Higher Wincombe is a farm and small hamlet in the parish of Donhead St Mary, Wiltshire, England. [1] It lies at the transition point between the plateau of Shaftesbury and the head of the Nadder Valley, just beyond the north-east edge of the town of Shaftesbury, Dorset, and within the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs National Landscape.
There was a hamlet called Wincombe by the later 18th century, [2] which was recorded as Higher Wincombe when it was surveyed by the Ordnance Survey in 1886. [3] Wincombe farm was built in the second half of the 18th century (although the barn may have been built in the earlier part of that century) and was enlarged in the 19th century. [2]
The hamlet, together with the lands of Higher Wincombe Farm shouldering the border with Dorset, was requisitioned in 1943 by the Ministry of Works for the war effort and became the Wincombe Y Station which was at first operated by the General Post Office (GPO). [4] [5] Prior to this there was an RAF Home Defence Unit (HDU) operating on the lands, under the control of 26 Group No.363 Wireless Unit, West Kingsdown. [6] RAF Home Defence Units were the cover name for RAF Y Service. [7] HDUs dealt primarily with intercepting Luftwaffe aircraft VHF voice communications, primarily in fighters. It is likely that this HDU became obsolete as Luftwaffe traffic inland decreased after the Battle of Britain.[ citation needed ] Harold Charles Kenworthy (1892–1987), the head of Government Communications Wireless Station (GCWS) at Knockholt in Kent, reports [8] that in July 1943 it became necessary to consider the expansion of the Foreign Office Y Service to monitor Japanese and German Morse signals. Tests were undertaken at several locations with the observations favouring Wincombe. In addition, observations were noted relating to German non-Morse traffic known as Tunny. Equipment was specially made up and taken to Wincombe, where control and circuit lines were connected through to Knockholt. Initially, staff occupied ex-RAF huts and continued to do so until the main building was completed in the early part of 1944 when a special section was taken over and better gear installed together with a four-channel V/F to Knockholt.
From the 1950s to 1983 [9] the site was operated by the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States [10] in conjunction with GCHQ. The site was also known as RAF Wincombe, [11] and for a time came under RAF Upper Heyford as part of the United States Air Force in the United Kingdom. The USAF designated Higher Wincombe as a Radio Beacon Site, and it was also known as Operating Location-J (OL-J) of the European Communications Area (ECA) and housed Detachment 4. [12] After the closure of operations in 1977, [9] the decommissioning of the site took a number of years with the site's last elements being handed over in 1983. [13] The hamlet's properties had been returned to private residences in 1980.
Over the years, the lanes to the east which joined Higher Wincombe to Donhead St Mary and other hamlets in the parish have been downgraded to bridleways. The hamlet is now only accessible via Wincombe Lane – a private road and bridleway – from Shaftesbury. The lane had an avenue of beech trees, established for over 200 years, until they were felled in the 1970s.[ citation needed ]
Shaftesbury is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is on the A30 road, 20 miles west of Salisbury and 23 miles north-northeast of Dorchester, near the border with Wiltshire. It is the only significant hilltop settlement in Dorset, being built about 215 metres above sea level on a greensand hill on the edge of Cranborne Chase.
Royal Air Force Menwith Hill is a Royal Air Force station near Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, which provides communications and intelligence support services to the United Kingdom and the United States. The site contains an extensive satellite ground station and is a communications intercept and missile warning site. It has been described as the largest electronic monitoring station in the world.
RAF Ascension Island, also known as Wideawake Airfield or Ascension Island Auxiliary Field, is a military airfield and facility located on Ascension Island in the Atlantic Ocean. The airfield is jointly operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the United States Space Force (USSF). Under the terms of an international agreement between the UK and US governments, only state aircraft are authorised to land at Ascension; however, it is also open to air services between Saint Helena and Ascension.
Donhead St Mary is a village and civil parish in southwest Wiltshire, England, on the county border with Dorset. The village lies about 2+1⁄2 miles (4.0 km) east of the Dorset town of Shaftesbury and stands on high ground above the River Nadder, which rises in the parish.
