History of Bushey Hall(Most of the photographs, artifacts and written materials in the History Display room form part of the private collection and research of Mrs. Janet McLennan.) Throughout the centuries there have been several mansion houses built within the grounds of the original Bushey Hall. Early records show that the first Bushey Hall was occupied by Sir Robert Marsham in 1690. Bushey Grove which stood on part of the site of Bushey Hall was a mansion House built in around 1792. Bushey Hall was a very fine mansion built in 1865 in Jacobean style by Edward Marjoribanks, a member of a rich banking family. Unfortunately, he went bankrupt himself and the hall had to be sold. The large surrounding estate of more than 800 acres was mostly sold off and the hall itself with an estate of only 120 acres was acquired by the Bushey Hydrotherapeutic Company in about 1880. The hall was at first run as a specialised hotel, where rich clients from all over Europe could enjoy various kinds of water treatment. The water was obtained from an artesian well, at one time in the hall ground, from which it was pumped up by an engine house to a tank, of 20,000 gallons capacity, inside the large ornate tower of the hall. After the building was specially adapted for hydrotherapy, clients could enjoy Turkish baths, Russian baths, vapour baths, chemical and several other types of baths, together with shampoos, manipulation, gymnasium drill, all under medical supervision. The approach to the woodland area – known as "Philosopher's Walk" is still pretty much in it’s original condition. The popularity of hydrotherapy treatments declined by about 1900, but not before a full-size golf course had been laid out immediately next to the hall, partly within its own grounds. In the early 20th Century the hall became a high class country hotel. Presumably the hydrotherapy facilities were then dismantled. The hotel was requisitioned for officer training for the Household Brigade during the last part of World War One. Many of these young Officer Cadets went on to become distinguished commanders in World War II. The building was still being run as a hotel in the early part of World War Two, until requisitioned in 1942 for RAF Fighter Command. It was geographically close to Fighter Command HQ at Bentley Priory. That summer it was handed over to the US Air Force to become the HQ of VIII Air Force, Fighter Command, maintaining this role until January 1945 when the HQ was moved to Belgium. From small beginnings the headquarters became responsible for the control of 15 US fighter groups in England in 1944. Several famous American air force pilots were based at Bushey Hall and the Hall was also the main routing area for all SIGINT (Intelligence)information coming into the U.K and used to plot the movement of Axis air forces and troops. The base Code Name was AJAX During the Berlin airlift of 1948-49, the group was placed in charge of the British part of the allied operation with an advance HQ in Germany. At the end of the airlift 46 Group was dissolved in Germany and its rear HQ at Bushey Hall was derequisitioned. The hotel building was restored to Spiers and Pond in September 1949, but it promptly sold off the golf course and about a year later the hall and its small residue of land. Some of the land was requisitioned again by the Government for temporary civilian housing, with wartime buildings on the site being specially converted into homes. But the War Department was still interested in using the hall and in February 1952 it purchased the hall within the area now known as the Lincolnsfields Centre. A new phase of Anglo-American co-operation had begun as the Cold War developed. Once the Soviet Union acquired nuclear capability some 90 Superfortresses (B29s) were stationed in Britain. The British Anti-Aircraft Command was still functioning until it ceased in 1955, and it was under its umbrella that the United States 32nd AAA Brigade was brought in to use Bushey Hall as its HQ in October 1953. The brigade’s mission was to help protect allied airfields in Britain from possible Soviet attack. The War Department, as owners of the property, were ultimately responsible. The condition of the hall building had deteriorated badly, and a replacement head-quarters building may have been planned. The 32nd brigade, which left in summer 1957, probably never used the hall. Many of the buildings the brigade did use seem to have been those taken over for use as London Central High – a school for the children of American Services personnel. Throughout its' history the site has been visited by many famous people. A search of the census of 1891, 1901, 1911 and historical records indicate that amongst the many visitors are included: Sir Walter Scott, Rudyard Kipling, Beatrix Potter, Kurt Weill, Daphne du Maurier and Edward Flowers. There have long been rumours of a large underground bunker built within the grounds of Lincolnsfields but recent anecdotal evidence suggests that in 1955, when Europe and America were entering into the Cold War period the Hall was demolished but only to ground level. Access was then created to the original cellars (which had been used as underground shelters during WW2) and these cellars became the C.B.R. shelters for the Forces personnel initially and then for the pupils of London Central High School which was set up for children of American service personnel in based in South East England. |
