History

The purpose of the short link between the RAF sites at Staxton Wold and Patrington is a little unclear. It was included in the overall Linesman project and eventually appears to have become operational towards the end of 1967, however a contract was placed in May 1962, around 18 months ahead of the main links required for the scheme. Contract 23526 was awarded to GEC for a 2 GHz system, their bid of £41,347 being somewhat lower than Marconi's offer of £81,95. The revised price at July 1963 is stated as £49,229 but otherwise very little is known beyond the required completion date of "1st Dec 1963 or 3 mths after given access to radio station & buildings".

The history of RAF Patrington is complicated by the site being later known as RAF Holmpton. It appears the early-1960s plans were quite fluid and may have initially given Holmpton/Patrington a greater role. "However in 1964/5 it was decided to install the Type 84 and Type 85 radars at Staxton Wold with Holmpton acting as the control centre with the R3 [control bunker] linked by microwave and landline to Staxton Wold...". The Subterranea Britannica page for RAF Holmpton suggests the microwave link to Staxton Wold was troublesome and was at one stage routed via RAF Kirton in Lindsey. It's unclear where the Post Office link fits in the overall history. Although expected to be ready for service in 1963 a file in BT Archives refers to the planning application for an intermediate site at Hornsea being "imminent" in September 1966. In the event it appears the link was routed via the Post Office site at Cave Wold which had been established as part of the other Linesman links serving Staxton Wold. It has not been possible to identify the proposed site at Hornsea.

Assuming the eventual solution was to route Staxton Wold - Cave Wold - Patrington, this was essentially a "join the dots" link and possibly used the (by then) existing antennas for the segment between Staxton Wold and Cave Wold. RAF Patrington was retained on a "care and maintenance" basis after 1974 - it's unclear whether any Linesman equipment remained operational at this stage.