The site played an important role during the Second World War, providing early warnings of incoming bomber attacks carried out by the Luftwaffe.

The site was also part of the ROTOR programme in the 1950s as a Centimetric Early Warning (CEM) station, keeping a constant watch for suspicious Soviet bombers.

Ventnor was one of 20 original Chain Home stations authorised in 1937 and became operational in October 1938 using experimental transmitters and receivers in temporary hutting.

The site played an important role during Operation Overlord, the codename for D-Day, monitoring both ship and aircraft movements involved in the landings.

[6] The bunkers, made of ten feet thick reinforced concrete, housed RAF workers who kept a constant watch for any suspicious aircraft up to 300 miles away.

Most of the radar operators and technical personnel working at Ventnor at the time were teenagers, serving their period of compulsory National Service.

The surviving components of the original 1938–1939 Chain Home radar station, such as the receiver building, the three receiver tower bases and any remains of the former station defences including a pillbox, is considered a Grade II listed building for their "architectural interest and degree of survival" and for their "historic interest (history of radars).