Blue Bell Hill

Blue Bell Hill
The High Speed 1 tunnel portal, under the North Downs at Blue Bell Hill
Elevation	160 m (525 ft)
Prominence	c. 30 m
Location
Location	North Downs, England
Topo map	OS Landranger 188
OS grid	TQ740625

Blue Bell Hill (sometimes, incorrectly, Bluebell Hill) is a chalk hill between Maidstone and Rochester in the English county of Kent. It overlooks the River Medway and is part of the North Downs. Settlements on the hill include Walderslade; and Blue Bell Hill and Kit's Coty villages. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries much of the hill was quarried for chalk.

The south west side of Blue Bell Hill is a Site of Special Scientific Interest as it harbours several rare plant species. A picnic area serves as a rest point for walkers on the North Downs Way which runs along the top of the hill whilst the prehistoric trackway of the Pilgrims' Way skirts its foot. A modern crematorium also surmounts the hill.

The A229 dual carriageway follows the route of a former Roman road and climbs the hill, today linking the M2 and M20 motorways. High Speed 1 also runs beneath the hill, via the North Downs Tunnel, and archaeological work in advance of it uncovered a Neolithic long house on its slopes.

Archaeology

A famous feature of the hill is the eastern group of the prehistoric tombs called the Medway megaliths including Kit's Coty House and Countless Stones.

Kit's Coty chamber tomb on the lower slopes of Blue Bell Hill with the Medway valley beyond

The Blue Bell Hill Dolmen was a now lost member of the group of Neolithic chamber tombs in the English county of Kent. It is thought to have been one of the Medway Megaliths. Its precise location is unclear but it stood on Blue Bell Hill on the North Downs between Maidstone and Rochester, to the north of Kit's Coty House. Only fragments of antiquarians' records now remain. It was possibly investigated in 1844 and was still extant in the early twentieth century. A sketch in Maidstone Museum indicates that three sarsen standing stones survived to heights of 7 feet forming the walls of the burial chamber. A stone that may have formed the capstone lay between them. The tomb was found to have contained the skeleton of a man and fragments of red pottery were found although none of these has since survived. A kerb of smaller stones surrounded the larger ones and beneath the standing stones was a large circular pit dug into the natural chalk and filled with many flints. Local people told the investigating antiquarians that many such pits had been found on the hill and that the flints were used as a source of stone to metal new roads. From these fragments it is thought that one, or possibly more, chamber tombs stood on Blue Bell Hill in addition to the surviving Medway Megaliths.-

A Roman temple was also later built on the hill.

Blue Bell Hill is supposedly haunted by a ghostly figure that walks the A229, reported to be actor turned barman Jonas Jonny Boy Kavanagh.

Blue Bell Hill transmitting station

Bluebell Hill
Built	1974
BBC region	BBC South East
ITV region	ITV1 Meridian (East)
Analogue switch-off	13 June 2012 (Stage 1) 27 June 2012 (Stage 2)

The Bluebell Hill transmitting station, which comprises five steel lattice towers, each approximately 45–50 metres in height. The station broadcasts analogue and digital television, FM radio and DAB to much of north and central Kent, and an overspill service for southern Essex. Services broadcast include BBC One (South East), BBC Two, ITV1, Channel 4, ITV1 (Meridian), Heart Kent, KMFM Extra, KMFM Medway and KMFM Maidstone.

Analogue radio

Frequency	kW	Service
103.1MHz	2	Heart Kent
100.4MHz & 107.9MHz	-	KMFM Medway
105.6MHz	-	KMFM Maidstone

Digital radio

Frequency	Block	kW	Operator
218.640 MHz	11B	0.9	DRG London
220.352 MHz	11C	2	NOW Kent
222.064 MHz	11D	6.3	Digital One
223.936 MHz	12A	2	Switch London
225.648 MHz	12B	6.3	BBC National DAB
227.360 MHz	12C	1	CE London
-	-	-	KMFM Extra

Analogue television

Frequency	UHF	kW	Service
623.25 MHz	40	30	BBC One
647.25 MHz	43	30	ITV1
671.25 MHz	46	30	BBC Two
823.25 MHz	65	30	Channel 4

Digital television

Frequency	UHF	kW	Operator
498.0 MHz	24	2	Digital 3&4 (Mux 2)
522.0 MHz	27	2	SDN (Mux A)
618.0 MHz	39	3	Arqiva (Mux D)
641.8 MHz	42-	3	Arqiva (Mux C)
665.8 MHz	45-	3	BBC (Mux B)
778.0 MHz	59	3	BBC (Mux 1)

After switchover

Frequency	UHF	kW	Operator
618.0 MHz	39	20	Arqiva A
626.0 MHz	40	20	BBC B
650.0 MHz	43	20	Digital 3&4
666.0 MHz	45	20	SDN
674.0 MHz	46	20	BBC A
738.0 MHz	54	20	Arqiva B