Monument record MBC43713 - A Second World War military transmitter station, Briar Plantation, Whaddon

A Second World War military transmitter station is visible on historic aerial photographs and was mapped as part of the North Buckinghamshire Aerial Investigation and Mapping project (EBC18304). Located in a field between the sewages works and Briar Plantation, Whaddon village and centred at SP 81173 34060, the site comprises two adjacent rectangular military huts, one protected by a linear blast wall and linked by a (probably) concrete footpath, the site being partly enclosed by barbed wire and around which are sited at least 28 radio masts. It is probable that these are the transmission aerials for nearby ‘Windy Ridge’ (Bucks HER No MBC24888 / 0950300000), the military two-way radio station that received decrypted information direct from Hut 3 at Station X, Bletchley Park and then transmitted intelligence to Allied military commanders in the various theatres of operation. The receiving aerials were adjacent the Windy Ridge buildings, but for security reasons the transmitter aerials were not located at that site. The military personnel at the site were likely primarily Royal Corps of Signals but assisted by members of the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force and they were probably accommodated in the hutted camp constructed in the field to the rear of Whaddon village hall. Following the war’s end, the Windy Ridge station continued in use for several years before closing. Aerial photographs taken in 1947 show that 17 of the aerials standing only a year before had been dismantled, though the remaining aerials appear to remain upstanding. However, by 1954, all the aerials have been removed, though the buildings remain and remain so in 1970. by 1993, the buildings too have been demolished (probably destroyed through arson) and no evidence of the site is visible on aerial photographs taken in 2019 (1-10).