Last Alteration: Sunday 07 April 2013
Crowsley Park BBC Receiving Station
Crowsley Park BBC Receiving Station
Blounts Court Road, Sonning Common, Berkshire
The BBC receiving station at Crowsley Park was built towards the end of WWII, and formed part of the new BBC Monitoring Service in tandem with Caversham Park a few miles away - these sites then took over monitoring from Wood Norton. Crowsley is able to receive transmissions from many tv and radio broadcasters around the world, and since 1981 has shifted from antennae to dish operation.
How to get here:
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Road: A404 - Follow the A404 until you reach the roundabout signposted for Hurley (A4130). Follow the A4130 Henley Road until you reach Henley, then head south on the A4155 (to Reading). Turn right onto Harpsden Road (to Harpsden). Keep following this until you reach Devil's Hill on the left, and turn down here. This runs around the Crowsley Park estate to its north, and then once you reach the end (Sonning Common Road), turn left and follow it to the estate gates. (10.2 miles, 19m) +
Crowsley Park can be accessed via the large ornate gates at the entrance - there is a smaller gate built within it that allows access to a public bridleway that leads through the estate.
This location is private and has no or limited access only. The receiving station is private, but it is possible to see parts of it from the bridlepath.
Access: privateStatus: unknownGrounds
Photograph taken: 13th September 2003 by Colin Francis
"Generic shot of the grounds from the path."
Logopolis
Filmed: 18 Dec 1980
The grounds of the Pharos Project.
Access: privateStatus: recognisableBuildings
Photograph taken: 13th September 2003 by Colin Francis
"The station buildings - it looks like filming was on the other side to these."
Logopolis
Filmed: 18 Dec 1980
The Master and the Doctor make their way across the grounds.
Access: privateStatus: recognisableTower
Photograph taken: 13th September 2003 by Colin Francis
"The ladder looks to be right for this tower!"
Logopolis
Filmed: 18 Dec 1980
The Doctor climbs to the top of the antenna.
Other nearby locations:
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Tithe Barn (The Visitation). Road (9.2 miles, 20m) : Head west on Sonning Common Road, then turn right onto Devil's Hill.
At the end, turn left onto Harpsden Road, and follow this to Henley-on-Thames
(joins A4155). Then head east on the A4130, and eventually Hurley will be
on the left. Turn here and then follow the road to Tithe Barn at its end. 
Free car park next to the house
Additional locations as the crow flies:
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Tidmarsh Manor (Planet of the Spiders): 6.93 miles. 
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Tidmarsh Lane (Planet of the Spiders): 7.99 miles. 
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Marlow Weir (The Ambassadors of Death): 8.66 miles.
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Swallowfield Park (The Time Monster): 8.93 miles.
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Gossmore Lane (The Ambassadors of Death): 9.09 miles.
Further links about the location:
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Crew Green Consulting - BBC Monitoring Service
Related Stories
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Logopolis [18 Dec 1980]
Information, downloads, photographs and other media are provided for reference and for personal use only (planning visits etc.) - they remain the copyright of their respective authors and may not be duplicated on any other website or media without prior permission.
All screen captures are the copyright of the BBC and appear here as reference to illustrate the location in comparison with how it looked at the time of filming and the present day; no attempt is made to supercede this or any other copyright.
