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Tyne and Wear HER(5519): Cullercoats, Brown's Point, Radio Telegraph (Y) Station - Details

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5519


N Tyneside


Cullercoats, Brown's Point, Radio Telegraph (Y) Station


Cullercoats


NZ37SE


Defence


Military Observation Site


Radio Telegraphy Station


Modern


C20


Extant Building


A timber shed and radio station masts were built here in 1906-7 by the Amalgamated Radio Telegraph Company, who had formed in 1906 through the merger of the British De Forest Wireless Telegraph Syndicate (Lord Armstrong was an owner) and Poulsen and Pedersen's Danish wireless company. The station was used experimentally to send and receive messages from Denmark. The Amalgamated Radio Telegraph Company collapsed in 1907 when Lord Armstrong became bankrupt, and the site was sold to the Poulsen Arc Company of Debmark, who were forced to operate in Britain by the restrictive Danish broadcasting laws. In 1912 the site was taken over by the GPO, who used Marconi equipment, which resulted in the construction of new antennae, apparently supervised by Guglielmo Marconi himself. The Admiralty took over the running of the station during WW1 to use it as a base for intercepting German radio traffic. In 1916 a new brick building replaced the original timber shed. During the 1920s, when radio technology continued to improve, the arc-gap equipment was replaced by valve transmitters. A second building was constructed in 1926 to cater for the increase in staffing. Little is known about the use of the site in WW2. The site was bombed and the staff were enlisted into the Home Guard. In 1951 new transmitters were installed and new aerials, although the use of the aerials was short-lived as they became unstable and were moved to Hartley in the 1950s. Masts did survive on the site into the 1990s however - the site continued in use as the receiver site for the new aerials, until the need for 24 hour emergency watch for distress calls in morse was discontinued in 1998. It continued as part of the radiotelephony Coast Radio Station service until 1999. LISTED GRADE 2


3653


7161


NZ36537161



<< HER 5519 >> Photo Newcastle Library Local Studies, 1990, acc. 67438, 67490, 67491 Dept. of National Heritage, of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 10030 J.C. Mabbitt, Tyne and Wear Museums, 2002, Former Radio Telegraph Station, Brown's Point, Norma Crescent, Cullercoats, Photographic Recording H. Buhl, 1996, The Arc Transmitter - A Comparitive Study of the Invention, Development, http://www.stenomuseet.dk//person/hb.uk.ref.htm R. Dixon, 1999, Closure of the 500Khz Morse Telegraphy Service, http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/rdixon/crs/500close.htm W. Jones, 2000, Wave Farewell to Radio Landmark, http://www.southtynesidetoday.co.uk 1907, Launch of the lifeboat at Cullercoats, April 27 1907, Newcastle Library Local Studies, pl. 0743/H490 Photo, Newcastle Library Local Studies, 1906, acc. 46360 Photo, Newcastle Library Local Studies, 1900, acc. 28971 Postcard, Newcastle Library Local Studies, acc. 67663 Photo, Newcastle Library Local Studies, 1935, neg. 2/7/96 Postcard, Newcastle Library Local Studies, acc. 57819 Aerial Photograph, Tyne and Wear Archive Service, 1930, Photos of sea defences taken by Whitley Bay Borough Engineer's Dept. MB/WB/c/35/27, MB/WB/c/35/64 Photo, Newcastle Library Local Studies, 1950,acc. 54203, 63524, 63591, 63585, 62950, 63579, 63526 Aerial Photograph, Tyne and Wear Archive Service, 1970, MB/WB/133/3/84 Photo, Newcastle Library Local Studies, 1975, acc. 20224, 66516, 69202, 67698 E.W. Sockett, 1991, Stockton-on-Tees 'Y' Station Fortress, No. 8, pp 51-60; North Tyneside Council, 2009, Cullercoats Conservation Area Draft Character Appraisal; Oxford Archaeology, 2015, First World War Wireless Stations in England

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