Mutton Posted August 20, 2011 Report Share Posted August 20, 2011 Was up Scousburgh Hill and it's such a shame that it has been ruined following use of it by the towers. Are there any plans to clean up that area? Does the Council own it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostrider Posted August 20, 2011 Report Share Posted August 20, 2011 Which one? As best as I know the Army did a passable job tidying up their site, however the THRS site further south, last I was aware was lying in a mess of sh*te. BT had the dishes and some of the buildings etc removed reasonably tidily, then they did no more, leaving crumbling garages and the remants of a security fence to break up in the not inconsiderable weather that can be up there. Unless there has been a deal very quickly and quietly done, the area that was the THRS station along with a much larger area surrounding it (includes as far south as the "Eiffel Tower", as far west as meets up with some of the park fences furthest up that road, etc) belongs outright to BT, they bought it outright from the Symbister Estate and others around 1962, and it has been one royal pain in the sit upon for the common grazing shareholders ever since they did. A few years back, around the time they did do some clearing, BT applied for permission to erect wind turbines on the THRS site, I don't know whethe rit was granted or not, but if it was nothing more has come of it as far as I know. I would imagine, knowing what that side of BT can be like, that there is a good possibility the decision on the turbines is "pending" somewhere within the massive protracted decision making process that is them, and the site is simply stuck in limbo as a result. ie. No point in paying to clear it if we're going to build something else, clearing as part of that build will be cheaper, so it just sits......Either that, or they've abandoned teh turbine plans, and in doing so conveniently also "forgotten" about the site until they find there's some way it can make money for them again. Yes, its a bloody mess, or was the last I saw it anyway, that much I won't argue with. Personally I think SIC planning would be far better employed chasing after large corporations who have abandoned junk strewn sites covering acres of countyside, than fussing over a red neon "T" on a concrete box on the Esplanade, or what a replacement window in a house in a lane is made from, but I guess they know best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos Posted August 20, 2011 Report Share Posted August 20, 2011 Planning could do something if there is a new application, not so much for something that's been there from the 60s.Environmental health possibly..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i i Posted August 20, 2011 Report Share Posted August 20, 2011 who cares. stay down and you wont have to see it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostrider Posted August 20, 2011 Report Share Posted August 20, 2011 Planning could do something if there is a new application, not so much for something that's been there from the 60s.Environmental health possibly..... BT bought the site in the early 60's, but only built the THRS station on it that's now the issue, in the early 70's when it was needed for North Sea rigs communications. Something like those big dishes with their sizeable concrete foundations etc, planning surely would have laid down some rules about site reinstatement should they be removed in the future, wouldn't they??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostrider Posted August 20, 2011 Report Share Posted August 20, 2011 who cares. stay down and you wont have to see it. ....being the operative phrase, or you'd be liable to be smacked in the face by a piece of flying garage or old wire mesh fence in a gale going along the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mogling Posted August 20, 2011 Report Share Posted August 20, 2011 They closed the old gate a while back, pity, as it was a brilliant place to go to watch northern lights Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos Posted August 20, 2011 Report Share Posted August 20, 2011 BT bought the site in the early 60's, but only built the THRS station on it that's now the issue, in the early 70's when it was needed for North Sea rigs communications. Something like those big dishes with their sizeable concrete foundations etc, planning surely would have laid down some rules about site reinstatement should they be removed in the future, wouldn't they???Very unlikely I'd have thought. Regular planning conditions only hold for 3 years (I think it is?) after completion. Anything long term you probably have to make them take out a bond or get some other legal agreement in place. If it was being built now then yeah, but not a 70s kind of concern. Plus the THRS part was MoD, not BT? So a whole 'nother ball game for that part likely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostrider Posted August 21, 2011 Report Share Posted August 21, 2011 Plus the THRS part was MoD, not BT? So a whole 'nother ball game for that part likely. If it was MoD it was kept extremely covert, the site, like I said was purchased by BT (or probably P O Telephones as they were then) circa 1962. The THRS station was built on that small part of the site in the early 70's, by, as far as locals were aware BT, for BT, for the purposes of radio communciation between the UK mainland at the North Sea rigs. While in opertion is was only ever manned by BT personnel as far as I'm aware, and I was in it a few times in the early 90's servicing a contract. Security was minimal, and the contract I was there on account of had