St George’s Memorial Chapel, Biggin Hill Statement of Significance Prepared for the London Borough of Bromley July 2015 Alan Baxter St George’s Memorial Chapel, Biggin Hill Statement of Significance Prepared for the London Borough of Bromley July 2015 Contents 1.0 Introduction ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������1 2.0 History �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������4 3.0 Significance ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������26 Appendix 1: HER map �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������35 Appendix 2: Statutory List entries �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������37 Alan Baxter 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Background to the project 1.2 Purpose of this report The Statement of Significance was researched and written by Alfie Stroud of ABA. All photographs are copyright of ABA unless otherwise The present-day Biggin Hill Airport is substantially the historic Royal LB Bromley has commissioned a team of specialists led by Alan Baxter credited. All drawings and graphic design were produced by Vera Air Force (RAF) aerodrome, RAF Biggin Hill, established by the Royal Limited (ABA) to produce a Statement of Significance for St George’s Fabiankova and Julio Mendoza, also of ABA. Flying Corps (RFC) in 1917 and operational until 1959. Chapel and the dispersal hut at Biggin Hill Airport, and a Condition Survey of the dispersal hut — the latter to include a condition analysis Heritage Impact Assessment The cessation of funding from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to the and costed options assessment for repairs, surveys and structural RAF-maintained St George’s Memorial Chapel, Biggin Hill, announced engineering report. This suite of documents and drawings amounts The suite of documents produced for this inception stage of LB in 2014, coincides with the very end of the viable life of the structure to a foundational statement of the history and heritage significance Bromley’s project concludes with ABA’s Heritage Impact Assessment at Biggin Hill Airport’s former East Camp known as the dispersal hut. of the two structures, an analysis of the condition and conservation (HIA). This is a short strategic report which identifies critical Of all the buildings in the former RAF aerodrome, the Chapel and the requirements of the dispersal hut, and an options appraisal, considerations for conserving the two historic buildings, considering dispersal hut are most closely associated with the Battle of Britain, the anticipated impact analysis and heritage strategy for the repair and their fullest history and heritage significance, in anticipation of the defining aerial battle fought in July to October 1940 in resistance to relocation of the hut in the precinct of the Chapel as part of the relocation of the hut and development of the Memorial Museum. It Hitler’s drive to occupy Western Europe. In the Battle, RAF Biggin Hill development of a Memorial Museum. ends with eight modest recommendations which may help to direct played a key role — it was named ‘The Strongest Link’. the next stage of the process. The team comprises ABA Conservation, with Malcolm Fryer Architects, In developing a plan to overcome the threats to the continued Andrew Morton Associates (quantity surveyors), James Brennan existence of the two structures, London Borough of Bromley (LB Associates (chartered surveyors) and ABA’s Structural Engineering Acknowledgements Bromley) has an opportunity to conserve and sustain both of these team. