Portesham Outstation

The diary of Alf Ellis, maintenance Sergeant for this part of the network, recorded a map reference for this site. It confirms the actual site in a small copse near an old barn on the road rising out of Portesham. A footpath runs past the barn and the copse.

The roof has been replaced since the war. A mobile phone mast on the edge of the small wood indicates it remains a useful site for wireless transmissions!

Over the years since the war there has been confusion between this site and the nearby Patrol OB close to Hardy's monument. The use of that OB by the operational branch has been confirmed by a former Patrol member. It is not clear that the Patrol knew about this wireless site.

Although the site is recorded as a dugout, it is known that barns were particularly chosen in Dorset as sites to fix aerials in the roof. This may have been what happened here initially, before the later construction of a dugout to improve concealment.

The wartime landowner of the nearby Patrol OB received a letter, unfortunately now lost, from a lady who claimed to have been the wireless operator for this unit.