The purpose of this thread is so that members who have pictures offsite but linked to the site can announce changes to their albums which may be of interest to readers. Being offsite changes will not show up under the site's Recent Changes heading.
New pictures from The Rest & Be Thankful are now linked at
What a difference a nice day makes, much less drab view of Portkil, and more details, than my slightly damper and more autumnal visit a few years ago - and someone to talk to too!
'Beat the Boss' - they had already been absorbed when you posted (dance)
Don't those building always look ominous - even genuine, school dinner buildings (and I reckon the ones I have in mind were actually ex-war buildings) didn't look that worrying.
The Larkfield pics certainly confirm and earlier comment that the site is remarkably well preserved, especially compared some in more remote spots that have been 'well worn' over the years.
The ramp on the Control Room is interesting. I think I'm fairly safe in venturing far enough to say it's unlikely to have been the GL radar vehicle ramp, as the mat/groundplane would have to have spread radially from it, and there seem to be a lot of buildings adjacent that would simply have interfered with such an installation, and its technical reason for being.
Maybe they hauled a litte Light AA gun up there, just for a wee bit of confidence boosting
A bit more seriously, maybe it was either a mistake, or a change in plans for the site layout, and it is a GL ramp, but redundant?
I too am puzzled by the ramp but my concern was would the roof take the weight of the caravan? I think it is quoted somewhere as weighing 2 tons.
If there was a GL Mat there it was not within the perimeter fence and the rest of the field is on quite a slope so getting a large area of mesh level would have needed some lengthy poles. The woodland to the East was a spruce plantation which blew down and was removed after the hurricane of 1968. It was quite mature and must have been planted before the war. So where was the mat? RCAHMS seem to think there was one.
The page currently called Spigot Mortar Bases complete with map is the area concerned. The glen does not seem to have a name of it's own but the land the bases are on is named Green Hill on the OS maps it is next to Knockendon reservoir. Martin Briscoe found a couple of the bases but not the rest of the remains. What went on there I do not know except that it definitley does not look like a defensive position so it must have either been a training area or a testing area for Ardeer.