Standby Generator House

Reasons for Designation

The standby generator house meets the criteria for listing as a rare example of an early 1950s generator building, part of RAF Neatishead radar station, Neatishead is of special interest in being the largest continuously occupied radar station in Britain, and probably the world. This building was constructed in the style of a simple chapel with attached belfry. This design both allowed the building to blend into the countryside and camouflaged its true function. It is one of a group of contemporary little altered structures which remain in place at RAF Neatishead and in its vicinity.

Details

NEATISHEAD

1237/0/10022 THREEHAMMER COMMON 22-FEB-08 Standby Generator House

II Standby generator house, dating to the early 1950s, built to resemble a simple chapel.

EXTERIOR: It comprises a rectangular, double height generator hall with a two-storey offset header tower attached to the south-east, all built in brick. The roofs over the hall and tower are steeply pitched and pantiled. The main roof sweeps down to form a catslide over a small porch like projection off the south corner. The main entrance elevation faces north-east, with access to the generator hall through tall double doors. Above are two air-tile vents. To the left of the doors is a projecting brick flue, square in plan. Attached to the main building and to the left of the flue is the two-storey belfry-like tower which has a pair of tall wooden planked doors on the ground-floor and a large opening with double doors at first-floor level. The south-east elevation of the generator hall has double wooden doors on the ground-floor with a nine pane Crittall window above. The north-west elevation has two similar Crittall windows at high level. The gable end has two rows of air-tile vents. There are further vents in the side walls to provide ventilation to the generator hall. INTERIOR: The lofty generator hall is divided into four bays by massive reinforced concrete beams which support a gantry crane complete with lifting tackle. The roof above is ceiled in at collar level but appears to be of simple coupled rafter construction. The louvered covers survive over most of the air-tile vents, as does the pipe outlet which fed exhaust fumes from the generator into the flue. The generator and transformers have been removed. To the south of the generator house is a rectangular concrete bund enclosed by a low brick wall where the diesel tanks would have been positioned.

HISTORY: RAF Neatishead opened in June 1941 as a Ground Control Intercept (GCI) Station and was retained after the end of the war. In the early 1950s, as part of the Rotor scheme to refurbish Britain's radar defences, the R3 underground operations block was built, accessed by staircase to the rear of a guardroom disguised as a bungalow. On the surface, new protected radar plinths were constructed. In addition to the main technical site, a number of dispersed components were built, including wireless transmitter and receiver stations and a standby generator house spread in an arc at a distance of about 1.6km from the centre. The standby generator house was built in nearby Neatishead village and was designed to resemble a simple chapel when viewed from a distance. It is almost identical to the one at Kelvedon Hatch but is roofed with local pantiles.

SOURCES: Cocroft, W D, 2001, Cold War Monuments: an assessment by the Monuments Protection Programme, English Heritage Cocroft, W D & Thomas, R J C, Cold War. Building for Nuclear Confrontation 1946-1989, English Heritage

Summary of Importance: RAF Neatishead is unique in being able to represent the changes to Britain's air defence policy throughout the Cold War until the present day. Many of the buildings on site are of special interest. They form a significant group of little altered contemporary structures which clearly reflect their function and Neatishead's place as the longest continuously occupied radar station in Britain, and probably the world. The standby generator house is a rare example of an early 1950s Rotor period radar generator building, constructed in the style of a simple chapel with attached belfry. This design both allowed the building to blend into the countryside and camouflaged its true function.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

495512

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Cocroft, W D, Cold War Monuments: An Assessment by the Monuments Protection Programme, (2001)
Cocroft, WD, Thomas, RJC, Cold War: Building for Nuclear Confrontation 1946-1989, (2003)

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