Greenham Common Control Tower and Cafe

Yesterday we ended up visiting a place we had been planning to visit for a long time, just because we happened to be nearby, fancied a cup of tea and a slice of cake. I spotted the road sign and said to Tina, “Hey let’s go there and I can get some stuff for my Hive blog”. Recently I’ve been excitedly telling her about how the value of Hive has recovered.

The cafe was setup in the former US Air Base control tower, which is now a heritage building sitting on the corner of Greenham Common, overlooking what was once the runway. Nowadays restored to nature and home to a diverse wildlife habitat.

I would love to organise a Hive photowalk or meetup from here next year, if anyone is interested?

One of the staff members was on hand yesterday and he is pictured here standing by where the original equipment would have been setup. Nowadays its home to a modern aircraft-control system to give you a sense of what it might have been like working there during the Cold War era.

There are more details over on https://www.greenhamtower.org.uk/plan-your-visit

I didnt realise they operate an amateur radio station from there which is interesting, as I used to have an interest in that sort of thing as a younger man. Especially CB radio!

This was interesting, as outside in the midst of a picnic area, is what looks like a bomb, except it’s not, thankfully.

It’s an Algerine float:

An Algerine Float which would have been towed behind a Royal Navy Minesweeper - or even a few minesweepers grouped together, known as a formation. The float would have been used to support the complex array of equipment required for the hazardous task of clearing explosive sea mines.

• FLOAT (OR PIG)
• FLOAT PENDANT
• OTTER
  MINE
  . SWEEP WIRES
  DEPRESSOR

Where does the name come from?
The name Algerine comes from the class of vessels on which the equipment was first used.
Are there others in the UK?
Several unmodified examples of the Algerine Float survive, including an identical one in a museum in Kings Lynn, Norfolk.
Why is it here?
We don't know. At some point a local Newbury firm was commissioned to add the three 'fins' probably to make it more interesting and to look like a bomb.
Pads were also added to make it stand on end.

According to the sign, this is the original security door as found. This is fascinating, as at some point after the hardware had been dismantled or so to speak and the site left empty, most equipment being decommissioned and removed; it must have been fascinating for the first people to set foot in here, bearing in mind, it was out of bounds for many decades.

The warheads incidentally are still being dismantled to this very day, at a secure site not all that far from here in Berkshire.

The building from outside, isn’t inviting, very austere and looks like it might have been added to in stages over time and as it evolved from being a WWII facility into its use for overseeing the arrival of materials for cruise missile construction.

I’ve never lived far way from it and takes me back to when I was at senior school in the eighties, it was often a subject on the news with the Greenham Women camping at the gates.

The exhibition there is well worth a visit as it tells the story of how one member of staff was married to one of the Greenham protesters; I guess his job was pretty much air traffic control and he was just doing a job, not really knowing much about the weapons themselves or the politics. Conversation over the dinner table must have been awkward at times.

Finally; the control tower interior is fascinating! We plan to go back on New Years Day, hopefully on a brighter day and will grab a pair of binoculars to see what we might spot.

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