RAF Wroughton is a former Royal Air Force airfield near Wroughton, in Wiltshire, England, about 4 miles (6 km) south of Swindon. Ministry of Defence aviation activity ceased in 1972. The airfield now belongs to the Science Museum Group and is home to the National Collections Centre, which houses the group's large-object storage and library.
Zeals is a village and civil parish in southwest Wiltshire, England. The village is about 2.2 miles (3.5 km) west of Mere, next to the A303 road towards Wincanton, and adjoins the villages of Bourton, Dorset and Penselwood, Somerset. Its name comes from the Old English sealh meaning a small willow or sallow.
Berwick St John is a village and civil parish in southwest Wiltshire, England, about 5 miles (8 km) east of Shaftesbury in Dorset.
Lyneham is a large village in north Wiltshire, England, within the civil parish of Lyneham and Bradenstoke, and situated 4 miles (6.4 km) southwest of Royal Wootton Bassett, 5.5 miles (8.9 km) north of Calne and 11 miles (18 km) southwest of Swindon. The village is on the A3102 road between Calne and Wootton Bassett.
Tisbury is a large village and civil parish approximately 13 miles (21 km) west of Salisbury in the English county of Wiltshire. With a population at the 2011 census of 2,253 it is a centre for communities around the upper River Nadder and Vale of Wardour. The parish includes the hamlets of Upper Chicksgrove and Wardour.
RAF Yatesbury is a former Royal Air Force airfield near the village of Yatesbury, Wiltshire, England, about 4 miles (6 km) east of the town of Calne. It was an important training establishment in the First and Second World Wars, and until its closure in 1965. For a time in the 1950s, part of the site became RAF Cherhill.
St Mary's School was a private Roman Catholic day and boarding school for girls, founded in 1945 in a rural setting near Shaftesbury, England. The school had a sixth form and was a member of the Girls' Schools Association. After operating at a loss for some time, the school closed in July 2020.
Donhead St Andrew is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, on the River Nadder. It lies 4 miles (6.4 km) east of the Dorset market town of Shaftesbury. The parish includes the hamlets of West End, Milkwell and Brook Waters.
Royal Air Force Bisterne or more simply RAF Bisterne is a former Royal Air Force Advanced Landing Ground in Hampshire, England. The airfield is located in the hamlet of Bisterne approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Ringwood; about 85 miles (137 km) southwest of London.
Royal Air Force Ramsbury or more simply RAF Ramsbury is a former Royal Air Force station, 5 miles (8 km) east-northeast of Marlborough, Wiltshire, England.
The "Y" service was a network of British signals intelligence collection sites, the Y-stations. The service was established during the First World War and used again during the Second World War. The sites were operated by a range of agencies including the Army, Navy and RAF, and the Foreign Office. The General Post Office and the Marconi Company provided some receiving stations, ashore and afloat. There were more than 600 receiving sets in use at Y-stations during the Second World War.
RAF Stanbridge was a non-flying RAF station situated on the outskirts of Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, England and located 1.6 miles (2.6 km) west of the village of Stanbridge, Bedfordshire.
Royal Air Force Blakehill Farm or more simply RAF Blakehill Farm is a former Royal Air Force station southwest of Cricklade in Wiltshire, England, operational between 1944 and 1952.
Chilmark is a Wiltshire village and civil parish of some 150 houses straddling the B3089 road, 11 miles (18 km) west of Salisbury, England. The parish includes the hamlets of Mooray and Portash, both close to the south of Chilmark village; and the dispersed hamlet of Ridge, to the southwest.
Ludwell is a small village in south Wiltshire, England, approximately 3 miles (5 km) east of the Dorset town of Shaftesbury. It lies within the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, on the A30 Salisbury-Shaftesbury road. For the purposes of local government, Ludwell is part of Donhead St Mary civil parish.
Castle Rings is a univallate hill fort in the parish of Donhead St Mary in Wiltshire, England. The site is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Castle Rings has been dated to the Iron Age and is at an altitude of 228 metres (748 ft) upon Upper Greensand sandstone beds. The bulk of the fort enclosure lies within the boundaries of Donhead St Mary parish but some of the outlying earthworks are in the neighbouring Sedgehill and Semley parish. In the mid-1980s a metal detectorist unearthed a hoard of stater coins of the Durotriges tribe within the hill fort.
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