Staff at ex-BBC site are 'custodians of legacy'
The station on Borough Hill in Daventry, Northamptonshire, opened on 27 July 1925.
It beamed the BBC World Service across the globe for 60 years before closing in 1992.
The site is now occupied by telecommunications firm Arqiva and maintains transmitters across the country.
The landmark site once had 40 masts and towers, but now one solitary 100m (328ft) mast remains, transmitting digital radio.
The transmitter halls at Borough Hill look very different now, too.
They were once home to huge racks of equipment, with glowing water-cooled valves, flashing lights and indicator needles in glass cases.
Now they are now full of metal shelves and look very like any of the dozens of warehouses that have sprung up in Daventry since the BBC arrived.
But the Arqiva staff here have not forgotten the role played by this hilltop encampment in the BBC days.
Stuart Turpin, warehouse and logistics lead at the site, said he was "a custodian of the legacy - you're looking after the place, you're doing your best to maintain it as well, and keep the legacy going".
The warehouses hold spares for transmitters across the UK - anything from a small lithium battery to a giant antenna.
A small team of engineers repairs broken transmitter components and tests them thoroughly before sending them back out.
Phil Critchley, a senior engineer, said: "This is vital - this is what keeps the broadcast network on air.
"Anything that's out in the field, at a transmitter site, is replicated here at Daventry so we can make sure it's working, ready to be used again."
Mr Critchley said he lived in Daventry as a child and would "look up at Borough Hill thinking 'what a wonderful place it would be to work'.
"So here I am."
Another key part of the site's role now is what is called disaster recovery (DR).
If a transmitter collapses, catches fire or just refuses to work, there are mobile cabins that can be sent out with all the equipment needed to get TV or radio services back on air, including temporary masts.
Alan Storer, an engineer, was involved in restoring services when the Bilsdale mast in North Yorkshire caught fire, disrupting TV and radio for a million people.
"We got most of the services up and running within the first week," he said.
"We had DR containers placed in places so that work [on a permanent replacement] could carry on but services would still be broadcast."
He added that the history of Borough Hill was one of the things that inspired him to get a job there.
"It's a dream come true for me," he said.
Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
More related stories
Town marks centenary of making radio history
B BC centenary marked at first national radio transmitter
Transmitter fire disrupts TV and radio signals
Related internet links
Arqiva
Daventry Museum 100 Years On exhibition
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Four East Devon parks recognised among the best in the UK
Four parks have been recognised for their outstanding quality. Connaught Gardens and Peak Hill Slope in Sidmouth, Manor Gardens in Exmouth, Seafield Gardens in Seaton, and Seaton Wetlands have each received the Green Flag Award for 2025, marking them among the UK's best green spaces. The Green Flag Award is the international quality mark for parks and green spaces and is managed by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy. Councillor Geoff Jung, East Devon District Council's (EDDC) portfolio holder for environment, said: "Thank you to every single person involved, from staff to volunteers, for keeping these spaces beautiful, accessible and thriving. "We're proud to see four Green Flag Awards again this year and hope to grow this number in the future." The awards reflect the hard work of EDDC's Streetscene and Countryside teams, as well as volunteers who help keep the sites welcoming and well-maintained. In Exmouth, the Friends of Manor Gardens work with Streetscene staff to maintain the gardens' colourful displays. Green Flag judges were impressed by the horticultural standard and team commitment. In Seaton, a Kew Gardens-trained volunteer has helped improve sustainable planting and wildflower areas at Seafield Gardens. In Sidmouth, Streetscene staff and Sidmouth in Bloom volunteers have been praised for keeping Connaught Gardens attractive despite rain, sea air, and poor soil. Seaton Wetlands, managed by EDDC's Countryside team, welcomed more than 100,000 visitors last year, including 52 school and educational groups. The site's artificial sand martin wall successfully supported breeding birds for a second year, with several raising two broods. The Green Flag Award sets the standard for well-managed parks and green spaces across the UK and internationally. It is awarded under licence from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Villagers win race to save UK pub, as thousands close
A nearly 200-year-old pub, the Radnor Arms in rural Wales stood abandoned a few years ago. Water ran down the walls, ivy crept around broken windows and rats' skeletons littered the floor. Fast forward to 2025 and laughter rings out of the newly reopened watering hole after locals clubbed together to save it. The pub, which first opened in the 1830s, is one of tens of thousands across the UK forced to call last orders over recent years. Once the heart of the village, the Radnor Arms -- which had become uneconomic due to rising costs -- was shut by the landlord in 2016 and quickly fell into ruin. For locals in the picturesque south Wales village of New Radnor, population 438, the demise of their only remaining hostelry was devastating. Over the years, there were around six or more pubs or ale houses in the village. By 2012, all except the Radnor Arms had shut down. "It