It was originally commissioned to bring ITV signals (provided by Anglia Television) to East Anglia, including Norfolk, Suffolk and parts of Essex and Cambridgeshire on 405-line VHF, using Channel 11 (Band III).

For the new ITV region, the GPO would provide a link from London to Norwich, via Ongar, Essex, Sibleys Green (Chickney, to Mendlesham, then on to the telecommunications tower at Stoke Holy Cross, and by cable from there to Norwich.

It was fabricated in Hereford from zinc-galvanised steel, and was erected by British Insulated Callender's Construction Co. (BICC), now known as Balfour Beatty.

When UHF television came to East Anglia, main transmitters were commissioned at Tacolneston, near Norwich and Sudbury, near Colchester.

Mendlesham was not required in the UHF plan, so when 405 line television was discontinued in the UK in 1985, the mast ceased to be used for any broadcast transmissions for over a decade.