PYE GREEN BT TOWER
Staffordshire’s Pye Green BT Tower is a 96.9 metre (318 ft) tall telecommunication tower located at the Southern edge of the Cannock Chase AONB. The impressively large reinforced concrete structure, on a good day, can apparently be seen from as far away as the Southern Pennines and due to its height and distinctive appearance, is often used as a reference point for more local navigation.
Its combination of elevation and height give it line-of-sight to both the BT Tower in Birmingham and the Sutton Common in Cheshire and it is one of fourteen concrete telecommunication towers built in the UK that were constructed as components of the British Cold War “Backbone” radio communications network.
Various types of aerial have been used in the network’s history. At first, prime-focus parabolic reflectors were used. In about 1960, dual-band horn aerials started to be used widely, and a few of these survive to the present day. They began to go out of fashion at the end of the 1960s, when types of parabolic antenna with improved performance replaced them, and as many of the towers were specifically designed for the distinctive horn type aerials, they do now look rather less imposing as a result.
That being said, and despite the tower certainly looking a little bereft of hardware at its summit than it did in the days of my youth, I am always happy to see it as I approach the Stafford Junction of the M6 Motorway after a long journey home.
Drone Scene entry here