RAF Yatesbury Yatesbury Wiltshire
A Heritage Statement
June 2013 Mercian Heritage Series No.640
RICHARD K MORRISS & ASSOCIATES - HISTORIC BUILDINGS CONSULTANTS BROMLOW HOUSE BROMLOW SHROPSHIRE SY5 0EA RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
RAF Yatesbury Yatesbury Wiltshire Centred on NGR: SU 052 712
A Heritage Statement
Text Richard K Morriss MA(Hons) MSocSc
Assistant R Little R Lucy S Patterdale
July 2013 Mercian Heritage Series No.640
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Ex-RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire Centred on NGR: SU 052 712
Fig.1: Location plan, based on slightly reduced version of the Ordnance Survey 1:250,000 map. (Crown Copyright, OS licence: 100048008)
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
RAF Yatesbury Yatesbury Wiltshire
Contents 1. Introduction 4
2. Planning Guidance 6
3. The Setting & Outline History 8 3.1 The Setting 8 3.2 Pre-Airfield History 8 3.3 The RFC Airfield 9 3.4 The BAC Flying School 12 3.5 The RAF period to date 14
4. Building Identification 15
5. The RFC Hangers 16 5.1 Development 17 5.2 Design 18 5.3 The Yatesbury Hangers 19
6. The Flying School Buildings 29 6.1 Teaching Block (Building No.5) 29 6.2 Combined Offices Mess/Flight Offices (Building No.4) 45 6.3 The Mess Extension (Building No.4a) 66 6.4 The Accommodation Block (Building 37) 68 6.5 The NCOÄs and AirmensÄ Hostel (Building 38) 77
7. The Smaller Buildings 84 7.1 The Squash Court (Building 39) 84 7.2 The Sick Bay (Building 40) 86 7.3 The Female Rest Room (Building 41) 88 7.4 The Lecture Room (Building 7) 90 7.5 Motor Transport Shed (Building 28) 92 7.6 The Power House (Building 27) 92 7.7 The Four-bay Garage (Building 23) 95 7.8 The Single-bay Garage (Building 20) 97 7.9 The Seven-bay Motor Transport Workshop 99 7.10 The Fire Engine Garage 101 7.11 The Oil & Petrol Stores (Buildings 11 and 12) 102 7.12 Other Buildings 103
8. Conclusions & Heritage Impact Statement 104
9. References 106
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
RAF Yatesbury Yatesbury Wiltshire Centred on NGR: SU 052 712
Summary
The extensive former RAF base at Yatesbury began as a Royal Flying Corps airfield in the First World War, was abandoned before being refurbished as a ÄcivilianÅ flying school in 1935-6 and then taken over by the RAF before the outbreak of the Second World War. It remained in RAF hands until 1965, used mainly for training rather for flying. Since then the remaining buildings have been disused and inevitably have become derelict and ruinous. An ambitious redevelopment scheme to restore and refurbish the more important buildings and adapt them to new uses has been revived. The surviving RFC hangers from the First World War are listed Grade II* because of their rarity value, but two of the three have collapsed. Another 1930's building is Grade II listed and the other buildings on the site are considered to be listed by curtilage; the site was recently designated a Conservation Area and is within an AONB. The RFC hangers had clearly been refurbished in the mid-1930Ås and possibly again shortly after the Second World War and were in a fairly poor state before some restoration was begun in 2008. The nature of their prefabricated construction meant that they had to be virtually dismantled to be repaired; only one could be finished. The 1930Ås buildings were all of a vaguely modernist design, but despite being intact and little altered, are in conditions varying from derelict to ruinous - though some consolidation has been undertaken. This report concludes that the proposed redevelopment of the site will have a positive impact on the heritage value and significance of the surviving buildings and on the character of the Conservation Area and the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in which they stand.
1. Introduction
This Consultancy was originally sub-contracted by Cotswold Archaeology to undertake the building analysis associated with the redevelopment of RAF Yatesbury in 2007.
Three RFC hangers on the site were upgraded to Grade II* listing in 1989, and at the same time, most of the airfield was designated a Conservation Area. Another building was listed Grade II. These designations are the reasons why the planning authority placed the assessment of the buildings in the planning conditions.
Originally, following the guidance of the conservation team of the local planning authority, the work was targeted at several specific buildings on the site, rather than being a comprehensive extensive survey.
Just two of the listed RFC hangers were initially included (Buildings 2 and 3), but then the OfficersÄ Mess & Offices (Building 4) Å Grade II listed - and the unlisted Teaching Block (Building 5) were added, followed later by two other unlisted buildings - the Accommodation Block (Building 37) and the NCO and AirmensÄ Hostel (Building 38).
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
After the draft report on those buildings was completed, the third RFC hanger (Building 47) was added to the list and included as an appendix. The report was issued in December 2008.1
Following the banking crisis, work on the redevelopment of the site had to be stalled and then postponed, but is now beginning again. This Consultancy was approached by the owners to upgrade the original report in light of recent changes in planning policies. The opportunity was also taken to include all the extant buildings within the study area.
In 2010 the then government replaced the existing Planning Policy Guidelines Nos.15 and 16 (PPG15 and PPG16) with a combined Planning Policy Statement No.5 (PPS5). This reiterated the fact that it is the responsibility of owners to understand the value of each Çheritage assetÄ and to produce sufficient relevant information to inform the planning making process. Two years later, PPS5 was in turn replaced by a few paragraphs in the governmentÄs National Planning Policy Framework.
This report has been commissioned to provide a better understanding of the buildings in order to inform any proposals being developed for it, under the guidance of the National Planning Policy Framework. As well as the archaeological and architectural assessment of the buildings, it concludes with a heritage impact assessment of the present redevelopment proposals for the site.
The general level of the analysis of the building and structures is that of Level 2/3 of the English Heritage guidelines. A Level 2 survey is a Çdescriptive record...Both the exterior and interior will be viewed, described and photographed. The record will present conclusions regarding the buildingÅs development and use but will not discuss in detail the evidence on which these conclusion are based...Ä.2 A Level 3 record introduces a greater degree of analysis and discussion.
1.1 Report Format
The report format is quite simple. After this brief introduction there is an outline of the latest planning guidelines (Section 2). That is followed history of the site (Section 3).
The individual surviving buildings in the study area are identified in Section 4, after which they are described and discussed in turn Å the RFC hangers in Section 5, the main Flying School buildings in Section 6, and the smaller buildings in Section 7. Section 8 is a conclusion and heritage impact statement, and Section 9 a list of the references used for this report.
1 Morriss, R K, 2008, RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire: An Architectural and Archaeological Assessment of Key Buildings (Mercian Heritage Series No.417). 2 English Heritage, 2006, Understanding Historic Buildings: A Guide to Good Recording Practice, 5.2 5
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
2. Planning Guidelines
Government guidelines regarding listed buildings and conservation areas recently changed twice in two years. In March 2010 the long-lasting Planning Policy Guidelines Nos.15 and 16 (PPG15 and PPG16) Å relating respectively to archaeology and buildings Å were amalgamated into a new set of guidelines - Planning Policy Statement No.5 (PPS5).3
This introduced a new term in planning legislation Å the Çheritage assetÄ. This was identified in the guidance as:
ÇA building, monument, site, place, area or landscape positively identified as having a degree of significance meriting consideration in planning decisions. Heritage assets are the valued components of the historic environmentÄ.4
Parts of PPS5, much condensed, were incorporated and regurgitated into a new prÇcis of planning guidance published in March 2012 Å the National Planning Policy Framework [NPPF] Å which effectively replaced all other separate Planning Policy Guidelines and Planning Policy Statements and relevant local planning policies.5
Because of the condensed, generalised and centralised nature of the new document there has been considerable confusion as to the guidance within it, but in essence, excepting the over-arching concept of presumption in favour of Çsustainable developmentÄ, the heritage aspects have changed little.
Much of the existing advice outlined in the earlier guidelines is still deemed to be of relevance and this is summarised best in a guidance note to planning inspectors issued by the Planning Inspectorate, which states that ÇThe Framework [i.e. NPPF] largely carries forward existing planning policies and protections in a significantly more streamlined and accessible formÄ.6
The main relevant paragraph in the NPPF (largely based on policies HE6-HE8 of PPS5) states that local planning authorities should require applicants:
Ç...to describe the significance of any heritage assets affected, including any contribution made by their setting. The level of detail should be proportionate to the assetsÅ importance and no more than is sufficient to understand the potential impact of the proposals on their significance Ä.7
3 Department for Communities & Local Government, 2010, Planning Policy Statement No.5: Planning for the Historic Environment 4op. cit., 13, Annex 2 5 Department for Communities & Local Government, 2012, National Planning Policy Framework, para. 128. 6 The Planning Inspectorate, 2012, Advice Produced by the Planning Inspectorate for use by Inspectors 7Ibid. 6
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
That understanding of the heritage asset and the factors that make it significance can then be used to assess the impact on such significance through the proposed alterations to it and, in some cases, help guide appropriate mitigation strategies.
The NPPF summarises the general tenor of the advice in Policy HE9 which states that:
ÇThere should be a presumption in favour of the conservation of designated heritage assets and the more significant the designated asset, the greater the presumption in favour of its conservation should be. Significance can be harmed or lost through alteration or destruction of the heritage asset or development within its setting. Loss affecting any designated heritage asset should require clear and convincing justificationÄ.8
The guidance in the NPPF does not support fossilisation of historic buildings and does accept the need for change and that change can sometimes be beneficial. Although the importance of such alterations in heritage terms is only hinted at in the NPPF and Planning Policy Statement No.5, it was more clearly expressed in the earlier Planning Policy Guideline No.15 (PPG 15) in which it was stated that:
ÇMany listed buildings can sustain some degree of sensitive alteration or extension to accommodate continuing or new uses. Indeed, cumulative changes reflecting the history of use and ownership are themselves an aspect of the special interest of some buildings, and the merit of some new alterations or additions, especially where they are generated within a secure and committed long-term ownership, should not be discounted.Ä9
8 Department for Communities & Local Government, 2012, National Planning Policy Framework, HE9 9 PPG 15, 3.13 7
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
3. Setting & Outline History
The history of RAF Yatesbury in the 20th century was set out in great detail in a report written by Paul Francis of Airfield Research Publishing commissioned by North Wiltshire District Council in 1998.10 Much of the following short historical summary is based on that report, mainly to place the building analysis into its historical context.
3.1 The Setting
The former RAF Yatesbury sites lies just to the west of the small village of that name in the heart of Wiltshire, but is actually mainly within the neighbouring parishes of Cherhill and Compton Bassett. It lies on relatively flat land immediately to the north of the distinct chalk upland of Cherhill Down. The nearest town is Calne, about 3 miles to the west.
The name Yatesbury is thought to be derived from the Old English for EataÅs burg Å EataÄs settlement.11 The derivation of Cherhill is more problematic, though it has been suggested that it is an early British names with similarities to modern Welsh, derived from caer (fort) and iÉl (fertile upland region).12
3.2 Pre-Airfield History
The site lies in the rich prehistoric landscape of Wiltshire and is just three miles west to two of the most remarkable archaeological sites in Europe, Avebury and its remarkable stone circle and the enigmatic Silbury Hill. To the south, Cherhill Down is topped by Oldbury, a hill fort, and there are various tumuli and other prehistoric earthworks in the vicinity.
At the end of the Saxon period Etesberie was held by Alwig and was worth É3 a year, suggesting a fairly small rural settlement; by 1086 it had passed to the Norman, Alvred dÄEpaignes who held it from the king and its value had risen to É4 a year.
Apart from the usual disputes over ownership and tenure of the manor, advowson and other leases, the area appears to have been relatively peaceful throughout the medieval and post-medieval period. Its agriculture was mainly pastoral and Yatesbury retained its medieval open field systems into the mid-19th century.
The present A4 London-Bath road to the south of the site hugs the base of the Cherhill Downs and is on the line of a natural and ancient routeway, though the main west-east Roman road through the area ran along the opposite side of the hills. It is unclear which of these routes became the main road, and possibly a herepath, in the Saxon period. The present line of the A4 dates to 1791-2 and the existence of the road probably influenced the site of the later airfield.
10 Francis, P, 1998, RAF Yatesbury: History & Condition Survey 11 Ekwall, E, 1970, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names, 100 12 Ekwall, op. cit., 543 8
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
3.3 The Origins of the Airfield
3.3.1 The Royal Flying Corps
The first viable Çheavier than airÄ flying machine only took off in 1903 but the potential for both peace and war of this new invention was quickly realised. The first British military aeroplane Å British Army Aeroplane No.1 Å took off in October 1911 and by the outbreak of the First World War all of the major participants were developing their air forces.13
In 1912 the Royal Flying Corps had been established by Royal Warrant with separate Naval and Army wings, but in June 1914 the Royal Navy took over the RFCÄs Naval wing, renaming it the Royal Naval Air Service.14 For most of the war, therefore, the remnant of the RFC was a part of the Army.
However, in 1917, due in no small part to the efforts of the new RFC commander, Major-General Hugh Trenchard (often referred to as the Çfather of the RAFÄ, a title he disliked), serious discussions were being made about the formation of an independent air force. As a result, the RFC and RNAS were finally amalgamated to form the new Royal Air Force which came into existence on the 1st April 1918.15
At the start of hostilities the RFC had less than 100 aircraft, and many of those were already obsolete. Nevertheless, and despite heavy losses in battle, over 400 aircraft were available by 1916 to serve in France and between January and October 1918, 7,320 aircraft were delivered to the RFC.16
This huge increase in numbers of aircraft inevitably led to equally huge numbers in the personnel required to fly and maintain them, airfields at which to base them, and hangers in which to house them.
These facilities had to be created in the field in France, often on a temporary basis. Throughout Britain airfields were also required for defence and, especially, for the training of new pilots for active service. As part of the campaign to increase the numbers of airfields in Britain, the RFC built two separate stations next to each other at Yatesbury.
13 Armitage, M, 1993, The Royal Air Force: An Illustrated History, 11 14 Armitage, op. cit., 12 15 Armitage, op. cit., 27 16 Armitage, op. cit., 13 9
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
3.3.2 RFC Yatesbury
Each of the new stations at Yatesbury housed two reserve training squadrons. These specialised in the training of Army Corps-Reconnaissance pilots whose role was mainly to ÇspotÄ for the artillery.17
The buildings in this study occupy the western aerodrome, known in 1916 simply as Camp No.1; the land, then consisting of large open fields, was requisitioned early in that year and the basic construction works on the site were finished towards the end of the year.
Camp No.1 lay to the west of the lane leading from the main road to the village - Nolands Lane - and to the south of a smaller lane, oddly called Jugglers Lane; the nearest house in the village was the rectory in its large grounds to the north-west of the crossroads where the two met.
The speed of the work on the airfield was helped by the use of prefabricated or short- life buildings. The works included the provision of a grass runway and the many assorted buildings of all shapes and sizes that were associated with an aerodrome of this period.
Each camp had a pair of hangers for each of its two squadrons. In Camp No.2, to the south-east and close to the main road (the modern A4), these were clustered together. In Camp No.1, the site was divided into two sections, known as Camp No.1 West and Camp No.1 East.
There was a squadron, and their two hangers, based at each of these sections. In addition, as Camp No.1 was the headquarters of the Wing, it had supplementary office buildings and, at Camp No.1 East, an additional hanger Å the aeroplane repair section. 18 All of the hangers were variants of the RFCÄs timber-framed and composite-truss roofed End-Opening General Service Flight Sheds and most of the other buildings on the site were of prefabricated timber-framed form.
A large number of changes in the squadrons based at both Yatesbury sites took place before the end of the war but both were closed down shortly after the official ending of hostilities towards the end of 1919 and the land was to be returned to its original owners.
