A HUGE structure, once the most powerful telegraph transmitter in the world, has arrived at Wroughton Science Museum.

The copper tuning coil, which is 11 metres high and eight metres long, was donated by telecommunications firm BT.

It was used in the development of the country's telephone and radio system in the 1940s.

The structure, which consists of six copper coils and is supported by a wooden frame, once stood at Rugby Radio Station, in the Midlands, and was used to tune antennas to the right frequencies.

The original was destroyed by fire in 1943 but was quickly replaced because of its huge importance to the war effort.

John Liffen, curator of communications at the Science Museum, said: "The Rugby tuning coils are a wonderful, almost monumental reminder of worldwide radio communications in their early pioneering days.

"We're delighted to be receiving this awe-inspiring equipment."