Marsden, radar station

The site of a Coastal Defence/Chain Home Low (CD/CHL) radar station at Marsden. 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. The site was upgraded by the Royal Air Force in 1942 and fitted with centimetric radar to become a Chain Home Extra Low station, called site K39. Air photographs from 1948 show the site centred at NZ 4022 6440 and two pillboxes located at NZ 4037 6434 and NZ 4009 6444. The station has since been removed. A Coastal Defence/Chain Home Low station located at Marsden (NZ 399 649), called site M39. 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. From 1942 CD/CHL sites were combined with the Royal Air Force's Chain Home Low (CHL) sites to form one system of low-cover radar under the control of the RAF. These selected stations were upgraded with centimetric radars to become the K-series of Chain Home Extra Low (CHEL) stations. This improvement in radar technology meant that fewer stations were needed to give the same coverage and as a result many CHL and CD/CHL stations not upgraded were closed. Marsden was upgraded In 1942 to become Chain Home Extra Low station K39. (2) Aerial photography from 1974 shows that the station had been removed and the site occupied by housing. (3)