However, most of Camp No.1 was sold to the Co-op. Most of the buildings were removed shortly after the war, including one of the General Service Flight Sheds, bought at auction by Harris of Calne in 1921 and rebuilt at the Old Station Yard in that town, surviving until 1986. A few other buildings survived until the site was redeveloped again in 1936 but the only surviving World War One buildings left are three hangers and the former mortuary building.19
17 Francis, 1998, op. cit., 15 18 Francis, 1998, op. cit., 21 19 Francis, 1998, op. cit., 25 10
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Fig.2: Extract from the 1st edition Ordnance Survey 1:2500 map of 1886.
Fig.3: Extract from the 2nd edition Ordnance Survey 1:2500 map of 1924. This shows four surviving RFC hangers and some ancillary buildings.
Building 46
Main Study Area
Fig.4: Extract from the 1:2500 map of c.1960. 11
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
3.4 The Flying School, 1935 to 1938
By the mid-1930Äs, the military threat of HitlerÄs Germany led to a rapid expansion of the RAF and a need for more pilots. To relieve the pressure on the RAF's, the Air Ministry encouraged civilian companies with flying experience to build Reserve Flying Training Schools (RFTS) or Civilian Training Schools to train pilots who would then go on to refine their skills with the RAF; most of the instructors were from the RAF and trainees usually joined the RAF or the RAF Reserve.20
One such company was the Bristol Aeroplane Company who had established a civilian reserve flying school at Filton since 1923; they extended that facility in 1935 using the firm En-tout-cas Ltd.21 En-tout-cas, based in Syston, Leicestershire, had been founded in 1909 and were better known for their all-weather tennis courts.
In August 1935 the Bristol Aeroplane company was given another contract for a reserve flying training school and purchased, with government aid, the western part of the former RFC Yatesbury.22 The remaining hangers and a handful of other buildings were refurbished, others were demolished and a large number of other new buildings were added, mostly designed by, or under the supervision of, En-tout-casÄ architect, Cecil Jones. The school managed to open at the start of 1936 even though only a few of the buildings were ready.
With their fairly modern lines and bright white-painted render, the buildings clearly impressed visitors. Flight Magazine described the Çclean and cream structures which mean businessÄ and approved of the way in which the company, ÇFaced with a choice of skimping through the letter of their contract or taking a bold stand and making a thoroughly good show of their new school and wing, they have unhesitatingly made at Yatesbury a model school whose pattern few will equal and none will betterÑ..Ä.23
Pl.1: Undated aerial view of the main Flying School site, probably taken from the south-west shortly after it was opened in 1936. The Combined OfficersÄ Mess & Flight Offices Block (Building 4) is in the foreground with the Teaching Block (Building 5) to the right. Beyond that is one of the RFC hangers, Building No.2 (copyright unknown).
20 Francis, P, 1996, British Military Airfield Architecture, 16 21 Francis, 1998, op. cit., 26-7 22 ibid. 23 Flight Magazine, 19th November 1936 12
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Fig.5: Advertisement for En-tout-cas in the November 1936 edition of Flight, showing the Yatesbury buildings.
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
3.5 The Royal Air Force Period to Date
In February 1938 Yatesbury became No.10 Elementary & Reserve Flying Training School under No.26 Group of the Royal Air Force and in September 1939 was renamed No.10 Elementary Flying Training School. The RAF officially took over the aerodrome and also built large facilities in the vicinity, especially a large wireless school to the east on the site of the former RFC Yatesbury Camp No.2.
In September 1940 No.10 EFTS was transferred to Weston-super-Mare and the last training for navigators on the site took place in December, after which the only flying at Yatesbury was associated with the No.2 Electrical & Wireless School. However, it remained an important radio training establishment until the RAF finally left Yatesbury in 1965. It seems that the former airfield had already been bought, from the Bristol Flying Club, by the Pickford family in 1959 and they eventually bought much of the rest of the base as well.
Most of the buildings on the site were either demolished Å there now being very little left of the buildings on Camp No.2 or of the wireless school. The remainder mainly became disused and, consequently, derelict. An ambitious programme of redevelopment and restoration of the buildings began in the early-21st century but suffered from the banking crisis from 2008 onwards and was abandoned. One of the RFC hangers had been carefully restored by that time but the other two had not - and both subsequently have suffered badly from the vicissitudes of the weather and collapsed.
The other brick buildings have generally fared better, whether or not the proposed consolidation and conversion work had been started. In many of the buildings, the main works had been to crumbling parapets and roof structures, repaired largely in like-for-like brick. There had also been a degree of internal clearance and minor rebuilding.
Pl.2: View of the main part of the study area from the site of one of the RFC hangers at its eastern extremity, looking west. 14
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
4. Building Identification
There have been many buildings of different periods on RAF Yatesbury; the only consistent numbering system includes building and other structures, such as air raid shelters and sewage systems. It also includes buildings still standing and others long gone, as well as those outside the development area and, finally, it is also not geographical or chronological. Despite being confusing it is still in use and was used in Paul Francis' comprehensive 1997 historical report on the site and was used in the 2008 report by this Consultancy.
In order not to confuse the issue, this numbering system has also been used for this report. However, the buildings studied have been separated into three main historical phases and, within those phases, dealt with in a fairly logical geographical manner - as outlined in the plan below. This excludes the isolated RFC hanger, Building 46, to the east of the main part of the study area.
20
7 5
Report Sections (and order of buildings)
5: The RFC Hangers (2 and 3) 6: Main Flying School Buildings (5,4,4a,37,38) 6 7: Smaller Buildings (39,40,41,7,28,27,23,20,21, 22,11,12)
Fig.6: Outline plan of the main part of the study area (the RFC hanger, Building No.46 is not included). The other surviving buildings within the study area (apart from air raid shelters, etc.) dealt with in the report have their site numbers. The broad arrows indicate the approximate order in which they are dealt with in the three building assessment sections of the report, Sections 5-7. 15
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
5. The Royal Flying Corps Hangers
There are the remains of three former RFC hangers at the former RAF Yatesbury site, two close together at the heart of the complex (Buildings No.2 and 3) and a third, the former repair section shed of Camp No.1 East, situated at the junction of the present access to the main site with the lane to Yatesbury (Building 46).
Each of these hangers are listed Grade II* because of their rarity value, but each was already in a very poor condition by 2007 and in need of urgent and extensive repair and partial reconstruction. This was due mainly to their design, which was not intended to have a particularly long life expectancy, being designed to be built quickly to meet the needs of the ongoing conflict.
The two hangers near the centre of the study area (Buildings 2 and 3) were both built as General Service Flight Sheds, and the other, Building 46, was a General Service Aeroplane Repair Section Shed.
At the time the redevelopment work on the site was forced to stop, the restoration work on the westernmost hanger, Building No.2 had been virtually completed and works were well underway on the neighbouring hanger, Building No.3. Building 46 was then in a poor state but collapse had temporarily been prevented by scaffolding.
5.1 Historical Development
The new-fangled aeroplanes of the early-20th century were both expensive and fragile and required protection from the elements when not flying. Shelter was also needed to allow for the planes to be repaired and maintained.
One of the earliest known purpose-built type of aircraft shed or hanger had been built for Short Brothers at Eastchurch, Kent, in 1909 and this influenced the design of the first standard RFC design in 1913.24 These early designs had their main openings in the side walls, but as planes rapidly became larger and more planes were needed for each squadron, this design became less and less convenient.
In 1916 a new type of standard hanger was introduced, with openings in the ends rather than the sides; it was known as the Royal Flying Corps General Service Flight Shed, pattern 142-158/16 design.
This was a large 80 ft. span structure based mainly on timber posts and composite bow-string laminate roof trusses with various different forms of wall infills.25 Usually there was also a lean-to annexe along one side of the hangers for offices and stores, etc.
This basic design was, for a very brief period, the main Royal Flying CorpsÄ service hanger until it was replaced in mid-1917 by a fairly similar design in which the
24 Francis, 1998, op. cit., 81 25 Francis, 1998, op. cit., 85 16
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire composite roof trusses of the original were replaced by a version of the more efficient ÇBelfastÄ truss. As the earlier design was only in use for a year or so, and the hangers were not designed for a long life span, the scarcity of surviving examples is not surprising.
5.2 The Basic Design
Although built to the same basic design (146-147/16) there does, certainly from the evidence of the hangers at Yatesbury, appear to have been a degree of minor alteration to it Å perhaps in the light of experience gained by the construction of the early examples. The design is illustrated in Paul FrancisÄ 1998 report.26
In the basic design each pre-fabricated framed hanger was of 17 bays at 3.1m/10ft. centres, and thus was 52.7m/173ft. long, and 25.1m/82ft. wide Å excluding the buttresses and the lean-to annexes. The clear height from ground level to the lower chords of the trusses was just under 6m/19ft. 6ins.
The hangers were made up on site of fairly small pre-fabricated components that could be delivered quite easily on standard forms of motor transport. As built the main stanchions are formed of three timber planks each 9ins. by 3ins. bolted together and stiffened by timber buttresses or wall props originally formed from two 9ins. by 2ins. planks separated by timber packing pieces. From the top of each post a pair of short braces supported the wall-plate.
There were no structural members in the side walls between the stanchions apart from in the end bays. In these there were usually crossed timber planks forming a saltire pattern of bracing, required due to the added structural issues at the ends of these large buildings and their large gable openings.
Because the basic design is of Çportal frameÄ type, the wall plates were effectively secondary structural members rather than continuous timbers, being short timbers in between the main portal frames.
The stanchions supported the large composite roof trusses. These consisted of upper and lower chords each made up of separate lengths of planks bolted together; these lengths were then joined together to form the chords using bolted ÇY-shapedÄ steel fish-plates. The additional arm of the plate fixed them to diagonal compression braces (5 ins. by 6 ins.) between the two chords, apart from at either end of the ÇtrussÄ where there were short straight studs between the chords instead.
The upper chord was in the form of a cranked segmental arch made up of eight separate lengths timbers, consisting of three of 8 ins. by 2 ins. planks bolted tightly together. The lower chord, superficially, appeared to be a tie-beam but was in fact slightly cambered and made up of the four separate lengths of timbers. These each however, consist of just two separate parallel 9 ins. by 1Ñ ins. planks bolted together through timber packing pieces.
26 Francis, 1998, op. cit., 21-2; 50 17
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
The truss was further stiffened by vertical wrought-iron tie-rods bolted between the two chords. At the base these were bolted to iron stirrups clasping both of the planks of the lower chord and a packing piece.
At each end of the truss there was, in the original design, short up-braces from the posts to the lower chord, consisting of a pair of 9 ins. by 2 ins. planks bolted together through packing pieces and clasping the lower chord; this is one of the design elements modified in the Yatesbury hangers (see below).
The upper chords carried the common rafters of the roof structure which run axially; these were too small to act as purlins in the prevention of racking of the trusses. Instead, longitudinal bracing between the trusses was a part of the design, consisting of saltire braces of 4 ins. by. 3 ins. section set between timber ÇrunnersÄ of 7 ins. by 2 ins. section.
The roof covering was of tongue-and-groove planking nailed diagonally to the axial rafters and forming an integral element in the structural stability of the building and originally covered in felt. The wall cladding could vary, but there were three main types Å felted timber, corrugated iron sheeting, or cement-render ÇHy-RibÄ expanded metal sheeting.27
At either end of the hangers there were timber-framed and planked doors of six leaves that, when open, ran out into timber-framed gantries projecting on either side, each capable of taking three door leaves.28 The spandrels of the arches above the doorways appear to have been covered in similar ways to the side walls.
Natural lighting was provided by tall steel-framed windows in each bay of the side walls, except on part of the one side against which the annexe was built. This was a generally brick-built lean-to structure containing an office, heating chamber, store and dressing room.29
5.3 The Yatesbury Hangers
5.3.1 History
The main part of the present study area was, in 1917, designated Camp No.1 West and contained the two surviving Royal Flying Corps General Service Flight Sheds (Buildings 2 and 3) as well as many other ancillary aerodrome buildings. To the east there were two more hangers in Camp No.1 East, including the present Building 46.
27 Francis, 1998, op. cit., 22 28 ibid. 29 ibid. 18
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Pl.3: The west gable end of Building No.2, the RFC hanger, as restored in 2008-9.
Pl.4: The scaffolded ruins of Building 3, the second RFC hanger, from the north-east.
19
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
All of the Yatesbury hangers were only in use for three years and were subsequently virtually abandoned when the newly formed Royal Air Force rapidly and dramatically shrunk after the end of the First World War.
Never designed as substantial structures expected to have a particularly long service life, they obviously deteriorated because of lack of maintenance in the following 16 years.
However, they survived and were considered to be worth repairing when it was decided to build the flying school on the site in the mid-1930Äs. As a result they had to be radically refurbished by En-Tout-Cas for the Bristol Aeroplane Company when they took over the site.
The original doors and their timber gantries were replaced in steel and most of the timber raking braces to the main stanchions were replaced in brick and concrete buttresses Å though there were less of these.
Further evidence in the surviving fabric suggests that most of the stanchions required concrete repairs at their feet and the whole of the sheeting seems to have been replaced as well.
5.3.2 Description
5.3.2.01 General Notes
The hangers were of the same basic design as built but there were slight differences in the nature of their refurbishment in 1936 and later alterations. The Repair Shed had different accoutrements related to its original function.
Each was almost identical to the official RFC diagram of the type but with at least one subtle difference. The basic framing and truss design appears to be in line with the RFC design, but one obvious difference is in the short braces from the stanchions to the lower chords of the trusses.
In the official design these stop at the lower chord but in both of the hangers at Yatesbury they were continued past it and end bolted to either side of the laminated section of the upper chord close to its junction with a compression brace and bolted tension rod. Although not shown in the illustrations of the original design or mentioned in the general definitive text of the 1998 report, it is assumed that the timber horizontal diagonal bracing of the end bays at the level of the lower chords was part of the original design.
The hangers have or had walls mainly covered in corrugated steel sheeting. This is nailed to timber framework between the stanchions. The framework respects the concreted bases of the main stanchions and blockwork plinths, clearly added after the hangers were refurbished in the mid-1930Äs and so is not part of the original covering; the sheeting could be even later.
20
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Fig.7: Architects drawing showing a typical cross-section of one of the RFC hangers, with the lean-to for offices on the one side. Note the construction of the ÇtrussÄ.
Fig.8: Detail of the junction between wall frame and ÇtrussÄ Å subtly different than the official diagram for this type of hanger in that the up-brace from the post continues past the horizontal ÇtieÄ to meet the principal rafter.
21
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
This also means that the steel-framed windows were also re-set, though these were likely to be original windows re-set into their present positions during the inter-war refurbishment work. The main windows were large multi-paned fixed windows, 4 panes wide and 6 high with a pivoting opener 3 panes wide and 2 panes high close to the top of the opening.
Most of the timber braced buttresses were removed completely or, in some cases, encased in the later concrete and brick Å the main survivals being where presumably it was felt that sufficient bracing existed in the structure of the lean-to annexes.
Only every third buttress was encased in this manner, the rest being removed entirely. Clearly deliberately, the renewed buttresses did not align with those in the opposite side. Because of the number of trusses, this meant that the sequence began, in each wall, at the left-hand end Å with the first concrete buttress after the third bay, leaving just two bays at the right-hand end.
The spandrels at either end of the hangers, above the doorways, are faced in diagonal tongue-and-grooved boarding fixed to vertical studs applied to the outer faces of the last trusses and in the centre of each is a blocked opening or vent.
At each end the hangers had replacement door gantries projecting on each side, made up of rolled steel sections of ÇIÄ and ÇLÄ profile replacing the original timber versions of the original design and set in concrete bases. The door runs were protected by a miniature lean-to roof of timber studwork that extended past the side walls of the hangers as a miniature plain gable, all covered in corrugated steel sheeting.
Significantly, whilst there are the remains of steel runners in the concrete floor there were no doorways in the hanger ends in their most recent phase that could have utilised these gantries, indicating a further degree of alteration since they had been added as part of the 1936 refurbishment work.
The main roof covering of each hanger was of diagonally-set tongue-and-grooved boarding covered in asphalt, presumably added on top of any original felted covering and forming part of the later refurbishment of the buildings.
