But perhaps the biggest collection of properties with a military past are to
be found in south-east London, at the Woolwich Arsenal Riverside site, where
1,750 new apartments have been created, both by converting the original Army
warehouses and munitions factories, and by building around them. And another
3,700 are now on the way.
Mind you, those sites are unusual, in that their Forces past has at least been
preserved, even if the buildings themselves are no longer on active service.
It needn’t always be the case, though. At one stage, there was talk of
bulldozing Bentley Priory.
“It was very distressing for the last remaining members of The Few to discover
that Bentley Priory, their spiritual home, was in danger of being lost to
the nation,” says the RAF’s head of heritage Erica Ferguson. “So they formed
a trust to save the Priory, announcing that they had fought and won the
Battle of Britain, and now needed someone to fight and win the Battle of
Bentley Priory, on their behalf.”
Time, then, for those lion-hearted chaps to perform one last victory roll,
with the news that their erstwhile HQ has been given a whole new lease of
life.
What’s more, the rescue isn’t going to cost the taxpayer a penny, as the
project is being funded by an imaginative new housing scheme, whereby the
grounds are to be dotted with tasteful clusters of new town houses, while the
priory is going to have smart apartments on the upper floors and a Battle of
Britain Museum on the ground floor.
This museum will be partly funded by a grant from the Heritage Lottery
Foundation, which has given £45,900 to fund a plan which incorporates
conservation, learning and participation. If that gets the green light, more
HLF funds could follow (the Trust is aiming for £673,000).
“We’ll be concentrating not so much on tangible history – here’s a gun, here’s
a bomb, etc – as on the human story that unfolded here,” says Ferguson.
“We’ll be exploring what it was that inspired teenaged airmen to fly day
after day, against incredible odds.
“Much of it, of course, was due to Dowding himself. He had been a First World
War fighter pilot so had experience of flying, but at the same time he
understood the strategic importance both of technology and speed of
communication.
“He had this strong belief that you could stop incoming bombers if you
responded quickly enough.
“Getting a Spitfire into the air 30 seconds earlier made the difference
between it being above the bombers, or below, which in many ways was the
difference between life and death.
“When you were above them, you had the upper hand because you could come at
them out of the sun. When you were beneath them, you were at a huge
disadvantage.”
All of which meant that the dispatch of speedy instructions from Bentley
Priory was a matter not just of bureaucratic efficiency, but of preventing
the Luftwaffe from getting through and unleashing mass slaughter.
Of course, if any German planes did penetrate the defences and drop their load
on London, the staff at Bentley Priory would not only hear reports of it on
their radio transmitters, but, due to the house’s hilltop position, be able
to witness it with their own eyes.
“From the Priory grounds, you can see right across London,” says
Helen Moore, residential manager of City and Country, the specialist
restoration firm that is creating the Priory apartments.
“The view takes in Wembley Stadium, the London Eye, and even the Docklands.”
And while most of the apartment owners will get at least a share of that view
from their window, those that don’t will be able to enjoy it while on
the way up in the glass lift.
In all, there are going to be 14 apartments within the priory building itself,
plus 89 other properties within the grounds.
“We’re building 32 apartments and 57 houses,” says Gary Ennis, regional
managing director of Barratt Homes Southern. “This is the kind of site that
doesn’t come along every day; we’ve been working on it for five years.
“It’s not just the location that makes it special, either, it’s the history.
Buy into this development, and you’re buying into a house that dates back to
1766.”
This long history glitters, too, with a list of famous visitors that includes
William Pitt, Lord Nelson, Sir Walter Scott, Queen Victoria, Winston
Churchill and General Eisenhower.
Not to mention the celebrated architect Sir John Soane, who did much of the
design. And for many years, the priory was the home of Queen Adelaide, widow
of King William IV.
All of this rich history is reflected in the asking price for the Barratt
properties, which will start at £575,000 for a small apartment and go up to
£5 million for a five-bedroom house.
These prices would have been unthinkable back in 1940, when the clouds in the
skies above London were dark not with rain, but with enemy bombers. That the
shadow of invasion was eventually lifted was due in no small part to the men and
women who toiled at Bentley Priory, buying our pilots the vital seconds that
led first to the saving of this country, and then to the liberation of
Europe.
Today, of course, the men and women who worked here are well into their
retirement years. Now, though, they can take life just a little bit easier,
knowing that the building where they performed their heroics has also been
given its place in the sun.
- To register your interest in buying an apartment or house at Bentley Priory, visit
www.bentleypriorystanmore.co.uk.
The first show homes will be ready in 2012, and the museum is scheduled
to open in 2013. Read more about the Bentley Priory Battle of Britain
Trust at www.bentleypriory.org