Rampisham Down

[asakiyume]

Rampisham Down is where, from 1939 until 2011, the transmitters for the BBC World Service in Europe were located--"twenty-six iron giants stand ... with a grey cat's cradle in their hands," in the words of Talis Kimberley in her song "Rampisham Down." They were so well known that when my mother came to visit us when we were living in Dorset--where Rampisham Down is located--she was excited to drive by them.

A friend gave me Talis Kimberley's wonderful song about them, which starts with a message on a picture postcard of them and then goes on to describe them and their stalwart duty:

Eight miles northwest of Dorchester
ST5401**
On the high chalk land where the Romans were
Upon Rampisham Down
Oh twenty-six iron giants stand
ST5401
With a grey cat's cradle in their hands
Upon Rampisham Down
Upon Rampisham Down

Here the news comes in and the news goes out
ST5401
And the world will hear what it's all about
Upon Rampisham Down
...
And when the world looks dark, as it sometimes will
ST5401
Then look to the giants on the high chalk hill
Upon Rampisham Down...

*This is the grid reference in Great Britain's Ordinance Survey maps that Rampisham Down is located on

(source)

The song--and the concept of those twenty-six faithful iron giants--really touched me, so I was sorry to learn from Wakanomori that they'd come down, victims of changes in how broadcast technology works. Here's a short (2.07 minutes) video about it:

Watch on YouTube

That video is from August 2017. Let's have a moment of silence and respect for these hard workers.



... I'll post my picture for inktober next.

Comments

[sovay]

The song--and the concept of those twenty-six faithful iron giants--really touched me, so I was sorry to learn from Wakanomori that they'd come down, victims of changes in how broadcast technology works.

I'm glad the song lasts.

[asakiyume]

Me too. I listen to it a lot: it's very easy to sing.

[kore]

Oh wow, this is fascinating.

[asakiyume]

Yeah, in so many ways

[amaebi]

The image of the crumpled and recumbent tower is strangely sad.

[asakiyume]

I agree--they're usually straight and strong, and it's been brought down and lies at odd angles--it *is* sad.

[zyzyly]

pretty remarkable! I went on google and looked a bunch of images of them--the one that caught my eye was some of the towers peeking up through the fog. I love this kind of stuff.

[asakiyume]

Yeah! Over on LJ puddleshark put a beautiful photo she'd taken in comments--it's misty like that.

[khiemtran]

Thanks for sharing! I'm happy a song like that exists...

[asakiyume]

Yeah, me too. The singer chooses interesting things to sing about--she's got another song, "Tell the Bees," about the custom of informing bees of big changes in the family, and that song also touches on colony collapse disorder--super poignant song, as you can imagine.