Internally the hangers had concrete screed floors of uncertain date and, in the two western hangers, remnants of a painted decoration of brown lower section and cream upper section in the trusses. There were remnants of surface mounted electricity runs and fixtures of mid-20th century date and water pipes that are probably contemporary.
5.3.2.02 Building No.2
Building No.2 was the westernmost hanger and in most respects conformed to the standard RFC plan (see above) before being refurbished. The sheeting suggested that it had probably been refurbished for a second time after 1936. It was carefully restored recently; the nature of the design meant that it was largely dismantled and then re-erected to its original form.
22
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Pl.5: The rebuilt framing of the western end of Building No.2 whilst restoration was underway in February 2008.
Pl.6 The resulting interior of Building 2, as restored, in 2013, looking westwards.
23
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
The fenestration is quite irregular, with eight original windows, probably re-set but in no particular pattern, on the south side and just two Å both towards the west, or right- hand, end on the north.
Also on the north were the remnants of the brick-built annexe under the lean-to roof, probably part of the original RFC hanger but also refurbished in 1936 and with some later alterations.
There was, however, a tall opening contemporary with this sheeting at the east end fitted with a tall sliding door of corrugated sheeting attached to a steel-frame; the door opened inside the wall line. At both gable ends the earlier boarded spandrels and their vents survived, as did a projecting light of circa 1936 date. The building in its present state is the result of its 2008 restoration but reflects its original design.
5.3.2.03 Building No.3
Building No.3 was basically similar to Building No.2, both being of the same original RFC design. The changes to them since they were first built were similar but not identical.
In this hanger the fenestration was also fairly irregular but in some cases it was possible to see where, particularly on the north side, a window had been blocked rather than completely replaced Å though none of the windows pre-dated the refurbishment of 1936.
As in the other hanger the doorway gantries at either end were redundant, but in this building the single tall opening was in the west, rather than east, gable end. It too had a tall internally-sliding door of corrugated sheeting attached to a steel-frame, offset a little to the north of centre. Once again at both ends the earlier boarded spandrels and their vents survived, as did a projecting light of circa 1936 date.
Internally it was one large space with the smaller rooms of the annexe surviving on the north side. The western two-thirds of the north wall were faced in rendered iron mesh, identical to that used in some of the known buildings of 1936.
Through this portion of the wall were three doorways leading into the annexe, two of which were blocked. The third had a door with a hatch Å and was evidently of circa 1936; its handle was identical to those used in Building 38 (q.v.).
One truss towards the eastern end of the hanger had the remnants of canvas sheeting attached to it that presumably entirely covered the truss timbers at one time Å though this appeared to have been a later alteration rather than a primary feature.
24
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
5.3.2.04 Building 46: The General Service Aeroplane Repair Section Shed
This hanger, at the eastern end of the study area, had partly collapsed by the time it was studied towards the end of 2008; a report on the hanger was included as an appendix to the updated version of the archaeological report on the site - it having been specifically excluded from the original remit. Unfortunately, since then the weather has taken its toll and the hanger has collapsed and much of the site cleared, leaving only fragments of its side walls.
It appears always to have been in a worst condition than the other two, and a row of columns supporting the trusses seem to have been added as early as the mid-20th century. In the Flight article of November 1936 it was described as Çthe relics of a dilapidated hanger....forlorn and ashamed....Ä, so had clearly not been restored by that time. It is likely that its later restoration was not to as high a standard as the others.
This hanger was very similar in design to the other two surviving hangers to the west in the main site, Buildings 2 and 3 (see above). It was part of the original Camp No.1 East and is the only remnant of it; it was built for the aeroplane repair section and there was originally a second immediately to the west.
The design details of the basic structure were identical to those of the other two buildings. The main original difference was the incorporation of a boiler house attached to the eastern end of the northern side wall (see below). Other differences were due mainly to different alterations that had taken place since 1919 and a different degree of damage caused by the weather.
As with the other two hangers, this one had walls covered in corrugated steel sheeting. This is nailed to timber framework between the stanchions. In addition, every third original timber buttress had been replaced with rendered brickwork buttresses and the others removed Å though some survived on the north side.
Most of the timber braced buttresses were removed completely or, in some cases, encased in the later concrete and brick Å the main survivals being where presumably it was felt that sufficient bracing existed in the structure of the lean-to annexes.
The recent catastrophic collapse of the building has left only a long section of the northern side wall, isolated posts of the south wall, and the remnants of the steel- framed gantries of the western doorway standing.
Most of the original lean-to structure on the north side has also collapsed. However, the boiler house, a semi-buried brick-built structure projecting northwards from the eastern half of the north wall of the main hanger, survives. Excluding its chimney, at the south end, it is approximately 6.7m/22ft. long (north-south) and 2.3m/7ft. 6ins. wide. The stack base is approximately 1.35m/4ft. 6ins. square.
There are windows, with segmental brick heads, in each gable end of the boiler house but the access is by a doorway towards the northern end of its east wall, accessed down a flight of brick-wall revetted steps.
25
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Pl.7: Building 46 from the west.
Pl.8: The surviving portion of Building 46 from the north-east.
26
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
The square stack is centrally aligned with the gable end of the building and fills the gap between it and the side wall of the main hanger. It has a slight taper and a well- detailed projecting cap.
The roof is plain gabled and presently covered in modern sheeting. It is a simple three bay structure with a pair of angle-iron trusses supporting thin timber purloins. It was presumably covered latterly with corrugated sheeting.
The interior is one single space with plastered walls and is open to the apex of the roof. There is a concrete floor but the lack of internal access and the debris covering it makes assessment of the position of machinery or boilers difficult.
Pl.9: The boiler house of the General Service Repair Shed from the north.
27
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
5.3.3 Discussion
Whilst all of these hangers were built in 1917, they have both been extensively altered. They are, nevertheless, rare surviving examples of the Royal Flying Corps General Service Shed with composite trusses, though there were relatively few of these hangers built anyway.
The degree of refurbishment undertaken in 1936 suggests that they had suffered from lack and maintenance since the end of the First World War, because it seems that the work required included re-sheeting the side walls, reinforcing stanchions and buttresses, and completely replace med the doorway arrangements in the gable ends.
This work also removed much of the primary evidence for the appearance of the hangers, as it is not clear whether or not the corrugated sheeting of the side walls replaced earlier corrugated sheeting or not. To confuse matters further, it is not even clear how much of the present corrugated sheeting dates from 1936 and how much was part of a second major campaign of works on the two buildings that saw the infilling of the main openings in the gable ends. Such work could only have taken place after the hangers ceased to be needed for the storage of aircraft and that, presumably, was not until after the end of the Second World War.
Each of these hangers was listed Grade II* because of their rarity value. Unfortunately, part of the reason that they are so rare is because of their design. They were meant to be capable of rapid assembly through prefabrication but not intended for a very long life span. In essence they were emergency construction.
Once the hostilities had ceased, there were many redundant hangers all over the country. Some could find new uses, though seldom in situ; the nature of their construction did, however, mean that they could be taken down, moved, and then re- erected elsewhere.
It is suggested that this aspect of their construction means that there is less tangible connection between the superstructure of these buildings and their site. As a result, despite the necessary repairs and replacements made to the surviving hanger, Building 2, when it was recently carefully restored - and the fact that it had to be dismantled in the process leaving only parts of the end frames in place - it is considered that it still has a high degree of heritage value and because of its rarity value, can still be considered to be eligible for Grade II* listed status.
Unfortunately, the weather has taken its toll on the other hanger nearby, Building 3, and this is considered to be so badly impacted that were it to be carefully rebuilt to its original design Å for which there is plenty of evidence Å it would only be an interesting facsimile but of little heritage value and not worthy of being on the statutory list.
The third hanger, Building 46, was even rarer than the other two in being a surviving RFC Repair Shed. Unfortunately, there is very little left of it now, following its collapse.
28
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
6. The Flying School Buildings
The Flying School buildings were built in a series of closely related phases that echoed the increasing need to extend the facilities it had to offer to more and more trainee pilots. They are, however, architecturally distinct from standard RAF type buildings and the larger ones have a degree of architectural quality.
6.1 Building 5: The Teaching Block Complex
The former Teaching Block (NGR: SU 0516 7121) is a complex of single-storey buildings erected in a very short space of time from the mid-1930Äs for the Bristol Aeroplane CompanyÄs flying school; the architect of the initial phase, built 1935-6, was Cecil Jones of En-Tout-Cas.30
Pl.10: The Teaching Block from the south-west, circa 1950.
6.1.1 Description
6.1.1.01 Building 5A: The Main Range
For convenience, the building is deemed to be aligned north-south for this report, though is really at an angle to the cardinal points. It is clear both architecturally and structurally that the long southern portion of the complex was built first as a freestanding block. It was a symmetrical composition consisting of a long central section with projecting cross-wings at either end to create an ÇI-shapedÄ footprint.
The central ÇstemÄ of the ÇIÄ is approximately 27.5m/90ft. long (west-east) and 7.35m/24ft. wide. Both of the wings are approximately 13.3m/43ft. 6ins. long (north- south) and also 7.35m/24ft. wide. Both project approximately 3.1m/10ft. to the south of the main central section and 2.75m/9ft. to the north of it.
30 see Francis, 1998, op. cit. 35-6 29
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Site Dem. North
5A 5C 5B
9a
Fig.9: Sketch plan of the Teaching Block complex (Building 5) with room identification (do not scale). Green dashes outlines the first addition to the complex, red dashes the second. Section 5C and room 8 are also later.
30
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
The Exterior
The building is built of plain rendered solid brickwork, one stretcher (i.e. two leaf) thick in what is virtually a Stretcher Bond. The bricks are machine made stock bricks, frogged, and bearing the LBC initials. The walls rise from a tall plinth and, because of the gradual slope of the ground level downwards to the east, the plinth becomes taller on that side of the complex. Within the plinth are occasional ceramic air bricks.
The render coat has fallen off large areas of the walling, exposing the brickwork to view. The render is a simple two-coat cover and was never lined. It was continued up to the plain solid parapet at the wall tops that protect the flat roofs; much of the parapet brickwork has been repaired.
The parapet walls are topped with plain cast concrete copers. The parapets of the two wings are much higher than those of the central section. Just above the heads of the windows there is a rendered projecting band course around the whole building. Above it, on the wings, there is a second identical band course at the level of the parapet of the central section.
Window and doorway openings have concrete lintels and the former have projecting pre-cast concrete sills with integral throating in the soffit. The windows appear to have been steel-framed casements set into timber surrounds Å but only the surrounds have survived. Additional timbers have been added within the opening for security reasons in the recent past.
The Entrance Front, or South Elevation
The principal elevation faces to the south and is a symmetrical composition consisting of the seven bay central section with the taller single-bay projecting wings to either side.
The main doorway to the complex, reached up a flight of brick steps Å the bricks of ÇfacerÄ quality and left bare - is in the centre of this elevation; it is flanked by brick pilasters supporting the remains of a brick pediment Å all of which would have been rendered originally. The pair of doors has been removed.31
There is a second primary entrance to the west, or left, of the window in the south wall of the east wing. This is also approached by a short flight of bare brick steps, in this case rising from east to west against the gable wall to a landing area in front of the opening.
31 An aerial view of 1936 shows a pediment of sorts rising from the parapet above the entrance; it had been removed by the time of later photographs from the 1950Äs onwards (see Pl.1). 31
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Pl.11: The Teaching Unit from the south-west.
Pl.12: The complex from the south-east.
32
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
The East Elevation
The east elevation of the east wing is of four bays, with tall windows that cut through the lower band course and rise to just below the upper band course. The elevation is articulated by rendered brick pilasters Å though with none at the corners - and both band courses go round them. The plain coped tops of the pilasters are just below the top of the parapets.
The West Elevation
The west elevation is of the west wing and also of four bays. However, whilst there are the two band courses on this elevation, there are no pilasters. In addition, the windows are of the same height as those in the central section, with their heads below the lower of the band courses.
The Rear, or North, Elevation
The rear elevation was originally similar to the main front elevation but with more windows creating a nine, rather than seven, bay pattern of openings. Much of the eastern, or left-hand, portion of this side is obscured by slightly later additions to the complex.
The central rear doorway is now accessed by a short corridor link to the main North Extension. To the right, or west, the elevation is fairly unaltered, with four windows in the central range and a single window in the gable end of the west wing. In addition, there is also a possibly primary doorway in the east wall of the projecting wing.
To the east of the doorway corridor a pair of primary window openings now look out onto the narrow courtyard between this original range and the North Extension. Further east, a single-storey toilet block was built against the rear wall, in the angle between it and the projecting portion of the east wing. This has led to changes to the original windows but this area could not be accessed closely because of the condition of the building.
In the north gable of the east wing the original window opening is partly cut into by the later rear entrance to the complex. There is also an apparently primary window in the west side of this projecting portion of the wing.
The Roof
The asphalted flat roof covering is supported on a structure of timber joists supported by RSJs supported on internal brick piers. Between the RSJs are timber joists with herring-bone strutting supporting the tongue-and-grooved boarding beneath the asphalt.
33
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Pl.13: The complex from the north-west, original section to the right and the first phase of the Northern Extension to left.
Pl.14: Inside the eastern half of the main central section, looking east. To the right was the former corridor, blocked by the extension of the cross-wall. Note the inserted doorway replacing the original (2008). 34
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
The roof is protected and hidden by the plain rendered brick parapets all round. The parapets of the wings are remarkably tall, hiding the fact that the roof levels of the wing are higher than the central range Å and that the roof level of the east wing is much higher than that of the west wing.
There are no obvious indications of a water tank or similar feature in the west wing and the differences in roof height are presumably associated with different functions of the rooms within.
The Interior
The interiors had boarded floors and fibre-boarded ceilings but have recently been stripped ready for refurbishment. The internal floor levels were substantially higher than the ground level outside the building Å hence the need for steps leading up to the entrances. This also meant large sub-floor areas to accommodate services, etc.
The floor joists are supported on timber joists whose outward ends are set into pockets in the brickwork and supported on intermediate axial dwarf brick walls built in an open ÇgridÄ pattern to save on bricks. The joists rest on slates Å for damp-proofing Å embedded on the top of the dwarf walls. The floor boards are of machine-sawn tongue-and-grooved softwood and appear to be original. In the small lobby area immediately next to the main south entrance doorway there is a section of smaller and neater boarding clearly intended to be of higher quality.
The interior is divided into several compartments by primary brick and flimsier secondary partitions. The original arrangement appears to have survived in the western half of the building and originally this was more or less mirrored in the eastern half.
In between is the cross-passage (14) between the main front and rear entrances Å sub- divided in turn by a partition to create an entrance lobby (15) at the south side. There are remnants of plain skirting board in this section. From either side of this lobby there were originally doorways in the cross-walls leading to corridors along the front of the building. The eastern doorway has been blocked.
To the west the corridor (19) continues to a doorway in the side of the west wing. In between there are three doorways in the thin single-leaf thick brick corridor wall serving three classrooms Å one large one (18) to the west lit by two windows in the north wall, and two smaller ones (16-17) each with a single window. These originally had timber skirting boards and high set picture rails.
The west wing is divided into two by a brick cross wall towards the northern end. The floor has been removed. The larger southern room (20) is lit by three of the four windows in the west wall and the window in the south gable. It has the remains of a fibre-boarded ceiling and the RSJs of the roof structure were originally boxed out in the same material.
35
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
The room has been gutted, removing the evidence of inserted partitions that divided it up into three rooms on the west side served by a corridor on the east linking the doorway from the central section and the room at the northern end of the wing (21). These divisions were probably contemporary to those inserted into the east wing (see below).
The narrower northern room (21) is another tall space, now with bare brick walls, lit by the remaining window in the west wall and the window in the north gable. In the east wall is a probably primary external doorway.
To the east of the main entrance and the cross-passage, the original corridor along the south wall has been removed and the doorways taking it through the cross-walls have been blocked Å including the one leading into then east wing.
There is evidence at the east end of the single-leaf brick wall that has been removed. The patterns of plaster and the cuts in skirting boards and picture rails clearly show where the corridor doorways were. It appears that there were originally two equally sized classrooms to the north of the corridor.
