Morgan's Hill () is a

biological Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

between

Calne Calne () is a town and civil parish in Wiltshire, southwestern England,OS Explorer Map 156, Chippenham and Bradford-on-Avon Scale: 1:25 000.Publisher: Ordnance Survey A2 edition (2007). at the northwestern extremity of the North Wessex Downs ...

and

Devizes Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-century civil war between ...

in Wiltshire, England. The SSSI was notified in 1951 and again in 1987.

Topography

Morgan's Hill marks the hydrological

triple divide A triple divide or triple watershed is a point on the Earth's surface where three drainage basins meet. A triple divide results from the intersection of two drainage divides. Triple divides range from prominent mountain peaks to minor side pea ...

of Great Britain, where rainfall drains into the English Channel (via this River Avon), the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

(via the

Bristol Avon The River Avon is a river in the south west of England. To distinguish it from a number of other rivers of the same name, it is often called the Bristol Avon. The name 'Avon' is a cognate of the Welsh word , meaning 'river'. The Avon ...

and

Severn Estuary The Severn Estuary ( cy, Aber Hafren) is the estuary of the River Severn, flowing into the Bristol Channel between South West England and South Wales. Its high tidal range, approximately , means that it has been at the centre of discussions in t ...

) and the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

(via the

Kennet Kennet may refer to: Places in the United Kingdom *Kennet, Clackmannanshire, Scotland People *Baron Kennet, a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom * D. Mark Kennet (born 1957), American economist *Josh Kennet (born 1987), English-Israel ...

and

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

Nature reserve

The site is also a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

of the

Wiltshire Wildlife Trust Wiltshire Wildlife Trust is a conservation charity based in Devizes, England which owns and manages 40 nature reserves in Wiltshire and Swindon. It also works to encourage Wiltshire's communities to live sustainable lifestyles that protect the e ...

. The main habitat on the site is chalk grassland, largely dominated by

upright brome ''Bromus erectus'', commonly known as erect brome, upright brome or meadow brome, is a dense, course, tufted perennial grass. It can grow to . Like many brome grasses the plant is hairy. The specific epithet ''erectus'' is Latin, meaning "erect". ...

(''Bromus erectus''). Species present which have a particular affinity for the chalk habitat include

chalk milkwort ''Polygala calcarea'', the chalk milkwort, is a species of flowering plant in the family Polygalaceae, native to western Europe. It is a delicate mat-forming evergreen perennial growing to tall by broad, with spikes of small, vivid deep blue fl ...

(''Polygala calcarea''),

horseshoe vetch ''Hippocrepis comosa'', the horseshoe vetch, is a species of perennial flowering plant belonging to the genus ''Hippocrepis'' in the family Fabaceae. Description The overall appearance depends on its habitat: sometimes it forms upright clumps ...

(''Hippocrepis comosa'') and autumn gentian (''Gentianella amarella''). Several scarce and notable species occur, including round-headed rampion (''Phyteuma orbiculare''), bastard toadflax (''Thesium humifusum''), fly orchid (''Ophrys insectifera''),

fragrant orchid ''Gymnadenia conopsea'', commonly known as the fragrant orchid or chalk fragrant orchid, is a herbaceous plant of the family Orchidaceae native to northern Europe. Etymology The name of the genus ''Gymnadenia'' is formed from Greek words (', ...

(''Gymnadenia conopsea''), lesser butterfly orchid (''Platanthera bifolia''),

frog orchid ''Coeloglossum'' is a genus of flowering plants in the orchid family Orchidaceae. It has long been considered to have only one species, ''Coeloglossum viride'', the frog orchid. Some recent classifications regard ''Coeloglossum'' as part of the ...

(''Coeloglossum viride''),

musk orchid ''Herminium monorchis'', the musk orchid, is a commonly occurring species of orchid. It is widespread across much of Europe and northern Asia from France to Japan, including China, Siberia, Mongolia, Ukraine, Germany, Italy, Scandinavia, etc. It ...

(''Herminium monorchis'') and – unusually for a downland site – marsh helleborine (''Epipactis palustris'').

