Springwell, Royal Observer Corps Monitoring Post

In August 1954 Springwell ROC post moved here from Birtley (HER 5878). In or before May 1959 the post moved underground. It closed in October 1968. During WW2 there was a pillbox and a bombing decoy in this vicinity (HER 5397 and 5516). This was a visual observation post to track aircraft movements. Early Observer Corps Posts had a simple instrument for plotting the plan position of the aircraft. Throughout WW2 the ROC had a more sophisticated "Post Instrument" which also recorded the height of the aircraft. WW2 posts were frequently simply sand bagged emplacements, or more sophisticated examples were of domestic brick construction, some two-storey, with an open observation post and a crew room. Some had latrines.