been awarded by BT. All negotiations between local grazing committies and crofters for compensation over the loss of grazing area, and to ascertain what levels of access etc were still afforded to them were all direct with BT, I was party to those as well with another hat on. The radar station (Ace High/Forward Scatter) on what was known to them as "Mossy Hill" was definitely MoD, it was built also in the early 60's, run initially by the RAF, then by Royal Signals from the later 60's, until it was closed, and demolished/reinstated during the 90's. It was well known everyone who worked there was either enlisted Military or MoD employees. Security there was taken seriously (mostly ) That site as far as I'm aware was resonably well reinstated. It contained only four circular dishes. Whereas the THRS had at least eight square dishes on their site. Two very distinctly seperate sites though (probably around 1/2 mile apart) with no obvious or known connection, link, co-operation or purpose to connect them. The THRS site had a secondary site immediately to the NE of the MoD radar site, containing an additional two of the square style dishes, their siting though, as far as I can recall were coincidental as they were entirely seperate from and outwith the MoD site compound. THRS site, from about half way up the Levenwick side of the hill: http://photos.shetland-museum.org.uk/image.php?i=151752&r=2&t=4&x=1 Another Museum pic of them has the following caption: "British Telecom (BT) Tropospheric Radio Station, Scousburgh Hill. The site provided telephone connections to various oil production platforms in the North Sea. The dishes point directly at the target platforms, with two dishes pointing towards Mormond Hill radio station in Aberdeenshire. The dishes are still on site, but were finallswitched off in 1997. Service is now supplied by satellite." MoD station, showing their four circular dishes and the two additional THRS square dishes to the left. Taken, I'd guess from around St Ninians isle with a telescopic lens: http://photos.shetland-museum.org.uk/image.php?i=180916&r=2&t=4&x=1 Both sites, THRS in the foreground, built on and around the remnants of WWII installations, taken around the time of completion (circa '75). MoD "Mossy Hill" middle distance with one of the THRS dishes on their additional site showing just to the left of the MoD facility. Taken from near the top of the Ward of Scousburgh (where the 'Eiffel Tower' in now), looking approx NE towards Bressay. http://photos.shetland-museum.org.uk/image.php?i=66677&r=2&t=4&x=1 Its difficult to appreciate the distance between the sites from the shown angle other than by scale, as the land disappers in to something of a dip between them. The circular MoD dishes were slightly larger than the THRS square ones if I recall correctly, so that should allow an approx perspective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shetlandpeat Posted August 21, 2011 Report Share Posted August 21, 2011 My Dad was based at RAF Mossyhill. Rightly quoted, it was part of the ACE HIGH which went all the way round to Turkey. You will find it listed as RAF Saxa Vord (Mossyhill). The bar in the Mess was the cheapest around. Many a local rolled back through the gates. He was their in 1962 and was a radar fitter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos Posted August 21, 2011 Report Share Posted August 21, 2011 If it was MoD it was kept extremely covert, Sorry, I knew there was an MoD compound and a BT compound, but thought the THRS acronym refered to the MoD part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostrider Posted August 21, 2011 Report Share Posted August 21, 2011 ^^ THRS = Trans Horizon Relay Station, the BT compound became know (locally at least) as that, due to that being what was on the road sign that was positioned at the foot of the road that led to it, where it met the main road a bit south of the south Levenwick junction. Also, being that BT owned a much larger area of gound on the hill, of which the THRS compound formed a minority part, it provided an easy way to distinguish between the actual compound and all the other masts, huts and other gubbins they had outwith the compound and spread around other parts of their site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stilldellin Posted August 23, 2011 Report Share Posted August 23, 2011 The former BTI buildings at Scousburgh Hill with Mossy Hill in the distance as it is today, a pretty sorry looking site. :-http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/bb479/beenister/BTIbldg.jpghttp://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/bb479/beenister/BTIgate.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EM Posted August 23, 2011 Report Share Posted August 23, 2011 The former BTI buildings at Scousburgh Hill with Mossy Hill in the distance as it is today, a pretty sorry looking site.Looks like an excellent site for a tourism development. Perhaps this unusual hotel in Berlin could be taken as inspiration. It is an old vacuum cleaner factory within which the various guest rooms are actually caravans and little huts! Fake trees too . http://www.huettenpalast.de/?lang=en Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unlinkedstudent Posted August 23, 2011 Report Share Posted August 23, 2011 who cares. stay down and you wont have to see it. ....being the operative phrase, or you'd be liable to be smacked in the face by a piece of flying garage or old wire mesh fence in a gale going along the road. << wanders off to check car insurance policy for a new windscreen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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