Titsey

Bedlestead Lane

Wireless Station. This came into being in 1929 when the BBC bought land on the isolated plateau near the highest point of the North Downs from the Titsey Estate Company which handled the business of the local Leveson Gower family. The site was selected because of its freedom from electrical interference despite being relatively close to London. Thanks to the cooperation of the GPO and electricity companies it remained free of electrical interference throughout its life and there were legal agreements with neighbouring farmers restraining them from using machinery likely to cause interference. This did not prevent a dispute over an electric fence on one occasion. Its initial purpose was to test short-wave receivers and it was first called the BBC Listening Post. Its use in general observations on short-wave broadcasting particularly from north America was soon realised and in 1933 an additional building was erected on the site for research purposes. An activity which started at the establishment of the site and which grew in importance was that of frequency testing, especially on the short-waves. It is important that the carrier frequencies of broadcast radio (then termed wireless) transmissions are accurately maintained. In fact there were international agreements concerning broadcast transmissions accurately adhering to their allotted frequencies in order to prevent interference between stations. Tatsfield became equipped with precision measuring equipment thus allowing frequency deviations to be detected. The Research Department started to develop new forms of frequency control equipment for the BBC in 1937. This involved transmission experiments -a curiosity in a receiving station but which apparently caused no disruption. By 1938 Tatsfield was an established centre of great importance exciting public interest and additional land was acquired from the Leveson Gower family. The public benefited from short-wave broadcasts which were relayed from Americaby the following method.  As normally received on a domestic short- wave radio set the listener would encounter periodic fading of the programme he or she was listening to, accompanied by an uncomfortable increase in the volume of background noise. It was a curious fact that if two short-wave receiving sets were on at the same time normally only one faded at any given moment. Thus the fading (which was the result of the signal to the receiver from the other side of the world being affected by atmospheric conditions) could be counteracted using two or more sets. At Tatsfield two receiving sets were wired together in parallel thus overcoming the fading but the background noise was also suppressed; because the set receiving the strongest signal was made to cut out the set receiving the weaker signal and from which the background noise otherwise emanated. The improved signal reception now produced was conveyed down landlines for re-broadcasting on the BBC network. In the interests of truth it should be said that the above was only one technique used to relay broadcasts conforming to a high quality from America. But all techniques required that the receiving set contributing the strongest signal momentarily suppressed the output of the others. Also highly directional aerials were required. Tatsfield was used to find the best wavelengths for the British Empire Service. This involved testing propagation conditions for various wavelengths. A most important function which started in 1938 was the monitoring of the BBC foreign language broadcasts. At one time the BBC were broadcasting in 48 different languages and it was necessary to ensure that each language was being broadcast on the correct frequency. Staff at the transmission station would not normally know which language they were broadcasting. Tatsfield employed language experts. In the same year Tatsfield began monitoring • television transmission from AlexandraPalace.  Tatsfield played a full part not only in war-time activities but also in political situations leading to WWII. For example the Italian dictator, Mussolini, would broadcast programmes from Italy purporting to be from Spainand telling lies about Spainfor the purpose of inciting unrest. Tatsfield was able to pin-point the true source of the broadcast. This ability was also important during the war in locating the positions of enemy transmitters, After the war Tatsfield acquired momentary glory in its alertness in picking up the first space-ship which was the Russian Sputnik launched secretly in 1957. Later when the Russian Vostok satellite was put into orbit Tatsfield proved that there were actually two of them by detecting messages between them. Tatsfield started with a staff of two or three on a small site which had no water supply-rain water from the roof had to be collected. It eventually grew to a site of forty acres with full technical and recreational facilities for a staff of seventy. It was one of the first international monitoring stations in the world (Brussels, also in 1929 was the first) and its achievements are a monument to public service broadcasting. But it could not survive modern business and financial management fashions which began to come to the fore in the 1970s and (like many other industries) it closed and it's functions were transferred to BBC Caversham near Reading in Berkshire. In 1993 only a few ruined buildings, concrete footings and anchorage points for the aerials remained. Just one small fragment remained of the wooden aerial poles. The imposing cob-web of aerials which enveloped the site including the inverted-V aerials which were used for the American relays were gone. At the high point south east of the station buildings a bunker still stood but it is capped with a modern aerial said to be used by a car telephone company. A small part of the site near the ruined buildings is occupied by  massive pylons of a commercial broadcasting company. 

Clarks Lane

Limpsfield to Croydon via Titsey RoadAn alternative route across the North Downs was the Limpsfield to Titsey road which, although it acquired sufficient status to be turnpiked in 1813, was too steep to evolve to importance in modern times. It is near the line of the second Roman road (Londonto Lewes), which passes through the district. Part of the route of the Roman road has been incorporated into Clarks Lane and Rectory Lane

BBC. The high point of the former BBC receiving station at Tatsfield is north of Clarks Lane at 46 223 feet NNW of this was a flashing light beacon, made by Plessey and  known as the lighthouse, which was employed on the alternative air route from Paris to Croydon before WWII. It was still in place (although not used) in 1941 but vanished by 1993. 

Titsey

TitseyChurch. 1861 by Pearson. Some 14^thtiles and monuments to Greshams and Leveson Gowers of Titsey Place.

Titsey Hill

Titsey Place. Old church demolished for the house 1776. Roman villa in the park. Owned by Trustees of the Titsey Foundation. One of the largest surviving estates in Surrey. Magnificent ancestral home and gardens of the Gresham family since 1534. Walled kitchen gardens restored early 1990s. Golden jubilee rose garden. Etruscan summer house adjoining picturesque lakes and fountains. 15 acres of formal and informal gardens in an idyllic setting,