GPO line marker post

Would this have been a marker for telephone lines during wartime?
I found this in a hedgerow bordering Hunsdon a few years ago, actually it is just outside the main gate.

Denis,

Given the post includes the War Department arrow mark, it's surely likely to have been something to do with the airfield's phone lines - a bit of a giveaway for a saboteur, though...

The whole subject of wartime airfield telephone and telex systems seems to be short on coverage. There must have been very specific requirements for the GPO (the 'BT of the day') to install robust systems that could survive air attacks; and direct, secure lines to group/wing/HQ etc. sites which bypassed village/town manual exchanges and their 'number please' operators - there was no national direct dialling system in those days!

Anyone know where there's any more information?

sumter

Don't let the broad arrow fool you - it's been used as a government ordnance mark since at least the 1500's. As the G.P.O was government owned/run just about everything they have, stores/equipment wise has a broad arrow on it.

Not saying it's NOT anything to do with the airfield, just that the broad arrow does not necessarily indicate it's a military marker.

sumter;28118 wrote:

Given the post includes the War Department arrow mark, it's surely likely to have been something to do with the airfield's phone lines,

It seems I was completely wrong about the 'arrow mark' in this context. Apparently it simply indicates a joint in a GPO telephone cable, buried the specified distance (in feet) from the marker. However, Denis, it may still have been part of the airfield's phone network.

Being a former GPO worker out in the field i can suply the following details.

The marker is indeed to indicate that there is a buried joint at the distance specified on the post. Usually the LEAD joint was 'found' in a small coffin approx. 2ft. long and usualy found at the bottom of a Telegraph pole, before the advent of boxes being constructed.
Nowadays, what with H.& S. boxes are provided to prevent footpaths and the like being dug up.

In the sticks however, Lead cables usually ran a length of 151-154 yds and these markers were to be found in grass verges but these cables were 'Trunk cables' and somewhat larger (500prs cable as opposed to a 20-50pr cable), as such the 'coffin' was around 5ft in length. An absolute sod to dig out as they were usually quite deep as well. A manhole was provided at certain junctions to work on the larger joints and change-overs

In the late 70's I collected a number of Lead tags off the cables as they were being recovered and replaced with Poly types, a manhole on Elsham camp welded a number nicely date stamped 1943.

Telephone lines for RAF stationed which operated the system for the numerous details being passed over the teleprinter network, Defence teleprinter Network, DTN. had priorty.

I will not bore you with the different cables types and sizes or the type of insulators for the 'open wires' that fed Tannoys etc

sumter;28118 wrote:

The whole subject of wartime airfield telephone and telex systems seems to be short on coverage. There must have been very specific requirements for the GPO (the 'BT of the day') to install robust systems ...

A small section from the EH document that NP and I produced:

(Re HQFC Bentley Priory) On 9 March 1940 work began to finalise the underground Operations Building. This involved transferring 167 telephone lines from the existing operation and filter rooms in the Priory to the bunker. It was achieved in just 150 seconds. The principal teleprinter links, (four intelligence and two Home Office) were also transferred ‘instantly’, and a further sixteen teleprinters were moved later in the day, when a two position Defence Teleprinter Network (DTN) was opened.

Two days later at 13.30 hrs the underground HQ was fully manned for the first time. The new PBX was commissioned, the transfer of 250 extensions and 70 lines and private wires from the Priory being completed in less than a minute. The principal communication lines to the block were carried in steel pipes, buried six feet below ground to three remote concrete pillboxes. The latter were interconnected, such that the signals could be re-routed in the event of damage to any one buried pipe. These pipes effectively linked the following buildings, all of which were situated within the grounds of the Priory:

· The Priory
· The underground Operations Room
· The Retelling Office
· Glenthorn
· The main Filter Room at Hill House
· Associated W/T Stations .

(Source AIR2/2997)

Graham