Kingstanding - The Pigsty

Up on top of the Forest at Kingstanding there are a lot of derelict buildings, many of which have been boarded up and fenced off as they contain asbestos, a legacy of when they were built during the war. All of the buildings served important roles in supporting the radio transmitters and each one was given a designated number which can still be seen painted on the brickwork today. Some of them have also been given unofficial names as well such as the rotunda and the cinema. 

The majority of these buildings are located within the inner compound set around the road circuit in close proximity to the bunker. There is one very small building though that is set apart form the rest standing all alone in the outer compound half way between the inner and outer fences. An overgrown concrete path leads directly to it from an old rusted up gate adjacent to the bunker. Designated Building 35, however on the old maps it is actually named as The Pigsty and is still known by that name today.

I know very little about what Building 35 was used for but I do know for certain that it was never a home for pigs. In it's hey day the pigsty was surrounded by several large aerial masts which give a clue as to what purpose it served. I understand that it was used either as a switching system enabling different transmitters to be connected to, or disconnected from the circuit for maintenance purposes, or as an antenna tuning station.

You can't enter the pigsty these days because the locks have seized up with age, however it is possible to look inside through the missing window panes and broken door slats. Inside you can see what appear to be large radio valves and other paraphernalia from the golden age of wireless telegraphy.I love the history and the feeling of abandonment in this place and also the wonderful colours and textures caused by years of exposure to the seasons. Hopefully my photographs convey this scene of dereliction accurately.

Kingstanding

In December 2013 I posted a blog about the WW2 Bunker at Kingstanding on the Ashdown Forest little knowing that just over a year later I would be working there. My new position is as a Facilities Assistant for Sussex Police who now own the bunker and surrounding buildings set within a fifty five acre fenced compound. The site is used for storage and as a training facility for police officers but we also allow paramedics and fire and rescue personnel to use it occasionally.

I started work here in the depths of winter and now six months later I am getting to grips with the job which is a cross between a caretaker and security officer. They even gave me a Landrover to patrol and check the security of the site and perimeter fence with.  Every day brings a different challenge but the first job each morning is unlocking the bunker. In the early days in the pitch dark and with the wind blowing through the trees it felt very creepy up here as most of the supporting buildings are deserted and derelict. The perfect location for filming a zombie apocalypse movie.

Being at one of the highest points on the forest, Kingstanding has it's own weather system. The sun can be shining brightly five miles away at home but up here you can be in low cloud even in what we laughingly call summer in these parts. When the wind and rain are lashing against the windows of the gatehouse it can feel like you are on the bridge of a small boat in a storm. On hot sunny days I can't think of a better place to work, however the sun tends to bring out the adders so you have to be careful where you tread.

The complex was originally constructed by the Canadian Army Corps of Engineers in 1942 to house a radio transmitter code named 'Aspidistra' which purported to be a German station based in Calais transmitting light entertainment programmes to the U-boat crews. In between the music and rants against our Royal Family and Government we inserted disinformation to demoralise and cause confusion to the German armed forces. Although the German High command was aware of the station they never discovered it's location.

When it was built there was only one entrance to the bunker but during the nineteen eighties at the hight of the cold war it was converted into a nuclear proof bunker and a second entrance was constructed. In the eventuality of a nuclear attack on this country Kingstanding was to be the seat of local government, however what there would be left to govern is any bodies guess. After the fall of the Berlin wall and the thawing of the cold war the role of the bunker became defunct so the site was sold to Sussex Police.

If anybody reading this article is concerned that I may be giving away state secrets don't worry, as everything that I have written and photographs similar to those shown above are freely available on the internet. We even conduct tours of the site occasionally.

The (not so) Top Secret Site

Once there was a war! It was fought against a ruthless enemy who would stop at nothing in their aim to achieve world domination. In order to combat this threat the good guys (That's us and our allies) had to resort to some rather ungentlemanly means of warfare. The site where one particularly devious form of black propaganda was transmitted from is on the top of the Forest near King Standing. It's purpose was to cause chaos and confusion to the armed forces and population of Nazi Germany.

Concrete Tank trap opposite the entrance to the Sussex Police Dog training site.


Many people drive past this site every day and most of them have no idea of it's top secret past. It is now used by Sussex Police as a dog training establishment. One clue to it's purpose, however is the large radio mast (There were four masts originally) which dominates the skyline and is visible from all across the Forest. The site also houses a large underground nuclear bunker (extended during the 1950's), a legacy of the cold war.

The site was excavated in 1942 by the Canadian Army Engineers who built the original underground bunker which held a medium wave wireless transmitter. The transmitter, once the most powerful in the world, was purchased by the British Secret Service from the American broadcasting company RCA for £165,000. It was given the codename of 'Aspidistra' from the Gracie Fields song 'The biggest Aspidistra in the world'. The transmitter was controlled by the Political Warfare Unit of MI6 and operated by German speaking servicemen and women from the Royal Air Force.

The first transmissions began in 1943 in order to disrupt enemy night fighter operations against Allied bomber raids over Germany. During air raids the German ground radar broadcasting stations would direct their night fighters against the Allied bomber streams. Part of the Allies strategy to defeat this threat was for German speaking RAF operators to impersonate the German ground operators. They misdirected the Nazi night fighters by ordering them to land or by directing them away from the bomber streams to quiet sectors. This operation codenamed 'Dartboard' arguably saved the lives of many British and Allied aircrews.

Two views of Tank traps several hundred metres below the Aspidistra site, the radio mast can be seen on the horizon.

Later in the war Aspidistra was used to impersonate German radio stations which often stopped broadcasting during air raids in their locality. Initially the Allies would re-broadcast Nazi transmissions on the same frequency to give the impression that they were a genuine German station. They would then add their own bits of black propaganda and misinformation in order to cause confusion and demoralise the German people. In early 1945 Aspidistra informed the German people that the Allies were spreading false information over the state telephone system. Another broadcast told them that forged banknotes were being circulated in Leipzig.

Remains of a building and gears that are in direct line between the Tank traps and Aspidistra site (I'm not sure of their use but I feel that they are somehow connected with the site).

German radio stations tried in vain to inform their citizens that the Allies were transmitting false information by impersonating their broadcasts. To counter this MI6 broadcasted similar messages in their transmissions. However ungentlemanly this form of psychological warfare was, it certainly helped in winning the war.

In case any members of MI6 are monitoring this blog and in order for me to avoid having to seek refuge in a Hotel in Moscow Airport I can assure all my readers that I am not divulging State secrets. All the information here is readily available on the internet, thanks to Wikipedia and other websites.