Spadeadam

SPADEADAM RANGE, CUMBRIA  

The Government has insisted that the Ministry of Defence should consider all the resources of the land it holds for the purpose of military training and should make the best possible use of them. Through its land agency, Defence Estates, the Ministry of Defence has initiated a programme to set out detailed management plans for all training areas under its supervision. The RAF range at Spadeadam, in Cumbria, is a major challenge for them, not just because of the vast area of the range and the wild character of its natural terrain, but also because it was used during the Cold War for test1-firing 'Blue Streak' missiles, which could potentially have been used to deliver nuclear warheads. As the first step in this task, Defence Estates asked English Heritage's Landscape Investigation Team to undertake a detailed survey of the archaeological remains - primarily relating to the range's military past - which are scattered across the landscape. We have unparalleled expertise in this subject, having recently completed a national study of the architectural legacy of the Cold War era, as well as a study of the broad spectrum of military and earlier remains preserved on the Salisbury Plain Trainging Area. These publications are available to buy from our Online Bookshop.

At Spadeadam, we are also working in close collaboration with Tullie House Museum, in Carlisle, to compile a record of the people's memories, both those involved with the work on the Blue Streak project and those in the wider local community at the time. Louise K Wilson, a video installation artist has filmed us at work and the film will be displayed at the museum this autumn. So in a number of different ways, our work at Spadeadam will also contribute to English Heritage's wider research agenda with regard to England's recent military heritage.

 The development of the Blue Streak intermediate range ballistic missile was one of the most ambitious British research programmes of the Cold War. In the late 1950s hundreds of scientists and engineers were employed on the project in secret government research establishments and in private companies. The most spectacular remains of this scientific enterprise survive at Spadeadam. In 1960, after the cancellation of the ballistic missile programme, Blue Streak was adapted for use as the launch vehicle for the European Launcher Development Organisation's rocket Europa 1. This project was cancelled in 1971 and the range facilities were subsequently dismantled. English Heritage has recently identified the remains at Spadeadam as being of national importance and has recommended that they are protected as a Scheduled Monument. Ironically perhaps - given that the Govern Minister who cancelled the missile project said that satellites would never be of any use - English Heritage is now using the latest satellite-guided global positioning systems (GPS) equipment to map these remains of space age archaeology.

For more information, contact Wayne Cocroft in English Heritage's Cambridge office on 01223 582 770 or e-mail wayne.cocroft@english-heritage.org.uk