With Kai-Lin - our 8-year old daughter - wanting to play everyday at the beautiful play area in Highfield - I got ample chances to walk behind the new housing estate to see what is left of the "Highfield". Oddly, the North-end of Duddington has always been the area from which we have entered Duddington. Despite this fact, we mever seem to have noticed two utility huts nestled in the trees and long grass. My initial instict was that this was something to do with the military - and I still think this is the case. I think the original buildings are pre-WWII or contemporary with WWII - with the post-WWII versions having the original windows "filled-in" with brick-work! The above video provides footage from behind the two huts - which are more fully described below!
The above photographs and video are of the left-hand Utility Hut which possesses a sign stating it is the property of "BT" (British Telecom) - but this sign seems very old - perhaps pertaining to the time when BT was still a nationalised entity. Today, this hut has been modified for modern communication involving what looks like fibre-optics and internet usage. Whatever the case, the extra windows and doors have been bricked-up and replaced with highly securitised variants accessed through coded keypads. There is an electric "buzz" about the place which now has a permanently "open" gate. Still, as i said above, some of the brick-work looks rather extravagant for a humble Utility Hut. The trees and bushes grow thickly on all sides - but the interior ground area of the hut remains clutter-free for easy access.
The above photographs depict the right-hand Utility Hut which is now empty and derelict - but was once a "Switching Station" - which originally dealt with the electricity supply to Duddington. This effectively regulated how the households in Duddington accessed the National Grid - which must now be through a much more efficient and hidden system. Again, windows and doors are filled-in with brick-work - but some of the original brick-work appears overly ornate for such a mundane function. I think there may have been Home Guard activity in Duddington during WWII - perhaps a "Special Force" comprised of younger men operating under a false-front, so-to-speak. This is just an unfounded idea on my part constructed from various pieces of evidence I have acquired over the years. There might be nothing to it.
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