The wall between them was subsequently extended southwards to the south wall across the corridor and bisected the adjacent window, creating two large rooms (11 and 13). At the same time a new corridor (12), formed by a fairly flimsy stud and fibre-board partition, was created along the north wall; this was accessed through an inserted doorway at the west end into the cross-passage and inserted doorways were added through the cross walls.
At the east end this corridor ended in the small rear corridor (10) leading to the later entrance formed to the north between the original building and the Northern Extension (Building 5B). The partition in the west section has been removed recently.
The east wing (9) appears to have originally been one large and very tall space lit by the tall windows in the east wall, windows in the gable ends, and another window in the west wall of the northern projection. This wing was initially accessed by its own external doorway in the south gable wall and through a now-blocked door off the now-lost southern corridor of the central range.
After the west doorway was blocked, an inserted door was later cut through the north end of the west wall to provide access from the short corridor (10) leading to the new eastern entrance to the complex and to the WCÄs in the new Latrine Block (Building 5C). A corridor (9a) was inserted along the west side of the space, formed by studwork and fibreboard Å the panel ÇinfillsÄ held in place by quarter-round timbers nailed to the studs. The corridor was accessed from the external south door and extended into the three southern bays of the wing; only fragments of it remain.
The rest of the space was sub-divided into four bay-length spaces by additional cross- partitions of the same design, none of which survive but the traces of which are evident in the surviving partition.
36
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Pl.15: The interior of the east wing, looking south; the partition to the right is inserted. Note height of floor and capacious area beneath for services, etc. (2008).
Pl.16: The interior of the west wing, looking south. Note the exposed construction of the flat roof (2008).
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
The three southern rooms were accessed by doorways in the main corridor partition, each topped by tall fan-lights. The northern space was full-width and reached through an identical doorway in the north wall of the corridor. All of these new spaces were given lower suspended ceilings which cut into the tops of the original window openings.
6.1.1.02 Building 5B (The North Extension)
The eight-bay North Extension was mainly part of a later addition to the complex in a reconstruction phase undertaken between 1937 and 1938 as the teaching facilities at Yatesbury had to be expanded to cope with a greater training role mainly sponsored by the RAF.32 However, it incorporated a slightly earlier two-bay rear extension that had been centrally positioned to the main block and linked to it by a narrow corridor.
The resultant single storey range was parallel to the original range to the south, linked to it by the corridor and a lobby at the east end. Apart from those links, and a slightly narrower western end, the new range was rectangular in plan and approximately 22.7m/74ft. 6ins. long and 8.2m/27ft. wide.
The Exterior
The building is of similar design to the original range (Building 5A) and probably by the same architect. It is built of rendered brickwork but the render is in better condition. It was evidently designed to be of similar height to the central section of the original range and picks up the same minimalist architectural features such as the band course beneath the blind parapet. Only since the renovation work started and the decaying render removed was it possible to see clearly that there was a break in the phasing of the range Å and that there had originally been a smaller, primary, rear wing connected to the main section.
The North Elevation
The north elevation is now of eight bays, all the openings being windows with concrete lintels and projecting pre-cast concrete sills; the westernmost, or right-hand, two bays are part of the original wing. All of the openings have lost their original steel-framed glazing. The second window in from the west, or right-hand, end of the elevation is slightly wider than the others.
The East Elevation
The east elevation of the main section is completely devoid of openings. Between it and the end of the east wing of the original section is an entrance doorway leading into a lobby entrance (8) to the expanded complex.
32 Francis, 1998, op. cit., 36-7 38
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Pl.17: The Northern Extension (Building 5B) from the north-east. The arrows indicate the later phase of the building.
Pl.18: East return of the Main Block (Building 5A), left, and the corner of the North Extension (Building 5B), right. In between is the entrance to the enlarged complex.
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
The West Elevation
The west elevation now has a primary window and an inserted doorway Å the latter in the position of what was probably a second primary window. The remaining window has retained its three-light casement steel-framed window. This was the west elevation of the original rear extension. Until the render was recently removed, it was possible to see the roof scar of the demolished extension of circa 1939.
The South Elevation
The south elevation faces onto the courtyard created when this addition was built. There are five bays in all Å all bar the penultimate one from the east end being windows. The easternmost one is effectively a borrowed light because of the corridor between it and the earlier building to the south. To the west of these two windows is the main doorway into this part of the complex.
The West Corridor Link
The west corridor link (6) is of rendered brickwork with a single window in each of the side walls; this was the link from the original main range to the first, smaller, rear range.
The Roof
The roof structure is virtually identical to that of the Main Block (Building 5A). It is flat and asphalted, supported on RSJs and timber joists. It is hidden by the tall blind parapets all round.
The Interior
The interior is divided into a series of spaces by brick cross-walls. The floor construction, of tongue-and-grooved boards on timber joists supported on dwarf walls, was virtually identical to that in the Main Block but has been removed.
There is a corridor (5) along the south side of the building which has a stud and fibreboard partition Å except at the western end when it is of brick. The corridor links the doorway at the eastern end of the range with the link block corridor (6) at the western end leading to the central cross-passage of the Main Block.
At the east end of the corridor is a full-width space lit by two windows in the north and south walls (1). It is spanned by a boxed RSJ in the fibreboard ceiling, retains most of its moulded picture rail, and once had a skirting board.
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Pl.19: The corridor (5) in the North Extension (Building 5B), looking west (2008).
Pl.20: The eastern room (1) within the North Extension, looking north-east (2008).
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
In the centre of the range are two rooms (2 and 3), accessed by one of a pair of doors off the corridor and both lit by two windows in the north wall. These also have remnants of skirtings and picture rails.
The western room (4) is larger than the others and has brick walls, including that to the corridor. This space is lit by two windows in the north wall, one larger than the others, and one in the west wall. A second window in the west wall has been replaced by an inserted doorway with double doors.
6.1.1.03 Building 5C (The Latrine Block)
The Latrine Block was a small brick structure built against the eastern end of the north wall of the central section of the Main Block (Building 5A). It was approximately 5.5m/18ft. long (west-east) and 2.8m/9ft. wide. The building was in too dangerous condition to assess properly in 2008 and has since been demolished..
It was built of rendered brickwork with a shallow-pitched roof of corrugated steel sheeting, with small windows in the north wall to light the series of cubicles (7) within. Access was off the small corridor link on the east side (10) through a doorway with a fanlight identical to the secondary doorways in the Main Block.
6.1.2 Discussion & Phasing
6.1.2.01 Phase One: 1935
The building is relatively simple in its design and in its phasing. The initial section was clearly the ÇI-shapedÄ Main Block (Building 5A), built for the Bristol Aeroplane Company Ltd. to the design of Cecil Jones of En-tout-cas.
The Civilian Reserve Flying Training School at Yatesbury opened on the 6th January 1936 and the building was probably ready by that date. An official En-tout-cas photograph of 1936 from the south-west shows the building to have suffered few alterations since on the main elevations Å apart from the loss of the pediment over the main entrance, the multi-panes steel-framed windows, doors, and down-pipes. Originally it appears to have been painted bright white.
The building was a flat-roofed single-storey symmetrical composition of a seven bay central section flanked by single-bay wings, built in a very austere stripped down neo- Georgian with a hint of modernism. It had plain rendered walls, minimal architectural decoration and steel-framed multi-paned windows Å mainly of three lights.
The main entrance led into a small lobby at one end of a cross-passage between it and a rear entrance. From this there were corridors along the south walls to either side providing access to classrooms to the north and ending in larger spaces in the wings at either end. The west wing had one large and one smaller north room, the latter with its own external entrance in the east wall.
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
The east wing, which also had its own entrance in the south wall, had a taller ceiling than the rest of the range and this may have been why it required external pilasters not seen in the rest of the structure in which there are only internal pilasters to support the RSJs of the roof structure.
The 1936 article in Flight shows this as being the parachute drying and packing store Å and it was evidently one space initially. The parachutes were initially packed in storage areas known at the time as 'the umbrella rack'.
Internal decoration seems to have been very simple. The walls appear to have been quite plain, enriched only with a low moulded skirting board and a thin moulded picture rail. The floors were of plain tongue-and-groove boarding on timber joists and the ceilings of fibreboard.
6.1.2.02 Phase Two: The Later-1930Äs
Soon after the original flying school opened, additional accommodation was needed to meet new training requirements and the increase in pupil numbers. As a result the teaching complex needed to be extended and adjusted to suit. Firstly, a square two- bay annexe was added soon afterwards - centrally positioned to the rear, or north, of this, and linked to it by a short corridor.
This was quickly followed by a six bay extension eastwards of the original rear annexe, and the erection Latrine Block (Building 5C). In addition, changes were made in the virtually brand new existing Main Block.
The new extension was built to the north of the east half of the original Main Block and this created a small courtyard area between the two. At the east end of this the gap between the new build and the gable end of the east wing became a lobby entrance.
Within the new section was a corridor along the south side with larger rooms at either end and a pair of rooms in between, all accessed by the corridor. The general design of the new build and its internal fixtures and fittings was very similar to that of the original building.
Changes were made within the eastern half of the original range. The original southern corridor was removed and replaced by a corridor on the north side. Together with the original link corridor to the original rear annexe, this formed a complete circuit around the new courtyard.
Within the east wing of the original build the former single space was sub-divided by the creation of another corridor along the west side between the wingÄs independent front door and the new eastern link. To the east of this new corridor a series of four rooms were created by further partitions, and the ceiling level in the wing was lowered.
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Slightly after these changes and additions a gable-roofed standard Çemergency brickÄ extension was added at the western end of the North Extension (Building 5B) and a doorway inserted into it through a former window position. This later building has recently been demolished.
A photograph of the building from the south-east of circa 1957 shows it to be dark in colour and the accompanying description states that it was Çkhaki-cladÄ.33 By this time it had lost the pediment over the entrance. In front of the building was a railed- off lawned area containing the flag-pole flying the RAF ensign.34
6.1.2.03 Phase Three: The Early-C21st Century
The building had become disused and derelict by the late-20th century and as well as the expected damage to the building and loss of render and plaster finishes, parts of the interior were vandalised and fixtures and fittings removed along with partitions and virtually all of the original steel windows.
More recently, because of the threat of asbestos, a considerable degree of the flooring has had to be cut out and the later latrine block - derelict and dangerous by 2008 - has been demolished.
33 Taylor, M, 2001, ÇThe Cherhill ConnectionÄ, in Sparks: Yatesbury Association Newsletter, Winter 2001, 6 34 ibid. 44
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
6.2 Building 4: The Combined OfficersÄ Mess & Flight Offices
The former Combined OfficersÄ Mess & Flight Offices Block (NGR: SU 0513 7118) is a large single-storey building with slightly later additions quickly built for the Bristol Aeroplane CompanyÄs flying school; the architects of the initial phase, built 1935-6, were Cecil Jones of En-Tout-Cas and Adi-Button & Partners.35
6.2.1 Description
Excluding the slightly later annexes to the rear, this is a large single storey flat-roofed range with a symmetrical footprint. Overall it is approximately 48m/157ft. 6ins long (north-south). It consists of five sections: a slightly taller and slightly projecting central section, of four bays on the west facade, roughly 15.7m/51ft. 6ins. long and 21.3m/70ft. wide, flanked by three bay sections 9.4m/31ft long and 19.8m/65ft. long and, at either end, narrower and slightly projecting Çcross-wingsÄ, 6.7m/22ft. long and 23.8m/78ft. wide. On either side there are primary raised terraces and the ground level is higher to the north than it is to the south.
6.2.1.01 The Exterior
The building is constructed of standard machine-made ÇflettonÄ bricks laid to a virtual Stretcher Bond. The bricks are frogged and where visible have the LBC initials (the London Brick Company) stamped into them. Some have the brand name ÇPhorpresÄ stamped into them as well. The outer face of the brickwork was covered with unlined two-coat painted render outside and in and was clearly not meant to be seen. Large areas of the render have fallen, exposing the bricks to the weather.
The walls rise from a tall plain rendered brick plinth, but this is only fully visible on the south side. On the two long elevations to west and east there are raised terrace walks against the building, reached up brick steps. As a result, only the top of the plinth is visible.
Window and doorway openings have concrete lintels and the former have projecting pre-cast concrete sills with integral throating in the soffit. The windows are mostly variants of steel-framed casements set into timber surrounds Å but in several cases only the surrounds have survived.
The West, or Principal, Elevation
Architecturally, the principal elevation faces west, although it is not quite an entrance front in the usual sense of that term. It is, in terms of general grouping of its components, a broadly symmetrical composition. The focal point is in the centre - the projecting and slightly taller four-bay block containing the main high status rooms within.
35 see Francis, 1998, op. cit. 35-6; 51-2 45
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
14
site north
Pl.9: Sketch ground-floor plan of Building No.4, the Combined OfficersÄ Mess & Flight Offices Block, with room numbers (do not scale). 46
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Pl.21: Building 4 from the south-west.
Pl.22: The west elevation of Building 4 from the north-west.
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
This section has an impost band course made up of a rendered course of bricks on end that returns on each side. At the base of the parapet there is an ÇenhancedÄ rendered band course made up of a projecting course of bricks beneath a slightly more projecting course of bricks on end. This band course and the plain parapet, topped by cast concrete copers, is continued around all four sides of this taller section.
The four openings are full-height and contained steel-framed French windows and serve the former OfficersÄ Mess (11) within. The openings have semi-circular heads and are slightly recessed into the brickwork - the wall of this section being a stretcher and a half (i.e. three leaf) thick rather than the usual stretcher deep.
Only fragments of the original French window frames survive. They originally consisted of a pair of steel-framed glazed doors set between narrow glazed verges, topped by a rectangular opening lower ÇlintelÄ fanlight and a fixed semi-circular ÇGeorgianÄ style fanlight within the head of the opening. In the recent past breeze block walls were built immediately inside the openings, and elsewhere in the block, as part of a film set.
To either side of this central section are three bay sections between it and the projecting ÇwingsÄ at either end. These intermediate sections are virtually but not quite identical. Both have a low parapet and a band course at the foot of the plain parapets.
To the south, or left, there are two square headed windows each containing fairly intact, if rusty, three-light steel-framed windows and, at the south end, there is a primary doorway with a rendered pedimented surround leading, through the west lobby (8) to the main south hallway (2).
To the north there are now three windows. The northern, or left-hand, pair are primary three-light steel-framed windows but the third, at the south end, is a timber- framed tripartite window. This window also has a lower sill than the others and the evidence of its frame and the render beneath that sill clearly shows that at one time it was a doorway. Evidence of the aerial photograph of 1936 shows it to have originally been another three-light window, but the doorway was probably added fairly soon afterwards as an early alteration.
The projecting wings at either end of this elevation are of the same width and depth but the northern wing has two three-light steel-framed windows whilst the southern wing has just the one. Both wings are topped by the continuation of the parapets from the south or north respectively.
The East, or Rear, Elevation
The east, or rear, elevation is partly obscured by the slightly later annexes to the east. It is of the same basic grouping of components as the main west range but the fenestration is far less regular. On this elevation the window and doorway pattern is dictated not by architectural symmetry but by the internal arrangements.
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Pl.23: Building 4 from the south-east, showing the southern part of the rear elevation.
Pl.24: The north end of the east elevation of Building 4 (right) with rear annexe to left.
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
The taller projecting central section of the elevation is topped by a continuation of the upper parapet and its band course. In addition there is a lower rendered band course above the heads of the windows and doorway.
The elevation of this section is effectively divided into two halves. The northern, or right-hand, half is related to the large former dining room (30) within. There is a double doorway in the centre, now minus its doors, flanked by broad window openings that presumably had steel-framed windows Å also missing. In the southern half is a series of five much smaller single light windows, also devoid of primary surviving glazing, which lit WC cubicles (32-3) in this section of the building.
