Documents

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The legal document available for download below constitutes the formal designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The additional details provided on this page are provided for information purposes only and do not form part of the designation. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within this additional information.

• Type

  Legal Documents

  Title

  SM11335_Legal Doc

  Download(https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/document/600013939)

Summary

Description

The monument, Windyheads Hill, Gee station and camp, comprises the remains of a Second World War ground station for the Gee Navigation System and an associated accommodation camp visible as upstanding ruins and hut platforms. It is located on an exposed broad summit, 231m O.D., in open moorland next to a radio station that is still in use.

The surviving remains at Windyheads Hill consist of the concrete bases surrounded by c.3m high brick blast-walls of two transmitting/receiving (Tx/Rx) blocks (Nissan huts), the sites of two mast bases represented by four pyramidal concrete footings, a bunker and an octagonal-plan High Frequency/Direction Finding (HF/DF) building with walls of bituminous felt-clad timber boarding over a frame on a concrete base. To the immediate S of the station are the remains of one of its accommodation camps, which once contained 12-14 Nissen huts; of which the square-plan water tower survives (the heated water would have served the ablutions block). Of the four Tx/Rx blocks built, a post-war wireless station, still in use, was built over the site of one of them and the fourth appears to have been cleared in the 1970s or later. The main accommodation camp was situated 600m to the N; its site is now afforested.

Gee technology was invented by R. J. Dippy in 1938 and became operational in 1942 to provide RAF bomber navigators with a rapid means of determining their position using the time difference between pulses from three different stations. Gee was superseded by radar before the end of the war and there are only three other known examples of Gee Stations in the UK, including that at Burifa Hill, Caithness.

The area to be scheduled includes the remains described above and an area around them within which associated features might survive. It is irregular on plan and has maximum dimensions of about 805m N-S and 475m E-W as delineated in red on the accompanying map extract. It excludes the radio station, observation post and temperature gauge that are in use, existing fences, modern structures that are in use, the upper 30cm of the surfaces of existing roads, laybys and tracks and the existing extent of ditches and known service trenches.

Statement of National Importance

The monument is of national importance as a rare survival of a ground transmitting station of an important wartime military air navigation system, an integral part of the airborne offence of the Second World War. The in-situ remains add to our understanding of this type of monument as documentation detailing the layout and period of occupation of similar sites is often poor and rarely survives. Its importance is enhanced by its association with technological advancements of radio and radar. This type of monument is also often at risk from clearance.

References

Bibliography

About Scheduled Monuments

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Scheduling is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for monuments and archaeological sites of national importance as set out in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.

We schedule sites and monuments that are found to be of national importance using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Scheduled monument records provide an indication of the national importance of the scheduled monument which has been identified by the description and map. The description and map (see ‘legal documents’ above) showing the scheduled area is the designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The statement of national importance and additional information provided are supplementary and provided for general information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within the statement of national importance or additional information. These records are not definitive historical or archaeological accounts or a complete description of the monument(s).

The format of scheduled monument records has changed over time. Earlier records will usually be brief. Some information will not have been recorded and the map will not be to current standards. Even if what is described and what is mapped has changed, the monument is still scheduled.

Scheduled monument consent is required to carry out certain work, including repairs, to scheduled monuments. Applications for scheduled monument consent are made to us. We are happy to discuss your proposals with you before you apply and we do not charge for advice or consent. More information about consent and how to apply for it can be found on our website at www.historicenvironment.scot.

Find out more about scheduling and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.