA DHP 297), In 1958, a mere two years after its completion, Murlough Bay was reduced to inactive status, the entire ROTOR network having been superseded by the more effective Linesman/Mediator radar network which required fewer stations. The site is first depicted but uncaptioned on the OS 1971 OS map. It is now privately owned and also now accommodates a communications mast and weather station. References - Primary Sources: 1. PRONI OS/11/9/12/1. OS 25-inch map sheet 12-01 (1971). References - Secondary Sources: 1. 'The Rotor Project' in Time Chamber website, . 2. Nick Catford, 2007, 'RAF Murlough Bay', in Subterranea Britannica website, . 3. 'ROTOR', in Wikipedia website, . 4. 'Operation Rotor: the Story of the UK's Postwar Air Attach Early Warning System' in < http://web.archive.org/web/20040207180 108/http://www.blackiston.btinternet.co.uk/index.html>.

Criteria for Listing

Architectural Interest

A. Style B. Proportion C. Ornamentation D. Plan Form J. Setting

Historic Interest

W. Northern Ireland/International Interest Z. Rarity R. Age S. Authenticity T. Historic Importance U. Historic Associations

Evaluation

The plain utilitarian style of this building with its rendered concrete blockwork walls and metal-framed windows is reminiscent of many Second World War buildings. The arrangement of the various buildings and structures within the site, and the configurations of the rooms in the Technical/Domestic and Standby blocks reflect the site's different functions. Externally the roof, walls and metal framed windows all survive, however internally much has been lost. The station's setting is highly significant, with commanding views of the North Channel. The surviving fabric is historically authentic and it reflects a brief but significant period in the UK's military history known as the Cold War and is of national significance in this respect in terms of its defences. Cold War radar sites are extremely rare in N. Ireland, this being one of only three; the others are at Castlerock and Killard Point.

General Comments

This is Defence Heritage Project Site 298. Please also note that the building type has been designated as 'Cold War Structures', rather than 'World War II Structures' as the former is a more accurate reflection of its history and significance.

Date of Survey

17 May 2015