Part of the section to the north of the centre of this elevation is butted against by the annexe. This section had three windows, the northern pair still retaining their original three-light steel-framed glazing. These are separated by a rendered brick flue presumably serving the basement boiler room. There are also the remains of a window opening to the south, now internal because of the annexe.
In the corresponding section to the south of the central block there are two larger windows and, at the south end, a doorway with a rendered pedimented surround leading into the east lobby (1). This arrangement is almost a mirror image to the west side opposite except that the window openings on this side were clearly for four lights rather than three.
The northern projecting wing on this side has a window opening with the remains of its original three-light steel-framed window and a primary doorway with a simple projecting rendered brick surround to the north of it. In the south return of the wing is another doorway.
A flight of steps leads down to the basement doorway under the southern portion of this wing and the basement is lit by a timber-framed window to the north of the doorway. In the southern wing at the opposite end of this elevation there is a single window opening devoid of its glazing.
The South Elevation
The south elevation is a show front of five bays and, lacking a terrace in front of it, has a full, tall, rendered brick plinth. It is a symmetrical composition. Apart from the plain central window opening Å originally probably of three lights but now lacking its glazing Å the other bays are literally bays.
They each have canted bay windows on brick bases respected by the plain parapet and the band course at its base. The original steel-framed glazing survives in the two western bay windows Å a central three-bay window of standard design flanked by tall single bays in the canted sides and the returns.
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Pl.25: The south elevation of Building 4 from the south-west.
Pl.26: The north elevation of Building 4 from the north-east.
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
The North Elevation
The fenestration of the north elevation, like that of the east elevation, is dictated by the internal arrangements rather than by external aesthetics. The western, or right- hand, two-thirds of the elevation is virtually symmetrical, consisting of a central double doorway with only fragmentary remains of its timber surround and a part- glazed timber door, flanked by four-light steel-framed windows. The fact that the doorway does have a timber surround rather than a steel-framed one could suggest that it was an early insertion rather than primary Å and this is backed up by the evidence of the 1936 photographs. Above it are remnants of signage.
The doorway and the west, right-hand, window are related to the large internal space (13) whilst the eastern window is bisected by an internal wall and so lights two spaces within (16 and 18). Further east there is a primary doorway with pedimented surround leading into the north lobby (19) and four windows to the east of that associated with WC cubicles (20 and 25) within.
6.2.1.02 The Roof
The roof is flat, hidden behind the solid parapets. The roof of the central block is higher than the rest and surrounded by its own independent parapet. Structurally, the roof is supported by cross-walls and a series of RSJs running west-east.
The RSJs and walls support two sets of timber joists Å a lower set supporting the ceiling of the spaces below and the upper set supporting the tongue-and-groove boarding carrying the asphalt covering of the roof.
There are remnants of the trimmed holes for and occasional steel frames of hipped skylights. In addition, above the southern section there are the remnants of the former control tower and its adjacent building. This is clearly shown on the aerial view of 1936.
6.2.1.03 The Interior
The basic internal layout has seen relatively few alterations, excepting those breeze- block walls added when the building was being used as a film set and some minor additions as part of the stalled redevelopment. The general surface finishes to the walls is of painted render and most of the original ceilings seem to have been of an early type of plaster board.
There are some traces of a standard form of glass drop lights, broken Bakelite plugs and switches, and metal-trunked electric wiring. Pipes for the radiators were buried beneath the concrete floors in brick lined service troughs.
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Pl.27: Looking up through the gap in the roof of room 10 to the roof-top store associated with the original flight control tower on Building 4 (2008).
Pl.28: Details of roof construction and former skylight in Building 4, above room 10; this was subsequently dismantled (2008).
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
The rooms on the south side (3-7) seem to have been offices, mostly lit by the bay windows on the south elevation, served by a vestibule (2) accessed through lobbies to west (8) and east (1). From that vestibule an axial north-south corridor (9, 14-15) ran virtually the length of the building.
To the west of that was a series of larger and presumably communal spaces (10-13) along the west face side of the building. The main space on the east side of the corridor was the former dining room (30) and that had kitchens and services to the north of it (16-29) and changing room and WC facilities (31-35) to the south.
The two lobbies (1 and 8) to east and west respectively are virtually identical but mirror-imaged spaces access through external primary doorways. The inside architraves of the doorways are of a standard pedestalled timber type seen throughout the building with a simple cavetto and cyma moulding.
The doorways from these lobbies to the central vestibule (2) have identical architraves but are wider as they originally contained double, and presumably part-glazed, swing doors. The traces for the pivots and swing mechanism are still traceable and there is a rounded recess in the jambs for the inside edges of the doors.
The lobbies have pale coloured terrazzo floors with dark borders and most of their simply moulded standard pattern timber skirting boards survive. Just inside the external doors there are the remains of steel-lined matt trays recessed into the terrazzo floor.
The vestibule (2) is a long rectangular space originally lit by a pair of skylights and, presumably, by borrowed light through the glazed double doors from the lobbies. The concrete floor is covered by the remains of very thin red square tiles of uncertain material Å not ceramic but more of a plastic or asbestos-like material; they seems to be original.
There are traces of the original timber standard pattern skirting. There were original radiators at each end of the south wall and another at the west end of the north wall. The doorway to the central corridor (9) on the north side has a timber architrave and presumably had double doors.
Along the south side of the corridor are three primary doorways with slightly recessed plain door frames leading into the middle three rooms (4-6) of the south front; at the southern ends of the west and east walls are the doorways into the offices at either end (3 and 7). The south-eastern room (3) is lit by primary windows in the south and east walls, the former a bay. The inner architrave of the doorway is of standard pattern and there are fragmentary traces of original skirting.
The walls are rendered and the ceiling is plaster-boarded with the remains of four early light-fittings; the room is spanned by a west-east boxed RSJ. It once had a radiator in the bay and one on each side of the east window. The floor was once covered in herring-bone parquet blocks.
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Pl.29: Looking west through the east lobby (1) to the vestibule (2) of Building 4 (2008).
Pl.30: The south-eastern room (3) of Building 4, looking north-west (2008).
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
To the west, the next room (4) is lit by the bay window in the south wall and has doorways to both the vestibule and to the central south room to the west (5). These doorways have architraves that are thinner versions of the ÇstandardÄ pattern, lacking the outer cavetto.
Fragments of skirting board survive on the west and north walls and all the visible timber is painted in RAF blue. There was a radiator under the bay window, another on the north wall, fragments of two light fittings survive, and once there was a parquet floor.
The middle room on the south side of the building (5) is lit by the normal window opening in the south wall and was accessed from the vestibule to the north and the rooms to either side of it. All of the architraves survive and a six-panelled probably primary door remains in situ in the north doorway.
Most of the standard pattern skirting board survive and there are fragments of two light fittings in the ceiling. There was a long radiator under the window and the floor was once covered in parquet. There is a large mid-20th century switch unit to the east of the window.
The room (6) to the west of the central room is another lit by a bay window in the south wall and is linked to the rooms to each side and the vestibule. The door architraves survive more or less intact and there is a primary door on the south side and the skeleton of one in the north opening. Most of the standard pattern skirting board survives.
The room had radiators under the window and on the north wall. There are two broken light fittings in the ceiling and the room once had a parquet floor. In the south-western corner is a small brick and concrete platform of uncertain function of about window sill height.
At the south-western corner of the building the room (7) is a virtual mirror image of the south-eastern room but had two rather than one doorways (3). Only fragments of the skirting boards survive.
The room is spanned by a boxed RSJ and once had a parquet floor. The original windows in the south and west walls survive, though shorn of most of their fittings. These windows, incidentally, had timber inner window boards tongued into the sills of the surrounds Å none of which survive.
A broad double doorway provides access from the vestibule (2) into the axial corridor (9). This is a long and narrow space flanked by a pair of structural axial brick walls. The ceiling level is consistent throughout, even as it passes through the taller central section; at this point the ceiling joists are set much lower than the roof joists. There are traces of a pair of skylights. Fairly plain doorways on either side serve the adjacent rooms to west and east. At the south-eastern end is a set-back section latterly used as a storage area but possibly associated once with access to the roof and the control tower - a modern temporary ply-board replica of which was recently built.
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Pl.31: The central room on the south side of Building 4 (5), looking north (2008).
Pl.32: One of the bay-lit southern offices (4) in Building 4 (2008).
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
At the northern end there is a slightly different section (14) separated from the section to the south by a double doorway (originally fitted with a pair of swing doors) under a tall fanlight. The floor had a tiled floor like that of the vestibule (2). There is a plain opening at the north end and standard doorways on each side, as well as a borrowed light window opening in the north wall.
To the west of the southern end of the corridor is a large room thought to have been a billiards or recreation room (10). This is lit by two primary three-light windows in the west wall and is accessed by doorways off the corridor at either end of its east wall and also has a double doorway, now frameless, to the north.
The floor was originally parquet but this has been lifted and none of the original skirting survives. There is a rather clumsy and simply-chamfered picture rail around the room of uncertain date, but presumably not primary. In the ceiling are the remains of four light fittings, probably original.
The room is spanned by a west-east boxed RSJ supported by integral brick pilasters at each end. This RSJ cuts through a large central primary skylight, the hipped steel frame of which survives. Originally the room had radiators under both windows as well as two others on the east wall.
The largest room within the building, the former officersÄ mess (11), occupies the central section west of the corridor and was originally lit by the four large steel- framed French windows in the middle of the principal elevation. These originally had pedestalled timber architraves, parts of which survive.
Those openings had been blocked by the construction of a concrete block inner skin associated with later film purposes, being removed at the time of the survey. There are also primary doorways at either end of the east wall into the corridor (9) and double doorways, not aligned, in the north and south walls. The architrave of the northern opening survives. There is a presently hidden projecting fireplace in the middle of the east wall, served by a rendered stack visible at roof level.
The room originally had a parquet floor lain on top of the concrete screed but that has been removed. The ceiling is taller than that of the adjacent spaces and the room has a substantial timber cornice as well as a fairly chunky picture rail. Both of these have standard ovolo, cavetto and cyma profiles. The room is spanned by three boxed RSJs supporting the ceiling and roof structure. These are embedded into the outside wall on the west and on rendered pilasters projecting from the east wall.
North of this main room is a narrower space (12), lit by a single window in the west wall and accessed at the east end by a doorway off the axial corridor. The window in the west wall is actually a partly blocked doorway arrangement that had been inserted in the space of a primary steel-framed window. At one point, therefore, this space had been a broad corridor of sorts but did not begin as such. Nevertheless, the north wall is of brick and appears to be primary so this was always a narrow space.
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Pl.33: The northern portion of the central corridor (14) in Building 4, looking north (2008).
Pl.34: The northern end (16) of the central corridor in Building 4 looking south (2008).
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
This narrow space had opposed double doorways in the north and south walls, originally fitted with swing doors and retaining standard-pattern pedestalled architraves. A third double doorway, towards the west end of the north wall, appears to have been inserted but, if so, is respected by the standard pattern skirting board so could have been inserted at an early date. The room originally had a parquet floor, since lifted.
The north-western corner of the building is taken up by one large stubby L-shaped room (13), its original parameters rather obscured by the inserted breeze-block partitions added late in the 20th century. This room extends into the projection at the north end of the west elevation of the building, hence its footprint. It is spanned by three boxed RSJs supported on brick pilasters at both ends but most of the roof has collapsed.
It is lit by four primary windows in the west wall and a fifth window towards the west end of the north wall. Towards the east end of that wall is a broad double doorway, possibly inserted. In the south wall the eastern double doorway has a full standard timber architrave on the room side, lacking in the western opening. There is a narrow standard pattern doorway at the south end of the east wall into the adjacent portion of the corridor (9) and a widened doorway towards the northern end into its north lobby area (15).
The room originally had a parquet floor, since removed. There are fragmentary remains of its timber standard skirting board and more substantial remains of a fairly bold moulded picture rail running around most of the space. It was well heated with radiators beneath the windows and also on the east wall.
At the northern end of the main spinal corridor is a small and slightly wider section (15) which seems to have been a lobby of some kind for the kitchen area to the north- east. The east wall of this section is stepped slightly to the east of the rest of the corridor wall. The space has a pale pinkish terrazzo floor with up-swept terrazzo skirtings at the wall feet. There is a pedestalled double doorcase, originally with double swing doors, at the north end and a similar doorway to the east.
To the north of this is a small store (16), wider again; the south wall of this space and the one to the east (18) are both set south of the northernmost structural RSJ of the roof covering. These two spaces also have terrazzo floors with upswept skirts, remnants of mid-20th century light fittings and architraves to the doors Å though of a slightly different profile to others in the block. There are fixings in each for shelving on the walls. They share a single window in the north wall, the wall between them bisecting it.
To the south of these is an unlit space (17) accessed off the main corridor lobby (15) and with a doorway in its south wall to another small space (23). The east wall is only two-thirds high and possibly added, though all of this area has terrazzo floors with upswept skirts respecting the present partitioning.
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A small and probably inserted rear entrance corridor (19) of stubby L-shaped footprint is served by the primary doorway in the north elevation. Opposite that, in the south wall, is a tall door opening with pedestalled standard profile architrave and an opening fanlight. It has the standard terrazzo floor. The loose door nailed into the north opening has the sign ÇSquash CourtÄ on it and has presumably been taken from the Squash Court building to the north.
The north-eastern corner of the building contains one fairly large room (22) with a pair of WC suites (20 and 21) to the north. The larger space is accessed by a doorway in the south return of the east projection and off the rear entrance to the west. This had a parquet, rather than terrazzo floor, and has the remnants of some skirting board and a pedestalled doorcase; it is lit by a primary window in the east wall and spanned by a boxed RSJ supported on brick piers at both ends.
The two WC suites each consist of a washroom and WC closet, each space lit by a small window in the north wall. These spaces have buff tiled floors and white glazed tiled dados. The cubicle walls are roughly two-thirds high but of rendered and tiled brick. All of the main fittings have been removed. The western suite (20) is accessed off the rear corridor whilst the other (21) is accessed through a primary external doorway in the east wall.
The former kitchen (24) is a large square space with a series of storage and preparation spaces around the perimeter (23, 25, 26-29). These all have terrazzo floors with swept skirts. There are the remains of skylight positions in the flat roof to assist in the lighting of these spaces. No primary fixtures or fittings survive. One space has clearly been altered. Room 27 is now a small store cupboard accessed from the adjacent section of the spinal corridor (14). In its east wall is a borrowed light. Unlike the other kitchen-related spaces this had a parquet floor at one time and it also had doorways, long blocked, in its north and south walls Å the former into the kitchen area and the latter into the former dining room.
The former dining room (30) is the largest space to the east of the spinal corridor; it is also within the taller central block and thus has a high ceiling. It is presently accessed off a doorway from the corridor at the south end of the west wall but only has a hatch in the north wall into the kitchen area. Evidently it did once have a second doorway at the west end of the north wall leading into the small lobby area (27).
In the east wall are two large primary windows flanking a double doorway. The room once had a parquet floor and has the remains of a timber skirting board and picture rail. It is spanned by two boxed RSJs supported on brick piers at each end and there are also remnants of a large skylight in the flat roof.
South of the former dining room, but with no communication with it, is a large area (31), originally top-lit, accessed from the spinal corridor; this had a parquet floor and is thought to have been a cloakroom. To the east is a large tiled area (32) with urinals and WC closets lit by small windows in the east wall. The tiles are white glazed with some decoration picked out with black tiles. This area is linked to the spinal corridor by a narrow passage (33).
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Pl. 35: Part of the former dining room (30) in Building 4, looking south-west (2008).
Pl.36: Former dressing or cloakroom (35) in Building 4, looking west (2008).
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The remaining part of the east side of the building is taken up by two long spaces, each lit by a primary window opening in the east wall. Both of these had parquet floors and have remnants of skirting and hanging rails. The northern one of these (34) was accessed off the spinal corridor to the west. The southern space has a portion taken out of it by the recess off that corridor at the west end and was accessed off the vestibule (2) to the south.
Beneath the north-eastern corner of the building, and accessed down a flight of external steps, is the boiler room. This is not accessible for safety reasons but all of its main equipment was removed some time ago.
