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MHG30806 - Post Office/Radio Station, Brora

Summary

Post office, built in 1939. Used in WWII as a radio intercept station.

Type and Period (2)

RADIO STATION (In use, Second World War - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
POST OFFICE (Modern - 1901 AD to 2100 AD)

Protected Status

None recorded

Images (24)

Show captions

Composite Signals Organisation Postwar radio intercept station, Brora © J M Briscoe, 2011. id: 50779 (click to view a larger version of this image)

Composite Signals Organisation Postwar radio intercept station, Brora © J M Briscoe, 2011. id: 50778 (click to view a larger version of this image)

Composite Signals Organisation Postwar radio intercept station, Brora © J M Briscoe, 2011. id: 50777 (click to view a larger version of this image)

Composite Signals Organisation Postwar radio intercept station, Brora © J M Briscoe, 2011. id: 50776 (click to view a larger version of this image)

Composite Signals Organisation Postwar radio intercept station, Brora © J M Briscoe, 2011. id: 50775 (click to view a larger version of this image)

Composite Signals Organisation Postwar radio intercept station, Brora © J M Briscoe, 2011. id: 50774 (click to view a larger version of this image)

Composite Signals Organisation Postwar radio intercept station, Brora © J M Briscoe, 2011. id: 50773 (click to view a larger version of this image)

Composite Signals Organisation Postwar radio intercept station, Brora © J M Briscoe, 2011. id: 50772 (click to view a larger version of this image)

Composite Signals Organisation Postwar radio intercept station, Brora © J M Briscoe, 2011. id: 50771 (click to view a larger version of this image)

Composite Signals Organisation Postwar radio intercept station, Brora © J M Briscoe, 2011. id: 50770 (click to view a larger version of this image)

Composite Signals Organisation Postwar radio intercept station, Brora © J M Briscoe, 2011. id: 50769 (click to view a larger version of this image)

Composite Signals Organisation Postwar radio intercept station ID:MHG30806.Type of record:Monument.Name:Post Office/Radio Station, Brora.Grid Reference:NC 90867 03473.Map Sheet:NC90SW.Civil Parish:CLYNE.Geographical Area:SUTHERLAND. Quote from Canmore with permission of author: Brora WW2 Foreign Office radio intercept station.Posted by Stan Ames on 27 March 2010.The original building was built by the G.P.O in 1939. It was run by the G.P.O. on behalf of The Foreign Office during WW2 for intercepting diplomatic wireless traffic. The coded transcripts were sent by teleprinter to Bletchely Park for decryption. The traffic intercepted at Brora is recorded in the book - Churchils Secret War by Robin Denniston ISBN 0 7509 2329 6. After WW2 it continued as part of the Composite Signals Organisation under the control of GCHQ during the Cold War. Original government documents are available at National Archives in the GCHQ file HW 55/5. © J M Briscoe, 2012. id: 50768 (click to view a larger version of this image)

Composite Signals Organisation Postwar radio intercept station, Brora © J M Briscoe, 2011. id: 50767 (click to view a larger version of this image)

Composite Signals Organisation Postwar radio intercept station, Brora © J M Briscoe, 2011. id: 50766 (click to view a larger version of this image)

Composite Signals Organisation Postwar radio intercept station, Brora © J M Briscoe, 2011. id: 50765 (click to view a larger version of this image)

Composite Signals Organisation Postwar radio intercept station, Brora © J M Briscoe, 2011. id: 50764 (click to view a larger version of this image)

Composite Signals Organisation Postwar radio intercept station, Brora © J M Briscoe, 2011. id: 50763 (click to view a larger version of this image)

Composite Signals Organisation Postwar radio intercept station, Brora © J M Briscoe, 2011. id: 50762 (click to view a larger version of this image)

Composite Signals Organisation Postwar radio intercept station, Brora © J M Briscoe, 2011. id: 50761 (click to view a larger version of this image)

Composite Signals Organisation Postwar radio intercept station, Brora © J M Briscoe, 2011. id: 50501 (click to view a larger version of this image)

Composite Signals Organisation Postwar radio intercept station, Brora © J M Briscoe, 2011. id: 50500 (click to view a larger version of this image)

Composite Signals Organisation Postwar radio intercept station, Brora © J M Briscoe, 2011. id: 50499 (click to view a larger version of this image)

GUARD3064_Camera1_ (283).JPG — Radio station from NE © Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division (GUARD). id: 38053 (click to view a larger version of this image)

GUARD3064_Camera1_ (284).JPG — Radio station from NW © Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division (GUARD). id: 38052 (click to view a larger version of this image)

Documents (1)

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SHG24912 East Sutherland CZA 2010.pdf — Fieldwork report © GUARD. id: 122526 (click to open this file in a new window)

Full Description

Built in 1939 as a General Post Office (G.P.O.) and was used during the second world war as a tracking station. It was closed in 1984 and was then bought by a removal company for storage facilities. <1>

Recorded during coastal survey. Upstanding building with barbed wire perimeter fence. No access for survey. Single storey with numerous boarded up. <2>

The station continued to operate throughout the Cold War, when around forty people were posted here from all over Britain. The station closed in 1986. <3>

Recorded by RCAHMS as a Y intercept station, operations building. <4>

Photographs were contributed by Martin Briscoe via the Highland HER Flickr group.<5>

Sources/Archives (5)

Map

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Map layers

Base layers

Bing Aerial
Ordnance Survey

Info

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Record list

Tools

5 m

Location

Grid reference	Centred NC 9086 0347 (49m by 46m) (2 map features)
Map sheet	NC90SW
Geographical Area	SUTHERLAND
Civil Parish	CLYNE

Finds (0)

Related Monuments/Buildings (0)

Related Investigations/Events (1)

East Sutherland Coastal Zone Assessment Survey (EHG3315)

External Links (2)

http://www.flickr.com/groups/her/pool/tags/MHG30806 (View images of this site in the Highland HER Flickr group)
https://canmore.org.uk/site/276040 (View RCAHMS Canmore entry for this site)

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