Wood Norton, Worcestershire
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Wood Norton Hall is a
Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...
Victorian
stately home An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...
to the northwest of
Evesham Evesham () is a market town and parish in the Wychavon district of Worcestershire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is located roughly equidistant between Worcester, Cheltenham and Stratford-upon-Avon. It lies within the Vale of Eves ...
,
Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...
, England. It was the last home in England of Prince Philippe, Duke of Orléans, who claimed the throne of France. Used by the
British Broadcasting Corporation #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
as a station for listening to enemy radio broadcasts and an emergency broadcasting centre, it became the accommodation for the BBC's engineering training college that grew up in its grounds. The BBC retained purpose-built facilities in the grounds for technical training after selling the Hall, which became a hotel.


History

The site of a dwelling since medieval times, Wood Norton was once the home of Prince Philippe, Duke of Orléans, the last
pretender A pretender is someone who claims to be the rightful ruler of a country although not recognized as such by the current government. The term is often used to suggest that a claim is not legitimate.Curley Jr., Walter J. P. ''Monarchs-in-Waiting'' ...
to the throne of France. The 'Great Gates' at the entrance of the house had once stood before York House in
Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boro ...
, the Duke's previous home . Its position - hidden within acres of remote woodland on a hill facing south - made it ideal for official use in the event of war. In early 1939, the BBC bought the site so that it could relocate its operations away from London and other urban centres in the event of hostilities. A number of temporary buildings were quickly erected around the hall to provide an emergency broadcasting centre. A dozen studios were built, and by 1940 Wood Norton was one of the largest broadcasting centres in Europe with an average output of 1,300 programmes a week. Many refugees from all over war-torn Europe were recruited and then billeted in Evesham and the surrounding area; they became specialised broadcasters to the Resistance and special operations groups around Europe sending their secret messages encrypted into what appeared to be normal entertainment broadcasts. It was the home of the BBC's Monitoring ServiceThe formal name was shortened to "BBC Monitoring" in the 1980s from August 1939 until early 1943, when Monitoring moved to
Caversham Park Caversham Park is a Victorian-era stately home with parkland in the suburb of Caversham on the outskirts of Reading, England. Historically located in Oxfordshire, it became part of Berkshire with boundary changes in 1911. Caversham Park was ho ...
and
Crowsley Park Crowsley Park is a country estate in South Oxfordshire, central-southern England, owned by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Overview Since the Second World War, Crowsley Park has been the site of a signals-receiving station used ...
, near
Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...
. The move was made to release space at Wood Norton so that it could become the BBC's main broadcasting centre, should London have to be evacuated because of the threat from Germany's
V-weapons V-weapons, known in original German as (, German: "retaliatory weapons", "reprisal weapons"), were a particular set of long-range artillery weapons designed for strategic bombing during World War II, particularly strategic bombing and/or aer ...
. A fire during the war destroyed the Hall's upper storeys in 1942. The roof was repaired and reinstated by the BBC Architectural & Civil Engineering Department in 1991–92. After the war, Wood Norton became the home of the BBC Engineering Training Department. During the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...
it was designated as a broadcasting centre in the event of a nuclear attack. In March 2013, the BBC vacated Television Centre (TVC) in West London, requiring strategic relocation of operations. The Satellite Earth Station (SES) was constructed at Wood Norton to relocate shared infrastructure previously housed at TVC.


The nuclear bunker

In 1966, and into the late 1960s, Bredon Wing was built as an addition to the training centre, containing a
nuclear fallout Nuclear fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and the shock wave has passed. It commonly refers to the radioac ...
bunker beneath it. A mast was constructed on top of the hill behind the hall and was fitted with an SHF dish (microwave link) to
Daventry Daventry ( , historically ) is a market town and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority in Northamptonshire, England, close to the border with Warwickshire. At the 2021 Census Daventry had a population of 28,123, making ...
radio transmitting station (referred to in 1975 Cabinet papers released 30 December 2005). Two
VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...
yagi aerials were fitted to receive signals from the transmitters at Holme Moss and
Llandrindod Wells Llandrindod Wells (, ; cy, Llandrindod, /ɬanˈdɾindɔd/  "Trinity Parish"), sometimes known colloquially as Llandod, is a town and community in Powys, within the historic boundaries of Radnorshire, Wales. It serves as the seat of Powy ...
. Later, another SHF link was fitted to the Pebble Mill studios in
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...
, to provide reliable TV reception for the technical training facilities as the local terrestrial TV signal was poor. The bunker (known as PAWN – Protected Area Wood Norton) and mast, and many other installations, were referred to as "deferred facilities" within the BBC. Few staff knew their full extent and those that did had to be vetted by the
Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...
and sign the
Official Secrets Act An Official Secrets Act (OSA) is legislation that provides for the protection of state secrets and official information, mainly related to national security but in unrevised form (based on the UK Official Secrets Act 1911) can include all infor ...
(OSA). However, in the 1970s when training studio space was at a premium at Wood Norton, the bunker was opened up and made available for general training use. Staff on site were disappointed to discover that it was only two storeys deep. The "deferred facilities" were modified many times over the years. In the 1970s they were extended and updated to be able to provide the " Wartime Broadcasting Service".


BBC Academy

The estate has been the home of the BBC's Engineering Training Department since the war, now branded as part of the College of Technology, a constituent of the wider BBC Academy. Training staff run residential courses on-site, travel to deliver courses at other sites in the UK, and design interactive courses for use on the BBC's internal network. Because of its convenience as a BBC facility, Wood Norton was used for some of the filming of the 1970 ''
Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the ...
'' serial ''
Spearhead from Space ''Spearhead from Space'' is the first serial of the seventh season in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 3 to 24 January 1970. It was the first ''Doctor Who'' ...
''. The filming included location shots inside the secret nuclear bunker (the scenes of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart's office and The Doctor's laboratory), and all involved with the shooting in those areas were required to abide by the Official Secrets Act and disclose no information about the bunker's existence. It was later used for all of the location filming of the 1974 ''Doctor Who'' serial ''
Robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be ...
''"Robot" DVD commentary subtitles Under the leadership of
Greg Dyke Gregory Dyke (born 20 May 1947) is a British media executive, football administrator, journalist, and broadcaster. Since the 1960s, Dyke has had a long career in the UK in print and then broadcast journalism. He is credited with introducing ' ...
and Resources director Mike Southgate, the BBC sold off the residential accommodation used by trainees, which had been built by the corporation 20 years previously. Wood Norton Hall itself was a privately owned hotel and conference centre, but closed in 2005, reopening under new management the following year. The hotel finally ceased trading in 2010, was sold to a London investor in 2011, underwent a £4m renovation and reopened in November 2012 as a member of the Bespoke Hotels Group, however is no longer affiliated with the group. The BBC retains its Technical and Operational Training Centre in the extensive grounds.


Notes


References


Further reading

* ''Assigned to Listen - The Evesham Experience 1939-43'', Olive Renier & Vladimir Rubinstein, BBC External Services 1986


External links


Hotel official website
{{Coord, 52, 7.333, N, 1, 58.602, W, display=title Buildings and structures in Worcestershire BBC offices, studios and buildings Emergency management in the United Kingdom Nuclear bunkers in the United Kingdom Hotels in Worcestershire Grade II* listed buildings in Worcestershire