6.2.2 Discussion & Phasing
6.2.2.01 Phase One: 1935
This large multi-purpose building was built for the Bristol Aeroplane Company Ltd. to the design of Adi-Button and Cecil Jones of En-tout-cas.36 The Civilian Reserve Flying Training School at Yatesbury opened on the 6th January 1936 and this was presumably ready by that date.
Official En-tout-cas photographs of 1936 from the south-west and from the north- west shows the building to be little altered since that time, except for the loss of some of the multi-panes steel-framed windows, doors, and down-pipes. Originally it appears to have been painted bright white or cream.
The main loss is the former control kiosk Å ÇtowerÄ seems too grand a word Å on top of the building that is clearly shown on the aerial view of 1936. This had a tripartite south window and was topped by a rendered pediment; next to it is the wind-sock. To the rear the box-like structure shown on the photograph appears to have survived.
It is and was relatively simple in its design - an austere stripped down eclectic neo- Georgian. It was built in brick, rendered inside and out, with steel-framed windows, plaster-boarded ceilings and limited internal decoration including timber doorcases, skirting boards, picture rails and, in one room only, cornice. Apart from a single fireplace it was centrally heated by radiators and had flat roofs protected by solid parapets.
The southern portion of the block was evidently given over to practical aspects of the flying school. There were entrance lobbies to west and east into a circulation vestibule serving the five rooms facing south to the aerodrome. Four of the five have large bay windows, clearly designed to maximise the view of flying activities outside.
These rooms would presumably have included the offices of the chief flying instructor, chief ground instructor and the time-keeperÄs office; others could have been a secretarial office (perhaps in the smaller, central, room) and perhaps an assistant instructorsÄ office.
36 Francis, 1998, op. cit., 35 63
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The long spine corridor running northwards from the vestibule provided access to the main spaces to either side of it. To the west were clearly recreation and dining rooms. It is thought that the southern one of these (10), with its large lantern skylight, was the billiards room at one point. The largest room in the complex (11), with the four French door facing towards the lawned area and tennis courts to the west, was always presumably the main officersÄ mess. It addition to the usual radiators this room also had a ÇtraditionalÄ fireplace on the east wall.
To the north the narrow space (12) could have been originally a smaller and perhaps private restaurant area or perhaps an anteroom to the dining room or canteen at the north-western corner of the complex. That larger ÇL-shapedÄ space (13) could be divided into two separate spaces by a moveable partition if required. This area was apparently the airmensÄ and Bristol Aeroplane Company techniciansÄ mess facilities, separated from those of the officers.37 The north wall of this area was then more symmetrical, with a doorway flanked by two large windows Å as shown in one of the 1936 photographs.38
The north-eastern part of the building was mainly occupied by the kitchen (24) and its ancillary rooms and preparation areas. The room (16) at the end of the spinal corridor could have been a switch room. There is also a northern entrance lobby (19), two WC suites accessed off the lobby and from outside, and one room (22) with a parquet floor that was evidently for recreational or office use rather than directly related to food preparation or storage.
The small store (27) at the south-western corner of the kitchen complex seems originally to have been a lobby off the spinal corridor with additional doorways linking into the kitchen areas to the north and the eastern dining room (30) to the south. The eastern dining room was the former officersÄ dining room and a large space with large windows and French windows looking out to a terrace and gardens on the west side. To the south were the officersÄ changing rooms, washrooms and WCs, typically segregated from those of the airmen.
The building was large but well planned to serve very different requirements. With simple materials the architects managed to produce a fairly attractive building by good use of scale and minimal ornament. Flight praised Yatesbury as Ça model school whose pattern few will equal and none will betterÄ with Çclean and cream structures which mean businessÄ.39
Clearly the Bristol Aeroplane Company built to a better design and with better detailing than they needed to and the building forms one of a homogenous group of such buildings. Whilst it may lack the architectural drama of other air-related buildings of the 1930Äs Å such as Stavers TiltmanÄs Shoreham Airport, Sussex (1936) or Norman & DawbarnÄs Jersey Airport (1937) Å it is nevertheless a building of merit and of some historical importance.40
37 see e.g. Francis, 1998, op. cit., 51-2 38 Francis, 1998, op. cit. pl.2 39 quoted in Francis, 1998, op. cit., 34 40 see e.g. Forsyth, A, 1982, Buildings for the Age: New Building Types 1900-1939, pls.31-38. 64
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6.2.2.02 Phase Two: The Later-1930Äs
The few changes made to the block may have taken place soon after it was built. At least two doorways were inserted into primary window positions. One such insertion is clearly visible in the surviving fabric, the other less so.
On the west elevation a doorway with a timber frame flanked by narrow lights was inserted in the position of the original west window of the narrower space or anteroom (12). This would have made this space a broad entrance corridor from the west side and linking it to the main spinal corridor. Perhaps at the same time a double doorway was inserted at the west end of the wall between this space and the adjacent dining area (13).
In the north wall is a set of double doors into the same dining room, again with timber rather than steel framing. The character of the door case suggests that this is also possibly an insertion, replacing the original window and one of the 1936 photographs proves it.
It is likely that these changes related to the rapid expansion of the flying school, and the construction of the Mess Extension (Building 4a) to the north-east, almost as soon as it was built and its subsequent absorption into the RAF. During the war the building was probably camouflaged, and there are later references to it being painted khaki.
6.2.2.03 Phase Three: The Later-20th Century
Changes since the 1940Äs seem to have been very limited. The inserted doorway into room 12 was later rebuilt as a window and no doubt some facilities were upgraded almost until the base closed in 1965.
Subsequent changes have been due partly to the use of the building as a film set but mainly to the many years it was allowed to decay until the late-1990Äs. There were changes during the stalled redevelopment of the early 21st century, including changes to internal openings and circulation patterns and repairs to parapets and roof areas.
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6.3 The Mess Extension (Building 4a)
6.3.1 Description
The single-storey Mess Extension (Building 4a) consists of two blocks to the north- east of the main OfficersÄ Mess & Offices block (Building 4) and was originally connected to it by a corridor. The larger of the two blocks contains the main rooms, whilst the smaller, linked by a corridor to the east, was the toilet annexe.
The larger block is of rendered 9Ö brickwork, though most of the render had fallen away. At the top of the building is a continuous plat band at the base of the brick parapet that hides the flat roof.
The main elevation is to the north and is symmetrical around a projecting porch. That has a large central opening with small windows in the return walls; a lower doorway leads into the main body of the building. To either side there are three windows Å two large ones flanking a much smaller one on between. These openings have concrete lintels and sills and presumably once had steel-framed ÇCrittal-typeÄ glazing Å all gone.
The visible part of the west elevation has a single window; the rest of the west elevation has been altered during the recent refurbishment works but was also compromised by the need for the building to link into the earlier part of the officersÄ mess. On the east side, the link to the annexe is accessed by a doorway. To the south is a further doorway and a window opening. There are four windows on the external portion of the rear elevation.
The annexe is a virtually square structure with a link corridor to the main section. It has smaller windows on the north side for the WC cubicles and larger windows on the east and south sides. The roofs of both sections and the link corridor are flat and of concrete supported on steel beams.
There have been some changes to the layout of the interior of the main section, both historic and more recent. It is divided into two sections by a brick spine wall. The main rooms were clearly to the north of this; there is some evidence to suggest that originally there was a large primary space - presumably a dining room - with single bay spaces at either end of it. The rooms to the rear were possibly secondary recreational rooms as well as rooms associated with the catering facilities.
6.3.2 Discussion
This large addition to the original OfficersÄ Mess and Offices is not shown on the circa 1936 aerial photograph of the site but was clearly designed very shortly afterwards, possibly in the period before 1938 and probably by the same En-tout-cas architects. It may have been a dining room and kitchen facility serving NCO's and other ranks. Its style is in keeping with the quality of the rest of the Flying School phase.
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Pl.37: The main elevation of the Mess Extension (Building 4a) from the north-east.
Pl.38: The Mess Extension from the south-east.
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6.4 Building 37: The Accommodation Block
The former Accommodation Block is a large two storey building added in 1936 in the first phase of development of the Bristol Aeroplane CompanyÄs flying school and was designed Cecil Jones of En-Tout-Cas.
It was built to accommodate the trainee pilots and originally had 30 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms; according the 1936 Flight article, the middle rear wing was occupied by batmen and servants, the rest by the trainees. The built-in furniture was by Maples. Changes to it have been relatively minor.
Photographs taken of the building when just completed by En-Tout-Cas show it to have been painted white and the most significant loss to the fabric has been an Art Deco style pediment above the main entrance on the west side, and to the gable ends of the three rear wings (see below). It is now, however, in a very poor structural condition.
6.4.1 Description
6.4.1.01 The Exterior
This is a large two storey flat-roofed range with a symmetrical ÇE-shapedÄ footprint, consisting of the long western range, aligned north south, with three rear wings projecting from it to the east.
The building is constructed of standard machine-made ÇflettonÄ bricks laid to a virtual Stretcher Bond. The bricks are frogged and where visible have the LBC initials (the London Brick Company) stamped into them. Some have the brand name ÇPhorpresÄ stamped into them as well.
The outer face of the brickwork was covered with unlined two-coat painted render and was clearly not meant to be seen. Large areas of the render have fallen, exposing the bricks to the weather.
The walls rise from a tall plain rendered brick plinth. Above the heads of the ground- floor windows is a continuous projecting rendered band course, three brick courses high, and the there is a second identical band course above the first-floor windows that is also at the base of a plain parapet capped by pre-cast concrete copings. In between the two broad band courses is a third, much narrower single course band course at first-floor level.
The primary doorways have projecting plain rendered surrounds; structurally they, and all of the windows, have plain concrete lintels and the latter have projecting pre- cast concrete sills with integral throating in the soffit. The windows are steel-framed casements set into timber surrounds, mostly two-light casements, and most survive in situ but are badly rusted and much of the glass has been smashed.
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Pl.39: The Accommodation Block (Building 37) from the north-west.
Pl.40: The Accommodation Block (Building 37) from the north-east.
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The West, or Principal, Elevation
Architecturally, the principal elevation faces west and is a symmetrical composition of 13 bays Å the broader central entrance bay being its focal point, projecting forward slightly and containing the main entrance into the building. The 1936 photograph of the building shows this portion to have been topped by an Art Deco style shallow pediment, now gone, but the pediment on the reverse side of this portion of the main wing survives.
The double doorway is reached up a broad flight of brick steps. It has a rectangular timber fanlight above the site of the doors and is flanked by small steel casements. Above, at first-floor level, is a much larger four-light window lighting the first-floor landing area.
To either side of the entrance bay there are six symmetrical bays with matching windows on both floor levels. Even the drains and stench pipes of the WC arrangements towards either end are symmetrical.
The lesser down-pipes from the first-floor sink units within, shown on the 1936 photograph, have been removed. In addition, on this elevation the thin first-floor band course has been chopped back and the render made good and flush.
The Rear Elevation of the Western Range
The east wall of the main west range is only external in the two sections between the rear wings, apart from the pediment visible above the central wing. Each section is of four symmetrically aligned bays with windows on each floor level.
The Gable Elevations of the Western Range
The single bay gable elevations of the main western range are, architecturally, treated as part of the outward facing walls of the north and south rear wings (see below).
The North and South Wings
The two end wings to north and south are designed as mirror images of each other. In each of the outward facing walls the design incorporates the end walls of the main western range. Overall, therefore, each of the outer facing walls of these wings Å the south wall of the south wing and the north wall of the north wing Å are symmetrical five bay compositions.
Their courtyard elevations are of three more widely spaced bays, though there are only three windows at first-floor level. At ground floor level there is a primary doorway in the central bay with raised rendered surround; a six-panel primary door with raised and fielded panels survives in the north wing.
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Pl.41: The south-eastern end of the Accommodation Block.
Pl.42: The northern rear courtyard of the Accommodation Block (Building 37).
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Between these doorways and the rear of the main western range; there is no answering ground-floor window towards the east end of either elevation. Instead that section of wall continues past the gable end of the wings to form, at ground-floor level, the side of a single-storey entrance porch Å the band course above the ground-floor windows forming the base of the parapet of the porchÄs flat roof.
The porches are not the full width of the wing so that there is an inset on their outward sides. In each there is a primary doorway off-set to the courtyard side of centre, reached up flights of brick steps, and a two-light framed window in the return wall. Above, in the gable ends of the wings, is a thinner casement above the porches.
The Central Wing
The Central wing is of the same basic proportion and length as the end wings but is different in its fenestration Å and its two main elevations do not match each other either. The north side is of three widely spaced bays with two-light standard steel- framed casements. On the south side there are four evenly spaced bays but, at ground-floor level, a smaller primary window is positioned between the easternmost standard windows.
Below the west end of this elevation is the access to the service basement, reached down stone steps protected by an elegant steel fence of a style that would fit the late- 1930Äs.
This wing does not have a projecting porch on the gable end. Instead it has a primary external doorway, reached up brick steps, at ground-floor level off-set to the north (or right) of the elevation, with a casement window above it.
On top of this wing, close to its junction with the main West Range, is a covered box- like construction on the roof Å presumably containing the water tanks but not accessible because of the condition of the building.
6.4.1.02 The Roof
The asphalted flat roof covering is supported on a structure of timber joists supported by RSJs supported on internal brick piers. Between the RSJs are timber joists with herring-bone strutting supporting the tongue-and-grooved boarding beneath the asphalt.
The roof is protected, and hidden, by the plain parapets around the main portion and each of the three rear wings. Closer access to it was impossible at the time of the survey because of the dangerous condition of the building.
The photographs of 1936 indicate the lost Art Deco pediments to the ends of each of the three wings rising from the parapet level, with similar pediments on either side of the central bay of the main West Wing (see above).
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Pl.43: The Central Wing of the Accommodation Block from the north-east (2008).
Pl.44: The Central Wing of the Accommodation Block from the south-west (2008).
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6.4.1.03 The Interior
The building is in a poor condition and the interior was particularly dangerous in 2008. As a result, access to the first-floor was then impossible because of safety reasons but much could be seen from the outside of the building. The situation has deteriorated in the past five years and no internal access was attempted; the internal photographs are, therefore, those taken in 2008.
All in all the assessment of the internal layout was fairly straight-forward, and in general the arrangements on the ground floor were repeated on the first floor with obvious exceptions where there are stairs and also less obvious differences where the handful of later alterations to the interiors had been made. The interiors are remarkable austere, with very limited architectural decoration. Door cases are very plain and there are no cornices or picture rails and most spaces lack skirting boards.
The Main Western Wing
The central bay of the Western Wing contains the entrance hall on the ground floor as well as the position of the main stairs. The stairs were of dog-leg form against the northern wall of the space, but only a section of the timber string rising up the north wall survives. This shows the number and dimensions of the treads and risers of the steps, and that there these rose to a first-floor landing against the west wall.
From the entrance hall on the ground floor and the main landing area above there are doorways at the eastern ends of the cross-walls leading into long corridors along the east side of the wing, facing into the rear yard area. There are also doorways at both floor levels leading to corridors along the north side of the central rear wing.
At either end of the Western Wing the corridors broaden out into what are presumably bathroom and WC areas. At each end there are what appear to be two former bathrooms, one lit by a window in the west wall, the other in the north or south wall. Between these and the rooms towards the centre of the building are pairs of WCs, the partitions between them bisecting the second windows in from the end of the main elevation.
In between these rooms and the main entrance bay there are, or were, four rooms served by the corridors along the east side. Each was lit by a single window in the west elevation. These rooms were separated by a partial brick cross wall, but for the most part the partition was made up of a pair of timber-framed ply-boarded opposing cupboards Å one facing into one room, and one into the other; this clever contrivance helped to save space.
In the northern portion the two northern bedrooms have been amalgamated and the same thing happened to the two southern bedrooms in the southern section. In each case the cross-wall between them removed. The footings of the brick walls are still extant below floor level and the scars in the plaster work where these have been removed are obvious.
