Shetland Day 1 - RAF Noss Hill

In the evening (still on the first day of my Shetland residency), I had the opportunity to visit nearby RAF Noss Hill, an Air Ministry Experimental Station (AMES) No 54 [1].

Gordon Carle on his blog post about Noss Hill from ‘A History of Saxa Vord’ (which is an amazing source of information, including many military sites across Shetland) describes how radar cover was expanded in the Northern Isles following the German invasion of Denmark and Norway in April 1940. “At the beginning of WWII the UKs Chain Home RDF system stretched along the south and east coasts of England and up the east coast of Scotland. However, the most northerly station was at Netherbutton, near Kirkwall, in Orkney and the equipment there was designed to look primarily to the south-east.” Radar was a relatively new technology, and as war progressed, new and existing radar sites had to be flexible to meet new needs.

Part of the response in 1940 was to build two permanent sites, one at Noss Hill and one at Lambaness, in the north of Unst. Whilst work was carried out on the more substantial Final Chain Home equipment which took time to build, both Noss Hill and Lambaness would become temporarily operational as Advance Chain Home (ACH) stations, which were smaller, and quicker and simpler to construct.

At Noss Hill, I found the remains of both systems, including aerial towers, Transmitter and Receiver/Ops blocks, and a ‘Standby Set House’ which would have contained back-up diesel generators, and various other constructions. The photographs below are mainly from the Transmitter and Receiver/Ops blocks.

In front of the CH Transmitter Block.

A platform, with surrounding blast walls, at the CH Transmitter Block.

Some of the concrete posts are covered in lichen, softening the brutal space as nature’s patina inevitably covers all surfaces.

The lines of perspective are extreme in-between the narrow blast walls.

Looking out to misty hills from the doorway of the Transmitter Block.

The lines in the walls show the method of construction, using concrete poured between wooden planks.

Interesting shadows are made as light bounces around the concrete walls, sometimes creating a uncertain sense of depth as tonal edges and planes in space contrast in unexpected ways.

Another slither of sky - it feels as though you’re walking around a “perspective nightmare”. [2]

Vents inside are rusting away. I believe this inside the CH Receiver Block.

Light comes down from the narrow gap made by the blast wall, illuminating the damp patina-covered walls, and revealing lots of ethereal colours of decay.

Walking around this brutally bare space deprives the senses, but means that you become more aware of subtle light effects. Everywhere it’s as though real surfaces have turned into tonal drawings - the ethereal light from above here creates interesting gradations from light to shadow.

Nature is unstoppable however, even against this brutal architecture of war. Grass is slowly taking over, and together with forces of weather, is making walls crumble over the passing years.

An inner window is covered in ethereal patina, each pane almost looking like a painted landscape.

As you walk around the narrow area between bunker and blast wall, you see shadowy ‘entrances’ in-front. As you get nearer, you find them all be closed recesses, built for a function that’s not immediately obvious.

Deep shadows on the high walls make the sky seem far away, giving a claustrophobic feeling.

Nearby, the remnants of a tower. I am unsure from this photo whether this was the remains of one of the massive steel Transmitter towers, or the bases of a smaller wooden Receiver Tower.

  1. A History of Saxa Vord. RAF Noss Hill. Gordon Carle. 2016.

  2. Hockney, David.

Research, WWII, ResidencyAimee Labourne#sumburghresidency