Houses taken over by the Military

I know that a number of Stately Homes and Private Houses were taken over by the military during WW2 does anyone have a list of which homes.

 

Not just by the military, SOE were known by the nickname the Stately 'Omes of England as they used a lot as well, some taken over by the Army continued to be used well into the post war era. Brancepeth Castle in County Durham was taken over by the Army in the 1914-18 unpleasantness and was the Depot of the Durham Light Infantry until 1962, in my time in the Army while serving in Ulster Gosford Castle was used as a Squadron base in the early 1970s.

 

I don't have a list, but Tollerton Hall, Tollerton, near Nottingham was one. My Dad's unit, (7th Lincolns) were there on forming up in July 1940. One of the Regts of the 101st Airborne used it from 1943 and then after they left for Normandy, the grounds were use to house German POWs.

Now used by a number of companies as serviced offices.

 

Thanks for the quick reply. From your answer i see that there was some postwar usage of these homes i wonder what the original occupants thought of someone taking over their home.

 

In many cases they returned to find wine cellars empty (the practice by the MOD of bricking them up didn't seem to deter the troops). In many cases claims for damaged furnishings paintings and damage to the buildings themselves carried on long after the war. Some owners of course welcomed the income from the rents paid by the army, and of course in wartime the staff needed to run a large house and estate were not available. Some of the houses were taken over by other government departments post-war, some as research establishments, others as prisons, rehabilitation centres etc.

 

Some of the 'Properties' files in the HS, ADM, Air, and WO files contain much correspondence on the properties, their owners and their claims.

 

Also several of the properties suffered damage either through fires, misplaced ordanance of general lack of maintenance and ended up abandoned and as relics after the war.

 

General Sosabowski and his HQ of the Polish Parachute Brigade were stationed in Rock House Stamford Lincs. His Anti Tank Air Landing Bty were stationed nearby at the georgian Blatherwyck Hall.

 

Stanford Battle Area (Norfolk) The complete evacuation of the villages of Buckenham Tofts,Langford,Stanford,Sturston,,Tottington,West Tofts and others, 1942 The villages churches have been looked after and open on special occasions for services. When the Guards Battle Camps was at Stonebridge we would come across the ruins of country houses, pubs etc.

 

I don't think the whole house was taken over, but there was a contingent of Canadian army officers at Elvetham Hall, Hampshire. Perhaps not surprising, because there were at least two (probably more) camps of Canadian army personnel in Hartley Wintney and Phoenix Green, nearby.

I don't know how long the Gough-Calthorpes held on to the house after the war, I know it eventually became an ICI Headquarters / Training Centre. Nowadays it is an hotel.

Edna

 

I wonder what secrets these Houses could tell if they could speak.

 

Another way into this would be to ask the National Trust;they were custodians of a lot of these properties BY WWII....family heirs having died in the trenches of Flanders...and they came into possession of a lot more immediately after the war for the same reason

 

About one fifth of my house has been taken over by the military.............!!

 

Imber Village was taken over for training on Salisbury plain and never handed back. There were whole chunks of the south coast taken over for training prior to D Day.
Even Richmond Park was taken over for a while.

 

Blickling hall norfolk, was used as accommadation for officers and NCOs who were based at nearby RAF Oulton. 1940-1947. The WAAFs were stationed in the park.

Quote from P R Stevens S. O. 214 sqdn.
At Blickling hall I was allocated a bed in what had been the butlers quarters in the basement, outside the door hung a bell pull which was often the target of those returning from a late night out.

Bylaugh Hall, near Swanton Morley Airfield was requisitioned by the RAF in the 2nd World War. At one time much occupied by WRENS, then famously later in the war by Bomber Command 2 and 100 group, as a command centre particularly for dam busting, and even more secretly, radar jamming. Dwight D. Eisenhower, visited there sometime in 1945.

 

Another whole village taken over by the military was Imber in Wiltshire. It is still occupied, the villagers being permitted an occasional visit. Also, Foulness, on the Essex coast, has been occupied by the military for many years.

 

Not forgetting Shingle Street on the Suffolk coast just up from Bawdsey, which was totally evacuated of civilians.

 

A school that I went to in the late fifties was formerly a large country house called Warnham Court near Horsham.

On the outbreak of war, the house was requisitioned from the Lucas family and became initially, the home of the Signals Experimental Establishment.

The when the SEE moved further inland, it became SOE's Station 63 and trained Polish SOE recruits.

House Wartime

 

Izzy started this thread with:
I know that a number of Stately Homes and Private Houses were taken over by the military during WW2 does anyone have a list of which homes.



Back in 2005 I remembered posting this little piece on the BBC site about an Italian farn house that we took over.
BBC - WW2 People's War - Commandeering billets in Italy

Sunday 22nd. October 1944
Through Firenzolia, roads murder as it had rained all night and was still raining. Had to evict eyeties out of house for Major Mouland. Carried set up mountain to try and contact Batteries. Near Div cemetery.



The entry in my diary brings the scene back immediately to mind.

At the time I was still being called upon to act as an unpaid interpreter.

We had arrived at this small farmhouse complex and Major Mouland decided it would do nicely as B.H.Q and sleeping accommodation for himself and the other officers. He told me to explain to the very belligerent looking owner of the property that it was being commandeered by the British Army and that he, the owner, would have to leave forthwith.

I tried to sugar the pill as nicely as I could by explaining to the farmer that he would be re-compensed in due course but that leave he must. The Italian wasn’t having any of this.

“Spara!” he said vehemently, “Shoot me!” ..."Spara! Non posso far' più!" or, in other words “You can’t do any worse to me!” and he demonstrated this by tearing open the front of his shirt and offering his broad chest to Major Mouland.

The O.C. turned peevishly to me and said “What’s he bloody talking about Goldstein!” I explained what the farmer had said to which Mouland replied, equally vehemently “ I don’t want to shoot the bloody man! ....tell him not to be such a stupid bloody idiot!”.

Somewhere along the way reason must have prevailed and I vaguely remember that the house owner was allowed to stay in his house by keeping two rooms upstairs, from where he was able to keep an eye on his property, while BHQ remained down below.

With reference to my use of the word 'eyeties', this was common parlance in the days in which it was written, were I writing it today I would have used a less offensive word.

There is a final postscript.

As a result of posting this story on the BBC WW2 Archives I was contacted by the late Major Mouland's son who had seen the relevant article.

I was immediately concerned that I might have painted his father as being too brusque and offered to add an addendum or tone down my description.

"Not at all" was the reply, "that's just how he was" and so my description stays as I originally recorded it !