GCHQ Bude commemorates 50th year of operation

For 50 years, that's roughly 18,262 days, our site in Bude has been providing GCHQ with world class COMSAT. Starting in 1974 with just two 97-foot antennas, the site has since grown to 30 antennas - a striking and established feature of the Cornish skyline.

200 feet up on the cliffs of Sharpnose Point in North Cornwall, GCHQ Bude continues to play a critical part in GCHQ's mission; collecting the essential data that underpins GCHQ's operations. Our site in Bude is home to one of the largest intelligence collection sites in the world and once operationalised in 1974 it was collecting more data than every other GCHQ station put together.

Teams at GCHQ Bude engage in the full breadth of GCHQ's operational work, but with a key focus on maintaining and managing the collection of data, ensuring it is optimised to respond to real-world events and changes in the telecommunications environment - all vital parts of our mission.

"Today, GCHQ Bude remains absolutely central to everything we do as an organisation. It provides some of the most prized intelligence in support of our mission to keep the country safe. And it remains to this day a site that is highly valued not only by our own organisation, but by our partners across the 'Five Eyes' intelligence community.

"I want to pay tribute to the incredible people who have worked to make GCHQ Bude one of the most successful and long-running SIGINT sites over the past 50 years. Your tireless dedication, skill, ingenuity, and community spirit are an inspiration to all who have had the privilege to see your work up close. Thank you."

- Anne Keast-Butler, Director GCHQ

We'd like to mark this occasion by saying thank you to every person who has helped to make our site at Bude the place it is today. Here's to celebrating our history and looking to the future of one of our most iconic sites.