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Pre-1850
Sites Portsdown
Shutter Telegraph |
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23-11-2004 Last update 09-07-2017 |
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By the end of 1792 the
French were leading the way in an astounding new system of
signalling based on a plan evolved by the six brothers Chappe. The
French Empire was using 'levered Semaphores' situated on
towers nine to ten miles apart and were able to send messages over
hundreds of miles at around 1.75 words per minute.
The Admiralty (the Royal
Navy Headquarters) in London took note of this because the
Napoleonic Wars were now being fought out and a machine was needed
which could send and receive any desired message between them and
their fleet based at Portsmouth. At this time all messages had to
be delivered by Horsemen which at the very best took 4.5 hours.
The Reverend John Gamble
had invented such a machine and was sent to Portsmouth to carry
out trials. This was a 5 shutter machine allowing 32 (2 power 5)
different signals. It was erected on Portsdown and on 6 August
1795 he reported that it was complete and in working order.
However the Admiralty had decided to use a design by Reverend Lord
George Murray instead. This machine consisted of 6 shutters in two columns
in a vertical frame 20 feet high. Each shutter could be either
closed or open which gave 64 different permutations (including all
open and all closed). During September 1795 successful
experimental trials were carried out on Wimbledon Common. Murray
was awarded £2,000 for his invention, and Mr. George Roebuck was
made Superintendent of Telegraphs on a salary of £300 per annum.
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Portsmouth Shutter Telegraph Line |
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The Admiralty to
Portsmouth telegraph became known as the 'Portsmouth Shutter
Telegraph Line' and during March 1796 work commenced on building it.
It was ready a few months later. There were 10 signalling
stations. These are listed together with their modern location:
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1
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Roof of the first Lord's house - Whitehall
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2
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Chelsea - Royal Hospital
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3
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Putney - near Telegraph Inn
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4
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Cabbage Hill - near Chessington Zoo
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5
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Netley Heath - 'Telegraph', Blind Oak Gate
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6
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Hascombe - Telegraph Hill
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7
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Blackdown - Tally Knob
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8
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Beacon Hill - Harting Down
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9
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Portsdown Hill - various references: "Cosham Road
Junction - south of crossroads" "near Cliffdene
Cottage"
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10
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Portsmouth - Southsea Common by Clarence Pier
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It seems that the
Telegraph was never meant to permanent but was intended for use only
until the end of the Napoleonic Wars, as the construction of the
signal stations was little better than a sturdy hut with two rooms
and a coal shed. It was very successful however taking about 7.5
minutes to send a signal from Portsmouth to London. Its main
drawback was that it could only be used in good visibility and
during the daylight hours.
There were probably four
men at each station. Two men watched through telescopes - called
Glassmen - for a signal from the stations on either side of them.
When they saw the signal 'all shutters closed' or 123456, they would
call the two 'ropemen' who would operate the station's shutters to
relay the message along the line. The Glassmen and Ropemen would
have interchangeable jobs and one of them would be the Foreman.
There may or may not have been a RN Officer with them.
On 18 May 1814 peace was
proclaimed, Napoleon was banished to the Isle of Elba. On 6 July
1814 the Portsmouth Shutter Telegraph Line was ordered to
'immediately discontinue'. Napoleon had other ideas. He escaped from
his prison island and landed in France on 1 May 1815. Once again
England was at war and the Portsmouth Shutter Telegraph was
re-established. Seven weeks later on the 18 June 1815 Napoleon was
defeated at Waterloo and ten days later on the 28 June 1815 the
Admiralty announced plans to establish a permanent system of
stations using Semaphore - a machine with movable arms. (this is
described on the next page)
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Contributors:
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Dave Scanlen
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Geoff Salter
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Grid Ref SU666063 -
Portsdown Station
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The
arrow shows the location of the Portsdown Shutter Station. It was
near Cliffdene Cottage which was demolished in the 1980s?, and south of Cosham junction which refers to
the B2177 / London Road crossroads slightly to the east of the
arrow.
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NEW
27-11-2004
This
is a model of the Portsdown Shutter Station showing the six open shutters
and their control
gear. The construction was clapper board with a brick chimney
(left). A
lean-to coal shed would be constructed on the right side. The
label on the roof shows the number 178 for reasons unknown.
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A
view inside the station showing two Glassmen on telescopes and two
Ropemen operating the shutters.
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The
Glassman is reading the signal from the next station in the line
and the Ropemen are relaying the message on. The inset shows the
outcome of their efforts - the number 13.
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The
Portsmouth terminal station located on Southsea Common. This would
send and receive messages from the Portsdown station 5.5 miles to
the north. All the shutters are set to open - station idle. They
went to all closed as a signal that a message was about to be
sent.
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Looking
east on top of Portsdown 2004. The Portsdown shutter station was
located here. To the left is the site of the former Cliffdene
Cottage. Centre left the white walls of the George Pub can just be
seen, then a road sign on the B2177. Interestingly on the far left
is the Shutter Station's modern day counterpart.
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From contributor Laurie Booth:
"Google Earth brings the the converted OS reference to the
grassed area, which differs about eight feet in height from the
Telecom complex.
As an Archaeological Dowser, I have searched the lat/long
bearing and revealed a structure indicated on the attachment.
Within the outline is a n E-W central line from edge to edge. At
the N & S ends are centrally placed approx. 3x3ft features.
These internal features are not flagged, so as to avoid
cluttering at ground level photography.
I suggest the features could be read as positions of a shutter
operating mechanism and two glassmen.
Three nearby utility covers are taking services from the west
and directing them north towards the Telecom complex; they don't
continue east.
A dowsed path leaves an access at the top left, following round
the southern end to meet the path GSP marked 010.
It runs along the northern edge of this existing path before
veering right towards a destination I've not investigated.
My interest in telegraphic communication, including the London -
Portsmouth line, encouraged sending you this information".
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From contributor Laurie Booth:
An annotated layout.
"For orientation, the station's northern face of 15' continues,
in line, 9' from its N-W corner to meet a square iron GPO
embossed utility cover.
The N-S face is 22'".
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