RAF STATION WATNALL
It may come as a surprise to some just how much of Watnall was covered by the RAF station in the 1940's, and equally surprising how little of it remains today. From Trough Road to the end of Common Lane was taken over by the RAF. All that remains above ground today - as far as I know, and please correct me if I am wrong, are, the covered Stanton Air-raid shelter in Watnall Spinney, "the Hut" at the back of the Royal Oak, the entrance to the underground operations block in the grounds of the HGV testing station facing the Royal Oak, and the Filter room aside Common Lane, below ground level and recently renovated and shown in the TV programme, "Restoration Man". Please examine the map of RAF Watnall dated 1949, image-2. It may be an idea to save the image to your pictures to enable you to zoom in. It is scanned from a book I have, if the details are too poor, p/m me your email address and I will send you the image in a higher resolution. It is not a brilliant map, and only covers the centre of Watnall. I have marked out Trough Road to give it a better perspective. As best as I can make out, the shown civilian buildings are blacked out, this including the Royal Oak. As such, I assume that the building at the back of the Royal Oak is the one marked out on the map as being "Fuel compound coal -78". To the very top right hand corner of the buildings shown can be seen "Stand by set house -50". This building I can remember still standing till around 1990 when it was knocked down to make way for Fernwood Ltd. I can clearly remember the blast wall around its edge and a large rolling frame on the inside. There was also a below ground level Air-raid shelter which one could look down into. Although not the same buildings, but perhaps a legacy of, we still have in a near-by location a weather observation station, the Wartime meteorological station located above the main operations block shown on the map (33).
RAF Station Watnall was in effect an extension of Hucknall Aerodrome. RAF Hucknall had been in place since 1916 as a training station for WW1 pilots. Construction started in Watnall in 1938 with the idea of moving the No.12 Fighter Command from Hucknall to a specific dedicated location with a large deep underground bomb-proof control room. The Country was divided up into Fighter Command areas, (image 1). F.C.12th group to be commanded from RAF Station Watnall. In command at Watnall was Air Vice Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory. (image 3) Mallory was given recognition in the 1969 film, "The Battle of Britain" being played by Patrick Wymark. It is said that construction of Malory's control room was not complete till the Spring / towards the end of 1940 to transfer staff over, however, most books that can be found relating to the Battle of Britain almost always list RAF Watnall as the Command Centre of 12th Group during the battle where Mallory practiced his "big wing theory". The original 1940 period command Centre is where there is now the HGV testing Station and surrounding area. All that can be seen today is a white washed concrete entrance with a steel door. (image 4). through this door is a stairwell (image 5) leading to the now completely flooded control room. The water level itself is around 40 feet below ground level and then another 20 feet or so to the bottom of the Command Centre allowing for balconies and staff. Built from heavy thick reinforced bomb-proof concrete, it will no doubt if left alone sit there for centuries. It does to me at least feel a shame it has been left this way as other Battle of Britain related Command bunkers such as that of No.11 Group have been preserved, re-kitted out with wartime equipment and run as a successful visitors Centre / museum. 12th Group Headquarters moved to RAF Newton in 1946, and the underground operations block closed.
I can find no date references as to when the large amount of ground buildings were constructed in Watnall, but one would assume they sprang up from 1940 onwards as more staff arrived. The area between Trough Road and the Main Road mostly being wooden huts. (images 6.7.8.and 9.) This side of the Main Road being the barracks, mess halls, NAFFI, etc., while the Operational buildings being on the eastern side of the Road. RAF Watnall became the second most important RAF Command base of Fighter Command. As such, several attacks were made on the area by the Luftwaffe. These attacks I have been able to find out very little about. It is recorded locally on a small plaque on the fence to the top of the nature reserve on Newdigate Street where the old railway bridge used to be. It says "bombs dropped on Alandene ave 30.10.1940. (image 14). I have a book listing every air-raid by the Luftwaffe during WW2 on the UK. 30/10/40 was a particularly busy date for the Luftwaffe carrying four major raids including night raids over London, the Midlands, and Nottingham. If anyone has any further info on this, or any other local air-raids, I would love to know more.
