Frampton Outstation

The only information about this site currently comes from the wartime diary of Alf Ellis, the Royal Signals sergeant responsible for its maintenance. He records that this was a box-type station on Hampton Hill near Frampton. The map reference places it near a group of now disused farm buildings at the top of the hill in a wooded area, accessed by a footpath. It is known that the Special Duties Branch used very simple buried sets early in the war. The lid was concealed in a similar way to Patrol OBs, but once the lid was removed the set could be used while still in the box. However such installations were very susceptible to water getting in and damaging the set and also left the operator exposed to observation while transmitting. Most were later replaced, so this was perhaps an unusual survivor. It is likely that the aerial would have been hidden on top of horizontal branches of a nearby tree, with the feeder cable hidden beneath the bark. Examination of mature trees in the area revealed no obvious signs of a surviving aerial.