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Pl.45: Evidence of the amalgamation of a pair of rooms into one larger one; note scar and footing of dividing wall, blocked doorway, and blocked switch positions (2008).
Pl.46: View looking up to the first-floor of the main section, showing floor construction and general structural condition (2008). 75
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
The enlarged rooms also only needed one doorway and the redundant ones were then blocked. In addition, the enlarged rooms also only needed one light switch; the scars of the two original switches are also plain to see.
The North and South Rear Wings
The north and south rear wings appear to have been mirror images of each other and to have provided additional accommodation. Each seems to have had a corridor along the courtyard side at each floor level serving four rooms.
These corridors are linked to the corridors in the Main Western Wing. In addition, there was access to them from the porches attached to the rear gables of these wings Å either to the ground floor corridors or, by a flight of stairs, to those on the first floor.
The Central Rear Wing
The central rear wing is slightly different than the other two and has suffered some degree of internal change difficult to assess because of the parlous condition of the building. The wing lacks a rear porch and separate steps up to the first floor, but does seem to have consisted of a series of rooms at each floor level linked by a corridor along the north side.
It has a water tower on top of its flat roof and is the only part of the complex to have a basement, presumably containing the central heating system and its boilers, etc. This wing was probably designed more for services than for accommodation.
6.4.2 Discussion
It is known that this range was built for trainee pilot accommodation in 1935-6 as part of the first phase of development of the Bristol Aeroplane CompanyÄs flying school. Similarities in style to the other BAC buildings suggests that the same architect was used - Cecil Jones of En-Tout-Cas.41
The accommodation consisted of small but well equipped rooms on each floor level in the main section and the north and south rear wings, linked by long corridors from a central entrance and stair hall section or by rear porches to the wings. The central rear wing may have contained services, but there were bathrooms and WCs more conveniently spread around the large complex.
For its time the accommodation was very good and perhaps slightly better than the usual RAF facilities. There were evidently minor subsequent changes, including the amalgamation of some rooms to make larger ones, as well as changes to the rear central wing. It is, however, substantially intact but the nature of its construction and lack of maintenance means that it is in a very poor structural condition.
41 see Francis, 1998, op. cit. 36; 56 76
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6.5 Building 38: The NCOÄs and AirmensÄ Hostel Block
The former NCOÄs and AirmensÄ Hostel Block (NGR: SU 0507 7125) is a large single-storey building added in 1937-8 in the second phase of development soon after the Bristol Aeroplane CompanyÄs flying school had been established. Originally the men had lived at Yatesbury Manor House; the similarities in style to the other BAC buildings suggests that the same architect was used - Cecil Jones of En-Tout-Cas.42 No additional internal access was attempted for this survey, and the internal photographs are those taken in 2008.
6.5.1 Description
This is a large single storey flat-roofed range with a long symmetrical footprint, consisting of two parts - the attenuated ÇI-shapedÄ main accommodation section aligned north-south and an ablutions block to the rear, or east, connected to it by a short link block.
Overall the main accommodation section is approximately 41.1m/135ft. long and generally 8.5m/28ft. wide. The link to the ablutions is just over 3m/10ft. long and 2.2m/7ft. 3ins. wide, and the ablutions block is 8.15m/27ft long (north-south) and 5.4m/17ft. 9ins. wide.
6.5.1.01 The Exterior
All of the components that make up this complex are of virtually identical construction and detailing. The walls constructed of standard machine-made ÇflettonÄ bricks laid to a virtual Stretcher Bond. The bricks are frogged and where visible have the LBC initials (the London Brick Company) stamped into them. Some have the brand name ÇPhorpresÄ stamped into them as well.
The outer face of the brickwork was covered with unlined two-coat painted render outside and in and was clearly not meant to be seen. Large areas of the render have fallen, exposing the bricks to the weather and also indicating areas where repairs have been made.
The walls rise from a tall plain rendered brick plinth and there is a three-brick course deep rendered string course beneath the plain parapet; that is capped by pre-cast concrete copers and hides the flat roof structure.
Window and doorway openings have concrete lintels and the former have projecting pre-cast concrete sills with integral throating in the soffit. The windows are mostly variants of steel-framed casements set into timber surrounds Å but in several cases only the surrounds have survived.
42 see Francis, 1998, op. cit. 36; 56 77
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Pl.47: The main west elevation of the Building 58; the entrances are in the gable ends.
Pl.48: Building 58 from the south-east, with the main range to the left and the ablutions wing to the right.
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
The Main Accommodation Section
The West Elevation
The west elevation is the ÇmainÄ elevation of the complex, being on the opposite side of the building to the ablutions block to the rear, but it is not an entrance front as the doorways into the building are in the gable ends and there are none on this elevation at all. This elevation is of sixteen bays in all Å a central twelve bay central section flanked by shallow projections at either end, each of two bays; these project by about 0.48m/1ft. 6ins. Some of the steel-framed windows remain in situ, though most are in a poor condition.
The Gable Elevations
The gable elevations of the main range are identical. They are quite plain apart from the central double doorways which have simple raised rendered surrounds. The southern doorway has the remnants of its timber frame and a rectangular fanlight but both have lost their doors.
The Rear Elevation
The rear elevation of the main range is similar to the front elevation, apart from the fact that the link block to the ablutions wing butts against it. To either side of this there is a small steel-framed window, then five bays of the standard sized windows, and, at each end, a two-bay projecting section mirroring those on the west elevation (see above).
The Ablutions Block
The virtually square Ablutions Block is linked to the main section by a slightly narrower one-bay link passage with large ÇCrittal-typeÄ steel-framed windows in each side. Apart from a large window in the east end of the block, the others are all fairly small and high silled, their disposition dictated by the internal partitions of shower and WC cubicles. On the south side there are two pairs of windows, one at either end, and on the north side, a similar pair at the east end but three separate windows towards the west.
6.5.1.02 The Roof
The building was flat-roofed throughout and the roof structure was very simple, consisting simply of timber joists, overlaid with boarding covered with asphalt. There was a series of square trimmed holes over the central passage that would have been topped with lantern lights. The remnants of the roof were taken down in the recent refurbishment works.
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Pl.49: The north elevation of Building 37, showing the doorway into the axial corridor.
Pl.50: The north side of the ablutions block and link corridor of Building 37 with rear of main range to the right.
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
6.5.1.03 The Interior
The interior was effectively gutted as part of the proposed redevelopment work and was not re-examined for this report for safety reasons. The following descriptions are therefore based on the 2008 report.
The Main Accommodation Section
The main accommodation section has a symmetrical layout. An axial passage runs throughout the range, accessed at each end by the double entrance doorways in the gables. In the end bays immediately inside the doorways the passage is stepped out to be slightly wider.
Throughout its length it is formed by load-bearing brick walls that carry both the joists for the floor and for the roof. There are sixteen rooms on each side of the passage.
Excluding the section at the junction between the main corridor and the link into the ablutions block, the rooms are paired, the doorways from the corridor of each pair side by side. Between each pair of rooms is a brick wall from the corridor wall to the side wall of the building.
Between the two rooms making up the pairs a brick partition wall from the corridor ends half-way to the side wall. The rest of the space is, or in most cases was, occupied by a pair of timber-framed ply-boarded opposing cupboards Å one facing into one room, and one into the other; this clever contrivance helped to save space.
These main rooms were the bedrooms, 30 in all, each accessed from the corridor, well lit by a large window in the side wall, equipped with a cupboard, and heated by a radiator.
The detailing is very plain, with ply-boarded doors in simple frames, plaster-board ceilings, plain plastered walls with simple skirting boards and picture rails, some surviving electric light fittings, and plain boarded floors. A few nice mass-produced Art Deco-type fittings have survived in the form of cupboard door handles.
There is a corridor at right-angles to the main corridor leading to the ablutions block. This is flanked by brick walls and at the western end are opposing doorways into small rooms on either side lit by the smaller windows in the side wall on either side of the link block. The southern room contains some electric switchboard equipment, the other seems to be kitted out as a store. The rear of the cupboards of the bedrooms immediately adjacent to these rooms project into them.
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Pl.51: The main corridor, looking north.
Pl.52: A typical bedroom.
Pl.53: The clever ÇbaffleÄ cupboards, serving rooms to either side.
(All 2008)
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
The Ablutions Block
The link corridor to the ablutions block is lit by large windows on each side and there are steps up to the main section. This has a terrazzo floor. The main section was a washroom probably with basins along the east wall, whilst to the south there are the shower cubicles, to the west, the WC cubicles, and in the north-eastern corner, the urinals. Most of the surviving fixtures and fittings, including the electric lighting, appears to be primary Å but vandalised.
6.5.2 Discussion
This was built as the NCOÄs and AirmensÄ Hostel Block in 1937-8 as part of the second phase of development after the Bristol Aeroplane CompanyÄs flying school had been established; the similarities in style to the other BAC buildings suggests that the same architect was used - Cecil Jones of En-Tout-Cas.43
The layout was simple, with a main accommodation block with an ablutions block attached to the rear. Clearly it was designed simply as accommodation and the mess accommodation was elsewhere on the site. The building is essentially intact, and has been little altered, but it is equally clearly in very poor condition.
Pl.54: Mid-1930Äs Çround-pinÄ brass plug fitting (2008).
Pl.55: Art Deco mid-1930Äs cupboard handle (2008).
Pl.56: Broken remnant of mid-1930Äs cast Art Deco handle (2008).
43 see Francis, 1998, op. cit. 36; 56 83
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
7. Smaller Buildings
7.1 The Squash Court (Building 39)
7.1.1 Description
The Squash Court (Building 39) is one of the best preserved buildings on the site, despite some water ingress that has partly ruined the internal floor surface. It is a rectangular structure of rendered 9Ö brickwork, stiffened by external buttresses Å clasping at each corner and three intermediate ones on each side wall. Much of the external render has fallen away.
The only openings are in the south gable end, This has a central ground-floor entrance with residual concrete architrave decoration, flanked by a pair of square- headed windows. There is another, longer, square-headed window at first-floor level.
The building has a pitched roof with overhanging eaves. It is covered in plain tile but has glazed skylights over the main playing area within. The roof is of three bays supported on steel-framed trusses. The inside of the roof is boarded.
Internally, most of the building is occupied by the squash court, which is open to the roof. This has a wooden floor Å partly damaged by leaks from the roof - and painted walls, lined for the rules of squash.
At the southern end there is a lobby area with a changing room to the east and a stair with quarter landing in the south-western corner. That leads up to a small gallery with a plain balustrade overlooking the squash court.
7.1.2 Discussion
This building was part of the original Flying School phase and is shown on the aerial photograph of circa 1936; it would have been more typical of En-tout-casÄ normal work than the airfield buildings. It appears to have continued in use as a squash court during the RAF period and afterwards, only become disused relatively recently.
Pl.57: The Squash Court on the circa 1936 aerial photograph. 84
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Pl.58: The Squash Court (Building 39) from the south-west.
Pl.59: The interior of the Squash Court, looking south to the gallery.
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
7.2 The Sick Quarters (Building 40)
7.2.1 Description
The Sick Quarters block (Building 40) is a fairly small and utilitarian rectangular structure built of rendered 9Ö brickwork stiffened by contemporary shallow external buttresses.
There are clasping buttresses at the corners, a single central buttress to wall-plate level in each gable, and intermediate buttresses in each side wall Å four on the south, or entrance front, and three on the rear.
The main entrance is between the two closely set central buttresses on the south side. The elevation is not quite symmetrical. There are pairs of square headed windows with steel-framed ÇCrittal-typeÄ glazing in the two bays to the east of the doorway, but only in the westernmost bay on the opposite side of it - and just a single window in the bay immediately to the west of the doorway.
On the rear elevation there are pairs of identical windows in the end bays and single windows in the two in between. There is a second entrance set to the right of centre on the west gable, with a small window next to it. The east gable end is devoid of openings.
The roof is plain gabled and consists of thin-scantling collared rafter couples and presumably was covered in corrugated asbestos cement sheeting. The interior was not examined but is divided into several small spaces by thin plastered brick walls.
7.2.2 Discussion
The building is simple but, compared to the adjacent Female Rest Room (Building 41), well built. It seems likely that this was part of the later phase of the Flying School development, added before the takeover by the RAF. It would have been a fairly small Sick Quarters for the size of base that developed after that date.
The building has been disused for some time and is now derelict, lacking its roof cover. Surprisingly, its main outer walls do not seem to be in too bad a condition, nevertheless.
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Pl.60: The Sick Quarters (Building 40) from the south-east.
Pl.61: The Sick Quarters from the north-west.
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7.3 The Female Rest Room (Building 41)
7.3.1 Description
The Female Rest Room (Building 41) is of a quite different character than the nearby Sick Quarters (Building 40), even though they were probably only built a year or two apart.
The building is a variant on the standard Air Ministry ÇtemporaryÄ rendered brick hutting, used extensively in both world wars for single storey buildings used for a wide variety of purposes. In this case the external brick piers are, at approximately 2m centres, much closer together than the general standard hutting design, which was of 3.1m (i.e. 10ft.) centres.
The building is in a very poor condition and overgrown, making a detailed assessment difficult and unsafe. The building has an attached lobby at the east gable end, as well as doorways in both side walls. The windows are square-headed, their positions reliant on internal divisions, and have steel-framed ÇCrittal-typeÄ glazing.
The roof is made up of thin-scantling timber collared rafter couples and has remnants of its original corrugated steel sheet covering. The interior partitions are a mixture of brick and fibre-board; some of the internal doors and other fittings survive but the interior was not examined in detail because of the poor condition of the building.
7.3.2 Discussion
This building appears to have been built soon after the RAF took over the site. The expanding numbers of personnel led to the need for dedicated facilities for women Å and the construction of this building. It was probably built around 1939-40 but not intended to have a particularly long life.
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Pl.62: The Female Rest Room (Building 41) from the south-east.
Pl.63: The Female Rest Room from the north-west.
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7.4 The Lecture Room (Building 7)
7.4.1 Description
The Lecture Room (Building 7) is a long, low, rectangular structure built of brick under a gabled roof. There are clasping brick buttresses at the corners and pairs of shallow buttresses in each gable end and, more widely spaced and substantial brick buttresses on each side wall.
In each side there are eleven windows Å with three sets of three together and a fourth set of two. The windows are square headed and have steel-framed ÇCrittal-likeÄ glazing.
On the east side, the middle of the penultimate triple set from the northern end is a doorway. There are single windows in the gable ends, but closer inspection shows that these are in the upper sections of blocked primary doorways.
The roof is made up of thin-scantling timber trusses, each consisting of coupled rafters and a nailed collar. The design of the purloins suggests that the roof was of corrugated asbestos-cement sheeting, but it is now uncovered.
The interior is now one single space, originally open to a ceiling at the level of the collars. There was a timber floor, but that has been removed leaving only the dwarf brick walls that supported it.
7.4.2 Discussion
This seems to have been part of the last phase of Flying School construction, immediately prior to the takeover of the site by the RAF. It was well-lit and designed as a teaching block or lecture room.
The original layout included doorways in the gable end as well as one in the east side, but this seems to have been changed very early on and the gable doorways were blocked and converted to windows.
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Pl.64: The Lecture Room (Building 7) from the south-east.
Pl.65: The interior if the Lecture Room, looking south.
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
7.5 The Motor Transport Shed (Building 28)
7.5.1 Description
The remains of the Motor Transport Shed consist of its rear and side walls, which are of brick. It clearly had a front section with large doorway openings, apparently divided by steel stanchions. The roof was evidently a shallow-pitched lean-to, possibly of four bays and supported on steel beams and purlins; the pitch would suggest it had to be covered in sheeting, presumably of corrugated asbestos cement.
7.5.2 Discussion
This was not part of the first phase of the flying school, and is not shown on the circa 1936 aerial photograph. It seems to have been built before 1938, but now is a ruinous shell that is of very limited heritage value.
Pl.66: The remains of the Motor Transport Shed (Building 28) from the south-east.
