Behind Closed Doors: Inside the abandoned control tower on Davidstow Airfield

  • Watch Charlie Powell explore the abandoned control tower at Davidstow Airfield

Davidstow Airfield, situated to the north of Bodmin Moor, has been a dominant feature of the landscape ever since it was built more than eighty years ago.

ITV West Country's Behind Closed Doors series takes a look inside places and locations people pass every day, but don't know what happens inside or why they exist.

As part of the series, Charlie Powell explored the abandoned control tower on the historic airfield.

Opening in 1942, RAF Davistow Moor was an active Royal Air Force Station during the Second World War, for three years until 1945.

Located 967ft (294m) above sea level, it is the highest airfield in the country, and was built to get away from the sea fog that often blanketed Cornwall's airfields.

RAF Davidstow Moor was built on a flat piece of ground 967ft above sea level to the north of Bodmin moor. Credit: ITV West Country

Steve Perry has been the curator of Cornwall at War Museum since 2007, and is passionate about the airfield's history.

Speaking to ITV West Country, he said: "All the other airfields were coastal and subject to sea fog. When the sea fog rolled in, the airfields had to be closed so they decided to build this additional airfield at Davidstow

"We can get months of a time without fog. We haven't had fog for ages. But we did have a classic a few weeks ago, and all around us was white.

"There was white fog all below us, but Davidstow was an island on a sea of fog. And that's why they built it here."

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After just three years, at the end of the war the airfield was decommissioned, and many of the buildings were dismantled.

Others were abandoned, including the historic control tower which is now just a skeletal shell on the landscape.

The control tower is now a skeletal shell on the landscape. Credit: ITV West Country

"This tower was built four feet higher than a normal tower to try and give better visibility to the end of the runway," Steve said.

"Because it's on the crest of a hill, you cannot actually see the end of the runway so they would often have to go up onto the roof."

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Since closing, the airfield has had a variety of different uses, including as a Formula One racing circuit in the 1950s.

Today, Royal Marines can often be seen training on the airfield, and the site is still used by a local flying club.

People interested in visiting the airfield, can book a tour on the museum's crew bus Marlene until the end of September.

  • If you would like to see behind the doors of a place or location anywhere in the West Country, please let us know by emailing westcountry@itv.com