Lastly, the below ground level Filter Block alongside Common Lane. This second operations block was started in 1941 in the already dug railway cutting that used to link Kimberley to Bulwell, and completed in 1943. Housing top secret equipment, this block was used to analyze and decipher information from Radar and ground equipment. The Filter Block remained in RAF service after the command group moved to RAF Newton in 1946. The Filter Block, still regarded as Top Secret, was part of the early cold-war period early warning system, not completely closing till 1961 when it was moth-balled, the large steel doors welded shut. Living on Watnall Road Nuthall in the late 70's, I remember clearly my first visit to this site with my brother which we at the time referred to as "the Army base", not knowing it was in fact ex-RAF. I have since made numerous visits to the site which fascinated me, particularly in the early 1980's. At this time going down the sunken road led to the large steel door entrance (image 10) with a large earthen mound above, a brick Pillbox machine gun post with ground foundations in front of it including the remains of toilets. To the side of the main building, a semi - flooded track leading to the rear. Depending on the time of year, this track was easy to walk down, or completely submerged. At the rear there was a wonderful tall brick stairwell tower taking one to the upper ground level near the end of common lane. Here another brick Pillbox machine gun post could be found. Back on the lower level to the back of the bunker, a windowed corridor in a square around a collapsed center building. I have since been able to find an image of this area when the center building is still standing, making me guess the photo dates to around the late 70's(image 11 and 12). Very sadly, the rear area was cleared, knocked down including the tower in the mid 1980's. At around this time, there was a shooting club using the Filter Block as a shooting range, I remember they used to meet on a Wednesday evening. To the back of the cutting the area was kept as a nature reserve. I once saw a chap cutting the overgrown weeds who told me about this. The whole site had been on lease to English Nature who failed to renew their lease and in 2001 the owners, Kimberley Breweries revoked the lease and planned to use the cutting as a landfill site after demolishing the Filter Block. Thankfully planning permission for this was refused. In more recent years I had gotten into the habit of going on a New Year's day walk to the Filter Block visiting the main entrance, not visiting the place as often as I did as a kid. One New Year's day, I walked down the sunken road, horrified to see the bunker had been completely stripped of all its earth work leaving the exposed brick / concrete carcass. I was then greeted with basically the classic line, "get off my land". As is well known now, the Filter Block is in private hands along with the whole site, the rear nature reserve and ground level Pillbox. I have very mixed feelings about the work carried out. Far better than demolition and in-fill, but in no way can it be said the structure has been preserved. Removing the earthen defense, cutting holes all over it is not preservation. Far more sad to me personally is that I am no longer able to visit a place that has been very special to me for a very long time. some happy childhood memories. I had even told my wife that I wanted my ashes to be spread there. This will now not happen. The only piece of memorabilia I have been able to find relating to RAF Watnall, a ration slip( image 13 ).
Well, this has taken several hours to compile, and I hope it has enlightened some Watnall residents. I really hope that other people will add their knowledge and memories of RAF Watnall. If so, it would have been worth the effort. Finally I would like to say, Watnall really needs a memorial to its former RAF past. Such a vital part of RAF Fighter Command from the Battle of Britain onwards. I know there is a new marker for Watnall near the Queens Head showing a Spitfire and a radio mast. But, I think that a solid structure with RAF theme and description plaque needs to be in Watnall, ideally facing the Royal Oak near where the still submerged Command Centre is. Image 15 shows the exact location of the underground control room.
Note, Blogger has reversed the order of the images, No1 at the bottom, No18 at the top, and I have no idea how to sort it out !
Some Facebook responses, -- "In the late 50s early 60s some of the barrack huts were auctioned off including the Chapel. I believe this was Lot 94 and was purchased by Watnall Road Baptist Church to be used as a Baptist Sunday School building on Seymour Road, Ruffs Estate, Hucknall. It was transported and then linked to utility services. The Sunday School, known by many as 'the hut', was attended in great numbers and was very important to the families on the estate.The building was added to over the years, and eventually became known as Seymour Road Baptist Church. It has been replaced by a brick building and recently renamed West of Hucknall Baptist Church."
"My dad, Jim Stirland, farmed Larkfields Estate before the houses were built. He had all the left over food (swill) from the Watnall barracks which was fed to the pigs after being boiled. He was friends with Wing Commander Hamilton who was stationed at the base and enjoyed coming to Villa Farm to get out of his uniform. Great days."
"Thank you for a very interesting and informative post! The pictures of the buildings at the rear of the filter block are the first I've seen, I was starting to think I'd imagined them! Spent a lot of time there as a small child dragged along by my sister's, (Hilary Barnes)we lived in the RAF houses, we went through a hole in the fence at the bottom of the garden, down into the cutting then through the railway tunnel to pop out on the old station platform adjacent the bunker!"
"What a great read. I lived in Kimberley and watnall most of my life and I to have fond memories of RAF watnall as a youngster it was my playground not realising the importance of the place. I know-what I did was a little bit dicy but I used to get inside the building and with a torch would wander round from room to room. To be honest it was very very scary. Pitch black. Lots of water and the smell of stale air. But as the old saying goes if I new then what I know now. What a find I remember the big table with the map on it. A balcony looking over. Files and paper work every where. Gun racks etc. I remember taking some paperwork home what happened to them i don’t remember. As a young boy I couldn’t have wished for a better playground Not then realising how important this building was as I do now. I to agree that there should be a memorial to the personal who did a most vital role during the Battle of Britain. Thank you for bringing back memories and a dam good read. Barry shaw the husband of Maureen."
