On the first free weekend for ages I found a nice easy to reach site in a countrified spot on the outskirts of Flaunden and Latimer, Hertfordshire. RAF Chenies was a post-WW2 radar station (history from Subterranea Britannica) that is now derelict apart from a live Met Office radar that still hums away under its golf-ball covering.
The ROTOR programme that led to its construction was a post-war attempt to modernise the UK’s radar infrastructure in the face of veiled threats from Cold War adversaries, the government committed a considerable amount of money to the project even though the British economy was in a pretty dire state.
The site is large when compared to the actual buildings which occupy a small portion of the fenced-in area, consisting of a main building complex…
The coolest part is probably the live ‘golfball’ radar which hums away in the background, as well as the large antenna at the very back of the complex…
Around the side of the main building are a couple of sheds containing an electricity substation, some kind of machine and some barrels – it’s a little bit ‘Black Mesa’ with the humming radar in the background but I don’t think there’s anything too sinister out there.
The interior of the building has two levels and consists of both completely ruined rooms as well as some that would be perfectly servicable, floors are a little unstable in places and some rooms would’ve been dangerous to enter. It’s worth noting that there was a ‘Hazard Asbestos’ sign on the floor so wear your P3 if you’re on site here, here’s a few interior shots…
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Spent some time here during my last 2 years in the RAF (1994 – 1996) when it was being used as an HF Transmitting station. The old radar rooms had long since been abandoned, and the site was only manned by a handful of personnel. The old “Operations Room” was used by the technicians there to play a game called “Chenies Ball”. There would be a volleyball net across the centre of the room and the game played very much like volleyball, but bouncing the ball off the walls was permitted, and in fact, encouraged! I’m sure some of the old techies could tell you more about this, as I only visited occasionally from nearby RAF High Wycombe.
Yeah, I was a techie at Chenies on the HF gear back in the early 80′s. We played Chenies ball, had a gym and a volleyball court on the front car park. There was no Golf ball radar and the Radio Relay mast was still the original wooden mast in my day.
Great times were had at Chenies – the small team of techies were really tight.