History
Blackford Hill was the penultimate site on the 1951 Manchester to Kirk o'Shotts television route [link to feature]. Located just south of Edinburgh it was perhaps chosen to allow for a local studio link but it's unlikely this was ever provided. The Post Office site was adjacent to one used for police radio. The latter has survived but subsequent PO/BT linking transferred to a site nearby at Craiglockhart. Blackford Hill was provided with the same style of structure and building as used on the rest of the route from Manchester.
The development of the new site at Craiglockhart and the history of other routes suggests Blackford Hill may not have been used for any traffic other than the 1951 BBC television link. The first ITV company to operate in Scotland (STV) received its network feed by cable from Carlisle when it launched in 1957. The Post Office vision network developed during the 1960s with the main links running on the west coast via Manchester and Carlisle. At Kirk o'Shotts the original tower was partially dismantled and re-assembled to face Carlisle by the late 1960s - severing the link via Blackford Hill. Despite this the building survives (apparently now used in conjunction with the "police" tower) and a 1968 OS plan showed the "pylon" tower still in place. (The foundation blocks are still present alongside the building.)
