We saw a recent online question posed by a long-standing
Brigg resident and decided to cross the border into Broughton parish
to investigate.
The writer questioned the purpose of this concrete structure in a
field alongside the public footpath that runs from Scawby Road, past the DFS
furniture store and across to Castlethorpe. He recalled visiting the field as a
boy in the 1960s - it being a popular place to play.
Having examined the structure at close quarters we can't give
him a definitive answer. But perhaps someone out there knows for
certain.
Our first though was an air-raid shelter. But wouldn't they
have sunk that into the ground?
Interesting.......but for totally unconnected info, the first purpose-built air-raid shelter was built in Cleethorpes in 1916....and it still exists.
ReplyDeleteIt was built by a local chemist after a Zeppelin raid on the seaside town during which 30 soldiers, billeted in a nearby church hall, were killed.
Talking to Hamish over a pint, there was a strong supposition that the block-house is protecting a pre WW2 electrical step-down transformer.
ReplyDeleteTo put the building in its geographical context, it backs on to a hedge line, which itself, runs parallel to a narrow dyke, or ditch separating the field from the DFS warehouse and car-park.
Close by there are some overhead power cables running from pylons some, say, half a mile distant.
Electrical transformers are designed to change the voltage of the supply to another voltage - step-up, or step-down.
In power distribution, over-head cables would normally carry very high voltage electricity and there would be a need to reduce the voltage from a branch cable to 230/240v domestic power.
From after circa WW2, power companies mounted such transformers high on poles, often on twin poles, well away from prying hands.
Similarly, transformers are found in electrical sub-stations, which tend to serve larger communities - but these are withing secure compounds.
Prior to WW2, transformers were mounted on a ground base, secured within block-house.
As a device, an electrical transformer is not mechanical - it has no moving parts and, therefore, does not need servicing, oiling, or general tweeking.
Essentially it works through various primary and secondary wiring and magnetic fields.
Consequently, once installed and operating, the transformer is left to get on with its business - hence the concrete block-house in the photo having no access points - ie doors/windows.
The suggestion is that the building is ser4ving to protect an extant pre WW2 transformer from interference from members of the public, while, perhaps, the only remote danger would be a violent power-surge in which the transformer could explode - again a heavy block-house can limit any damage.
During it operation, the transformer would emit some heat and it is suggested that the striation lines of coloration on the outside walls of the building are the result of fungus/bacterial growth affected by varying temperature ranges in the concrete walls.
Indeed, the pattern bands on both the front and side elevations in the photo, do roughly resemble the shape of an electrical transformer - is looks like a fat, large radiator with fins to disperse the generated heat.
It is also interesting to not that the building does not appear on a OS map - perhaps indicating that the constructors did not intend the building to be permanent and hence, there was no official need to inform the local planning department - but, whatever, it's there and ain't shown.
Does anyone else have any other ideas what it could be?