There are two tall structures on adjacent sites: a guyed steel lattice mast belonging to Arqiva, and a 98.45 m (323.0 ft) tall reinforced concrete tower belonging to BT. These sites are known by their owners as 'Peterborough' and 'Morborne Hill' respectively.[1]
History
The site was originally owned by Mr FJ Cheney of Polebrook.[2] On Monday 23 September 1957 a 110 foot experimental aluminium mast was erected to test strength of transmissions around the area, with BBC engineer Colin White of the Field Strength Test Unit.[3] A 560 ft high mast was planned.[4] On Monday 14 October 1957 a war-surplus barrage balloon was flown at 600 ft. Morborne itself was 184 ft high.[5] By November 1957 the test mast was removed.[6] By June 1958, television broadcasts were expected by March 1959.[7]
On Thursday 30 April 1959, the first 40ft part of the mast was installed, weighing 1.5 tons. The rest of the mast was expected to take three weeks.[8] It was a 7.5 acre site.[9] Test broadcasts took place from 21 September 1959. Television came from Sutton Coldfield, via a relay at Skeffington in Leicestershire.[10][11]
It was the same design and height as Tacolneston. Rowridge, North Hessary Tor and Pontop Pike are a similar design, but built two years earlier.
Transmission
The 560 ft lattice mast would open on Monday 5 October 1959, with 405 line television. This was the first day of BBC eastern news programmes. The G.P.O. link between Norwich and Morborne would be completed by early December 1959.[12] Broadcasts started at 6am on 5 October 1959. The mast did not carry ITV.[13] ITV reception came from Lichfield or Mendlesham, in central Suffolk.[14]
The FM frequencies were the same as today - the BBC Home Service on 94.5 FM and the BBC Third Programme on 92.3 FM.[15] Stereo FM radio came in July 1980, and also[16]Hereward Radio began broadcasting on 95.7 on FM at 6am on Thursday 10 July 1980. For the south of Lincolnshire, this radio broadcast reception would much better than when BBC Radio Lincolnshire began later in the year in November 1980.[17]
Arqiva mast
Original steel lattice mast collapsed, showing contact with building at the base.
A 154-metre (505 ft) guyed high-steel lattice mast, belonging to Arqiva, is used primarily for FM broadcasting but carries many other services.
Originally, this mast was built for broadcasting television on VHFBand I.
On 30 October 2004, the original mast was destroyed by a fire. It collapsed, seriously damaging the transmitter building at the base. Services were temporarily restored by transferring them to the adjacent BT tower and two temporary masts, including the BBC emergency mast which was put in use for the first time.[18] A new replacement mast finished construction in 2006 and is in full service.
Communications tower
In June 1961 the original GPO 328 foot steel lattice tower had reached 100 feet, which weighed 80 tons. It was hoped to be built by the end of June 1961. It would carry around 5,000 telephone circuits.[19][20] The foundations were 700 tons of reinforced concrete. It connected with a GPO tower 96 miles away, the Heaton Park BT Tower in north Manchester.[21][22]
The 1961 lattice GPO tower was replaced in September 1970 by a 280 ft concrete tower, built by Monk of Warrington, as more communication dishes were needed, with 9,000 more trunk circuits being needed.[23][24]
The adjacent tower is one of fourteen reinforced concrete towers owned by BT in the UK. It is used mainly for point-to-point microwave links and forms part of BT's national telecommunications network. It was not damaged by the collapse of the Arqiva mast.