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7.6 Building No.27: The Power House
7.6.1 Description
The Power House (Building 27) was built as part of the Flying School phase between the wars and is clearly shown on an aerial photograph of the site taken shortly after it opened in 1936.
It is a tall single-storey rectangular structure built of standard 9Ö brick with a series of external buttresses, all originally cement rendered and, as the photograph shows, originally painted bright white.
The window openings are tall and square headed, currently lacking the steel-framed glazing. Externally it is of two main sections Å a southern four-bay section where the main diesel generators were positioned, and a rear section of two wider bays, presently inaccessible. The evidence of the fabric and of the aerial photograph shows that the northernmost bay is a slightly later addition to the original building.
Decoration is limited to the concrete capping of the buttresses, the remnants of concrete architraves to the doorways, particularly the large off-set doorway in the south gable wall. The south gable elevation is topped by a false coped gable, the roof itself being flat Å made of concrete supported by RSJs..
The interior has been stripped of its original fixtures and fittings, but the beds of the diesel engines are clearly visible; there was originally a pair of Crossley diesels and a third was added later. The 4-ton capacity travelling crane by Herbert Morris does survive, however.
Most of the external render has fallen from the brickwork and the windows and doors have mostly been removed. The building is in a poor condition, but is derelict rather than ruinous.
7.6.2 Discussion
This was an important building of the inter-war flying school, providing electricity to the expanding base. That role clearly continued into the RAF phase and beyond the Second World War but the building became redundant after the base was closed.
Pl.67: The Power House as built, as shown on the circa 1936 aerial photograph. 93
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Pl.68: The Power House (Building 27) from the south-west.
Pl.69: The interior of the Power House, showing the beds of the diesel engines and the small travelling crane.
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7.7 The Four-Bay Garage (Building 23)
7.7.1 Description
The Four-Bay Garage (Building 23) was one of the original buildings of the flying school period and had been built by the time of the circa 1936 aerial photograph. It consists of a main tall single-storey section aligned west-east, with the remains of a lean-to attached to the rear, or north.
It is built of 9Ö rendered brickwork, but most of the render has fallen away. The south elevation consists of four large vehicular openings divided by timber stanchions supporting the wall-plates; the doors are missing. There are no openings in the rear or gable ends of the main part of the building.
In the gable ends there are single shallowly-projecting brick buttresses, and there are further buttresses of similar design projecting from the north side of the rear wall on the lines of the roof trusses.
The roof has brick gabled ends with concrete coping but these have nothing to do with the roof structure. The roof structure is of four bays with steel trusses Å even at each end. The trusses supported thin timber purlins to which the corrugated asbestos- cement sheeting was once fixed; none of this survives. The interior is featureless.
The lean-to rear section was clearly part of the original design, but only the west wall survives. It is possible that this was originally a section containing four garages as well, with openings it its lost north wall. The internal brickwork was limewashed.
7.7.2 Discussion
This was one of the original flying school buildings and was probably built in 1936. It was presumably designed for motor vehicles Å larger ones in the main section and smaller ones to the rear. Whilst the front section survives, despite the loss of its roof covering and doors, the rear section is roofless and ruinous.
Pl.70: Extract from the 1936 aerial photograph, showing the Four-bay garage.
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Pl.71: The Four-Bay Garage (Building 23) from the south-west.
Pl.72: The north side of the Four-bay Garage.
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7.8 The Single-Bay Garage (Building 20)
7.8.1 Description
The Single-bay Garage (Building 20) is a brick-built structure, virtually square in plan beneath a plain gabled roof. The bricks are red and appear to have been whitewashed rather than rendered.
In the front, or south, elevation is a full-width doorway under a concrete-faced lintel. This has the remains of the original Henderson sliding door, of panelled timber construction hanging off a steel rail. In the gable above is a small louvred vent.
In the side walls there are rectangular windows under concrete lintels and projecting brick sills. These openings have their original steel-framed ÇCrittal-typeÄ windows; the rear gable is devoid of openings.
The building has a three-bay roof, with nailed king-post trusses made up of thin scantling sawn timber, originally supporting corrugated asbestos cement sheeting. The interior is one single space with concrete floor and few surviving fixtures or fittings of note.
7.8.2 Discussion
This was not one of the original flying school period buildings, and is not shown on the circa 1936 aerial photograph. It seems to have been shortly afterwards, and certainly prior to the take over by the RAF. It was built to house a floodlight trailer, an important piece of equipment requiring its own bespoke garage.
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Pl.73: The Single-Bay Garage (Building 20) from the south-west.
Pl.74: The interior of the Single-Bay Garage, showing the sliding door arrangement.
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7.9 The Seven-Bay Motor Transport Workshop (Building 21)
7.9.1 Description
The Seven-Bay Motor Transport Workshop was built on the site of an earlier vehicle shed built in the First World War and still shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1924. It is a rectangular brick-built structure of seven bays and originally of one storey open to the roof; the brickwork is articulated externally by shallow buttresses to the rear and four in each gable end.
The only openings were originally the vehicle openings on the east, or yard, side Å formed in RSJ stanchions and lintels. This elevation was altered recently when the building was converted as the site offices for the redevelopment project. The roof is plain gabled and supported by steel-framed trusses, covered with asbestos cement corrugated sheeting. The formerly open interior has been sub-divided into offices.
7.9.2 Discussion
This building was part of the expansion of the original Flying School facilities in the 1937-38 period and still built to a style dictated by the school rather than by the RAF. It was a simple workshop design and the basic shell survives, though the interior and the east elevation were radically altered to convert it into temporary site offices.
Pl.75: The recently modified front elevation of the Seven-Bay Motor Transport Workshop (Building 21) from the south-east. 99
Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
Pl.76: The Seven-Bay Motor Transport Workshop from the north-west.
Pl.77: The Fire Engine Garage (Building 22) from the south-east.
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7.10 The Fire Engine Garage (Building 22)
7.10.1 Description
The single-bay garage (Building 22) to the east of the Seven-Bay Transport Workshop (Building 21) is thought to have been built to house the stationÄs fire engine. It is built on the site of one of the First World War RFC buildings. It is a simple rectangular single-storey structure built of 9Ö brick, painted but apparently not rendered.
The main entrance is a virtually full-height and full-width doorway in the south gable, beneath an RSJ lintel, largely boarded in during the recent period, with a small ÇJudasÄ gate in the same type of boar as a temporary entrance.
Each side elevation is of four bays, articulated by projecting brick buttresses, with square-headed windows under concrete lintels in the two central ones. There is also a similar window in the rear gable elevation.
The present plain gabled roof is largely a modern reconstruction and is covered with plain tiles. A first floor has recently been inserted into the interior, and its walls have been partly lined in studwork Å but the full refurbishment has been postponed.
The single-bay garage (Building 22) to the east of the Seven-Bay Transport Workshop (Building 21) is thought to have been built to house the stationÄs fire engine. It is a simple rectangular single-storey structure built of 9Ö brick, painted but not rendered.
The main entrance is a virtually full-height and full-width doorway in the south gable, beneath an RSJ lintel, largely boarded in during the recent period, with a small ÇJudasÄ gate in the same type of boar as a temporary entrance.
Each side elevation is of four bays, articulated by projecting brick buttresses, with square-headed windows under concrete lintels in the two central ones. There is also a similar window in the rear gable elevation.
The present plain gabled roof is largely a modern reconstruction and is covered with plain tiles. A first floor has recently been inserted into the interior, and its walls have been partly lined in studwork Å but the full refurbishment has been postponed.
7.10.2 Discussion
This was probably part of the second phase of the flying school period, perhaps built by 1938. The suggested use of the building as a fire engine garage seems plausible; it is very similar to the nearby Single-Bay Garage (Building 21) to the west. The building was in the process and being refurbished when the redevelopment scheme for the site was stopped, so is in fairly good condition.
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7.11 The Oil & Petrol Stores (Buildings 11 and 12)
7.11.1 Description
The Oil and Petrol stores (Building 11 and 12) are two identical structures built next to each other just to the north of Building 2, the surviving RFC hanger. Both are small single storey structures built of 9Ö buff coloured brick.
Each has in its front elevation a central double doorway with plank doors flanked by tall square-headed window openings with steel-framed ÇCrittal-typeÄ glazing. Each also has a small vent in the gable end, but there are no other openings. There is little of note in their interior spaces.
The buildings have simple renewed two-bay plain gabled roofs with a central king- post truss made up of thin-scantling sawn timber; these support a single tier of purlins and the roofs are covered in plain tiles. They have continuous eaves boards which join the plain bargeboards of the gable ends.
7.11.2 Discussion
Both of these buildings appear to have been built as part of the initial phase of the Flying School, and were probably completed by 1936. It is unclear which was used to store oil and which petrol. They have been redundant for some time but were partly repaired recently and are not in too bad a condition as a result.
Pl.78: The former Oil and Petrol stores (Buildings 11 and 12) from the north-east.
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7.12 Other Structures
Throughout the study area there are the remnants of other structures and areas of hard standing, some of which dates back to the First World War. The most common structures are the semi-buried air raid shelters, marked by a grassed embankment and with blast-proof concrete-lined entrances. Other structures include water tanks and hut bases.
There is a defined pattern of access roads, some of which are now lined by mature trees that form part of the character of the Conservation Area. Other areas of hard standing are littered with debris amassed over the half century or so since the base was effectively closed.
Not included in this report are those airfield buildings not within the proposed redevelopment area, mainly to the north of the line of Jugglers Lane. These include the guardhouse opposite Building 46 at the entrance to the site, two pillboxes, latrine blocks, gas chamber, a pair of houses built in 1935-6 for the resident engineer and the resident foreman, and temporary hutting from the Second World War, including a pair of 'Handcraft' huts.
Pl.79: Typical entrance to one of the many air-raid shelters on the site.
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8. Conclusions & Heritage Impact Statement
The buildings of the former RAF base at Yatesbury are an interesting and important collection of military aviation buildings dating to a relatively short period in the first half of the 20th century. They represent the development of air power during that period, from the response to the rapid growth and significance in the First World War to the more studied anticipation of its role in what would become the Second World War. Overall, this grouping of the buildings of the former RAF base at Yatesbury is both of historic interest and visually prominent in the north Wiltshire downland.
The three former Royal Flying Corps hangers of the First World War in the study area represent rare survivals of this short-lived design still in their original positions, though evidently upgraded and re-sheeted after being abandoned for many years; their basic framing and roofs had survived. However, they could only be seen as isolated remnants of the First World War airfield, their original - and very temporary - context having been effectively removed following the end of hostilities.
Their condition did show how such buildings Å prefabricated as cheaply as possible and designed only for a fairly short life span - could rapidly become derelict and structurally unsound without proper maintenance. It is quite clear from the fabric analysis that the hangers, then barely 17 years old, had to be radically rebuilt after the flying school took over the site in 1935 because of the condition they were in; one was, in 1936, specifically described as 'the relics of a dilapidated hanger'.
The recent renovation schemes also indicate how difficult it is to repair such buildings appropriately to meet the demands of even the least radical adaptive re-use without loss of primary fabric, simply because of the nature of their construction and their poor condition. Sadly, although one was carefully restored prior to the redevelopment falling victim to the financial crisis, the other two have since collapsed - even though restoration of one of these had begun - and both are beyond practical repair.
Despite having to be virtually dismantled and rebuilt with many new parts, the surviving hanger - Building No.2 - is still considered to be worthy of its Grade II* status as a rare surviving example of its type in its original position. It is now the oldest surviving building on the site and will be the sole tangible remnant, apart from some paved areas, of the RFC station of the First World War. The two collapsed hangers are no longer of such importance and have to be considered to be beyond restoration.
The former Civilian Training School buildings of the mid-1930Äs built by En-tout-cas represent a rare corpus of this type of buildings of this date and are of some historical interest because of their role in the secretive re-armament of the RAF (in supplying ÇcivilianÄ pilot training), and architecturally as a collection of cheaply built but uniformly moderne and well designed buildings suited to their original purposes.
Even in these buildings there is evidence of a degree of alteration, presumably undertaken soon after they were taken over officially by the RAF a couple of years after being completed. However, it is in the external appearance and grouping of
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire these buildings that their interest lies, rather than their fairly conventional internal layouts and surviving fixtures and fittings.
Ironically, there is only one building - the Female Rest Room - still standing within the development area to represent the RAF period. There are structures - such as the air raid shelters - and some hard standing of this phase of the site's history, but the few other buildings of this date are outside the boundaries of the study area. As a result, the grouping of the surviving buildings relates primarily to the immediate pre-war phase and to the Flying School.
This effective purging of later structures helps to form the architectural and historical character of the development site and the Conservation Area created to encompass the airfield. The buildings are also set within a mature setting defined by avenues of trees and accidental landscaping.
The surviving RFC hanger is Grade II* listed and the Combined Officers' Mess and Office Block is Grade II listed. Both are worthy of retention as important designated heritage assets. It is considered that all of the other structures are curtilage listed, and the whole site is part of a Conservation Area and within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The site is, therefore, one that enjoys several layers of designated heritage protection.
The buildings were, except for the Squash Court (Building 39) in a poor condition by the start of the 21st century. The redevelopment work that took place between 2007 and 2009 did help to conserve most of the brick-built structures and saved one of the RFC hangers.
It is clear that the only way to ensure the long-term survival of the buildings on the site - and thus maintain or enhance individually listed buildings, the other curtilage listed buildings, and the setting of both the Conservation Area and the AONB - is adaptive re-use with a degree of enabling development.
It seems that the overall scale and design of the buildings means that they can be adapted for new uses, including residential, without impacting significantly on their external appearance or architectural character.
The renovation of the buildings will restore decaying empty structures with peeling grey render exposing cheap place brickwork and gaping window openings more or less back to their original pristine condition - with crisp, white paint enhancing their moderne design.
It is considered that the proposed redevelopment of the site will have a beneficial impact on the heritage values and significance of the surviving buildings, and enhance the character of the Conservation Area and the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in which they are situated.
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
9. References
Armitage, M, 1993, The Royal Air Force: An Illustrated History
Department for Communities & Local Government, 2010, Planning Policy Statement No.5: Planning for the Historic Environment
Department for Communities & Local Government, 2012, National Planning Policy Framework
Ekwall, E, 1970, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names,
English Heritage, 2006, Understanding Historic Buildings: A Guide to Good Recording Practice Forsyth, A, 1982, Buildings for the Age: New Building Types 1900-1939
Francis, P, 1996, British Military Airfield Architecture
Francis, P, 1998, RAF Yatesbury: History & Condition Survey
Morriss, R K, 2008, RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire: An Architectural and Archaeological Assessment of Key Buildings (Mercian Heritage Series No.417).
Taylor, M, 2001, ÇThe Cherhill ConnectionÄ, in Sparks: Yatesbury Assc. Newsletter,
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected] RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire
The Consultancy
Richard K Morriss founded this Consultancy in 1995 after previously working for English Heritage and the Ironbridge Institute of the University of Birmingham and spending eight years as Assistant Director of the Hereford Archaeology Unit. Although Shropshire-based the Consultancy works throughout the UK on a wide variety of historic buildings for clients that include the National Trust, the Landmark Trust, English Heritage, the Crown Estates, owners, architects, planning consultants and developers. It specialises in the archaeological and architectural analysis of historic buildings of all periods and planning advice related to them. It also undertakes broader area appraisals and Conservation Plans.
Richard Morriss is a former Member of the Institute of Field Archaeologists, a Member of the Association of Diocesan and Cathedral Archaeologists, archaeological advisor to four cathedrals, occasional lecturer at Bristol and Birmingham universities, and author of 20 books mainly on architecture and archaeology, including The Archaeology of Buildings (Tempus 2000), The Archaeology of Railways (Tempus 1999); Roads: Archaeology & Architecture (Tempus 2006) and ten in the Buildings of series: Bath, Chester, Ludlow, Salisbury, Shrewsbury, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick, Winchester, Windsor, Worcester (Sutton 1993-1994).
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Richard K Morriss & Associates, Historic Buildings Consultants, Bromlow House, Bromlow, Shropshire, SY5 0EA [email protected]