Scarborough Town Council is set to decide on funding for interpretation boards that will celebrate the coastal town's historic and ongoing role in global signals intelligence.
A project to commemorate the historical significance of a ‘secret’ military intelligence site in a North Yorkshire town is progressing.
A set of interpretation boards is set to be installed in Scarborough to commemorate the role of the coastal town in the work of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and signals intelligence during two world wars and the Cold War.
The project aims to shed light on the historical significance of a site at Sandybed Lane which was first set up in 1912 and is believed to be the longest continuously serving site for signals intelligence in the world.
One of the proposed interpretation boards reads:
The Admiralty established a Wireless Telegraphy (W/T) Station at Sandybed Lane in Scarborough by 1912, where the Row Brow flats have been built directly opposite. The site would grow to accommodate several large aerial towers, a station commanders house known as ‘The Cottage’ and various outbuildings.
A meeting of Scarborough Town Council on Tuesday, August 4, will see councillors decide on whether to fund the installation of the information boards.
The interpretation boards project has been supported by the NSIST (National Signals Intelligence and Security Trust) and BAE Systems.
Dr David Abrutat, the official Departmental Historian at GCHQ, previously presented to councillors the Signals Intelligence Interpretation Boards project, detailing the historical significance of the Sandybed Lane Wireless Station site.
At the meeting last autumn, councillors concluded that the NSIST charity would own and maintain the boards, refreshing them as appropriate.
Dr Abrutat said he would look into this further so the project could enter the design phase, and Council could seek the permission of North Yorkshire Council for the installation of the boards.
GCHQ Scarborough’s site in the rolling hills of North Yorkshire produces intelligence on a “wide variety of subjects from counter terrorism through to serious and organised crime and the protection of the military whilst they are deployed overseas”.
The original station dates back to 1912 when the Royal Navy established a Wireless Telegraphy station in the Scarborough area. However, it relocated to the present site in 1943 at Irton Moor, just two miles from the main town on the North Yorkshire coast.
Members of the public are invited to attend the community and projects committee meeting at Scarborough Town Hall from 3pm.
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