Monument record MDO29556 - Coastal Defence/Chain Home Low Station M76, Cains Folly, Stanton St Gabriel

The site of a Coastal Defence/Chain Home Low (CD/CHL) radar station at Cains Folly. It was built by the British Army to monitor shipping and aircraft during the Second World War. CD/CHL sites opened from 1941 and comprised a brick or concrete operations block with an aerial gantry mounted on the roof and a separate standby set house for the reserve power. Staff were billeted where possible, but some stations had a small layout of domestic hutting situated within one mile of the site. Two buildings associated with the site are visible as extant structures on aerial photographs taken in 1956. Aerial photography from 1971 shows that the station had been removed.

A Coastal Defence/Chain Home Low Station located at Cains Folly (SY 378 930) called site M76. Coastal Defence/Chain Home Low (CD/CHL) radar stations were operated by the British Army to detect shipping and aircraft. CD/CHL sites opened from 1941 and comprised a brick or concrete operations block with an aerial gantry mounted on the roof and a separate standby set house for the reserve power. Staff were billeted where possible, but some stations had a small layout of domestic hutting situated within one mile of the site. <1>

Two buildings associated with the site are visible as extant structures on aerial photographs taken in 1956 <2> they are no longer visible on the latest Google Earth imagery. The site was digitally plotted during the South West Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey (Dorset).

Aerial photography from 1971 shows that the station had been removed and the site given over to agricultural use and use as a coastal path. <3>

<1> Dobinson, C S, 1996, Twentieth century fortifications in England, volume 7. Acoustics and Radar: England's early warning systems 1915-45, page 168 (Monograph). SDO12579.

<2> Royal Air Force, 08-JUN-1956, RAF 82/14378 0132-3 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13014.

<3> Anderton, M J, 2000, Twentieth century military recording project: World War Two Coastal Batteries (Unpublished document). SDO17230.

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1478011 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Sep 6 2024 4:34PM