Portishead Radio

[3] The main transmitting station, which was remotely operated from the Highbridge site, originally consisted of a large array of radio masts at nearby Portishead Downs.

[4] The station played a vital role during World War II in maintaining communications with the British merchant navy and with patrol aircraft in the North Atlantic.

[2] In 1943, the workload was so great that Royal Navy officers and 18 telegraphists were brought in from (amongst others) HMS Flowerdown, a Naval Shore Wireless Service station near Winchester.

By 1965, the station employed 86 radio officers who handled over 11 million words of traffic per year, communicating with on average over 1,000 ships per day.

[6] Competition from satellite communications, beginning with Marisat in 1976 later the Inmarsat network, initially had little effect on the station's business, which continued to expand.

[11] In October 2007, planning permission for a development of 190 houses and flats on the site was granted, and shortly afterwards the radio station buildings were demolished.

Around 2015, a sculpture by Rick Kirby of five female figures holding hands, titled 'Arc of Angels', was installed close to the Portishead transmitting site to commemorate the five radio towers and their role.