Communications site

History

A Marconi

Imperial Wireless Chain The Imperial Wireless Chain was a strategic international communications network of powerful long range radiotelegraphy stations, created by the British government to link the countries of the British Empire. The stations exchanged commercial a ...

receiving station was built on the south-east slopes of the hill in 1913, as the receiving station for the

Leafield Leafield is a village and civil parish about northwest of Witney in West Oxfordshire. The parish includes the hamlet of Langley, west of Leafield village. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 945. The village is above sea lev ...

transmission station in Oxfordshire. The contract for the Imperial Chain was terminated by the Post Office after the outbreak of war and the station was not used for its original function when Leafield was resurrected after the War. MorgansHillTwo

The structure was converted to military use in 1916 for the Royal Engineers as an army intelligence station, used to determine the position of German

Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...

s and communication stations. The plans for the structure showed masts high and long. It is not known when the station closed but sources show that it was considered redundant by 1919. MorgansHillThree

In 1919 the General Post Office and the Marconi Company agreed to convert the receiving station into Britain's first long-range maritime communications station. The station opened in 1920 with the callsign 'GKT' and was equipped with a six-kilowatt valve transmitter and a receiver, guaranteeing a two-way range of . The equipment and staff were housed in old army huts. Radiotelegrams were received and forwarded to London for the price of 11d per word; the service proved successful and in 1924 a second mast with callsign 'GKU' was added. By 1926, as experiments with

short-wave Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (100 to 10 me ...

communications proved successful, Devizes expanded again with the installation of Britain's first short-wave maritime transmitter. Again the service proved successful and the GPO investigated the possibility of expanding the Devizes site again; however, the limited space on the site led the company to open a new station at Portishead, Somerset, and close the Devizes station in 1929. All equipment was removed by 1935.

Present use

The hill continues to be used for radio communications. In 1981

Wiltshire Constabulary Wiltshire Police, formerly known as Wiltshire Constabulary, is the territorial police force responsible for policing the county of Wiltshire (including the Borough of Swindon) in South West England. The force serves 722,000 people over an area ...

erected two 46-metre (150') masts and an unmanned equipment building for

police radio Police radio is a radio system used by police and other law enforcement agencies to communicate with one another. Police radio systems almost always use two-way radio systems to allow for communications between police officers and dispatchers. ...

communication at the peak of the hill, a small distance from previous stations. In 1990 the Ministry of Defence were granted planning permission for the siting of a mobile prefabricated building, fuel storage, 3 satellite dishes and a developed path from the main road. The plans show this was to be built around the masts operated by the police. However the MoD's present involvement on the site is unknown. In 1998 Mercury Communications were granted permission to add four microwave dishes and equipment cabinets to the existing masts. Mercury were a mobile phone network provider who needed more coverage as sales of mobile phones soared. Planning applications from

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

and

Vodafone Vodafone Group plc () is a British multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates services in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. , Vod ...

to add mobile phone equipment to the masts also exist. Signage on the masts and building suggest involvement from three mobile networks –

and O2 – as well as Airwave Communications Ltd who administer radio and data technology for all emergency services. However, signage added in 2015 suggests that

Arqiva Arqiva () is a British telecommunications company which provides infrastructure, broadcast transmission and smart meter facilities in the United Kingdom. The company is headquartered at the former Independent Broadcasting Authority headquart ...

is the owner and operator of the masts. There is also a small

real-time kinematic Real-time kinematic positioning (RTK) is the application of surveying to correct for common errors in current satellite navigation (GNSS) systems. It uses measurements of the phase of the signal's carrier wave in addition to the information con ...

mast nearby, being used for hydrographic or land survey uses, but its owner or operator is unknown.

Sources

Natural England citation sheet for the site
(accessed 17 April 2020)

References

External links

Natural England (SSSI information)

Wiltshire Wildlife Trust's page about Morgan's Hill
{{SSSIs Wilts biological History of telecommunications in the United Kingdom Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Wiltshire Sites of Special Scientific Interest notified in 1951 Wiltshire Wildlife Trust reserves