was the heart of the village," said David Pyle, a 57-year-old retired psychiatrist who has lived next door to the pub for the past 18 years. "Sometimes you could hear a bit of hubbub, sometimes you'd hear a roar go up when Wales scored, or a male voice choir singing in the back bar," he told AFP. "It was just lovely," he said. "And then it closed." - British tradition - UK pubs, a quintessential cornerstone of community life, are increasingly under threat. Faced with changing drinking habits and spiralling bills, more than a quarter of the 60,800 in existence in 2000 have closed their doors in the past 25 years. Of the 45,000 still operating at the end of last year, 378 -- at least one a day -- are expected to close this year, according to the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA). The loss of Radnor Arms in 2016 left the village without a focal point, hitting everyone from hobby groups to local hill farmers who would meet there after work for a pint of beer and a chat. "It was the heart of the community. It was a place where anybody could come in," said Sue Norton, one of a team of locals who banded together to save it. "We celebrated births, deaths and marriages here. So for us, it was very emotional when it closed," she said. Vowing to rescue it, Norton and other villagers applied to a government scheme aimed at giving people the financial firepower to take ownership of pubs or shops at risk of being lost. A major fundraising effort last year drummed up £200,000 ($271,000), which was matched by the community ownership fund and boosted by an additional £40,000 government grant. With £440,000 in the kitty, the villagers were able to buy, refurbish and re-open the pub, relying on a rota of volunteers to work behind the bar rather than paid staff. Ukrainian refugee Eugene Marchenko, a 44-year-old lawyer who is one of the volunteers, says the pub helped him meet practically everyone within days of arriving. Marchenko, from the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, is being hosted by a villager along with his wife and teenage son. He said he quickly came to understand the importance of having a place in the village for "drinking and having fun together". "I read in books that the pub was a famous British tradition, but I can feel it myself... It's not just about the drinking alcohol, it's about the sharing and everybody knows each other," he said. - Lifeline axed - The previous Conservative government launched the community ownership fund in 2021. Under the scheme locals have successfully saved around 55 pubs, according to the community ownership charity Plunkett UK. The pubs are run democratically on a one-member, one-vote basis by those who contributed to the fundraiser. But the new Labour government, which took power a year ago, dropped the scheme in December as they sought to meet competing funding demands. Villagers in New Radnor are relieved to have got their application in under the wire but saddened that other communities will not benefit. For now they are planning to make the most of their new community hub. There are plans to host a range of activities -- from mother-and-baby mornings to a dementia group that aims to trigger memories through familiar sights and sounds. Sufferers and their carers could come and have a "drink or a bag of crisps -- or a pickled onion, if people like those," Norton said. har/jkb/js/tc
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
Funding secures Iron Age Melsonby Hoard for the nation
A groundbreaking discovery of Iron Age artefacts found by a metal detectorist has been saved for the UK. The Yorkshire Museum has received £192,096 from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, along with public donations, to acquire the Melsonby Hoard, which dates back 2,000 years. Discovered in a farmer's field near the North Yorkshire village in 2021, the site gave up more than 800 Iron Age artefacts including chariot wheels, cauldrons and horse bridles. The variety of objects led archaeologists to make important breakthroughs in their understanding of Iron Age society, including how power and wealth were not exclusively held in the South. Detectorist Peter Heads made the find and reported it to the proper authorities, and a team of Durham University archaeologists, with advice from the British Museum, took great care to excavate the hoard from two ditches. Thanks to the National Memorial Fund, a public crowdfunder and other donations, the find has been secured by the Yorkshire Museum, based in York. This will allow more research, conservation and analytical work to be carried out. Kathryn Blacker, chief executive of York Museums Trust, said: 'Thanks to the incredible support of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, as well as generous donations from members of the public, the hoard will remain here in Yorkshire, to be made available for everyone to see and to enjoy. 'We remain committed to researching and conserving these unprecedented finds to improve our understanding of our shared past and securing them for future generations.' Simon Thurley, chairman of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, said: 'The Melsonby Hoard throws bright new light on Iron Age life in Yorkshire and beyond. 'We are pleased to support this acquisition which will keep the hoard intact, in the county in which it was buried and enable research to take place to gain a deeper insight into its origin and history. 'The memorial fund exists to save the UK's most outstanding heritage and make it publicly accessible, in memory of those who have given their lives for the UK. 'We are delighted to count the Melsonby Hoard as part of the growing and timeless collection of UK heritage that belongs to all of us forever.'
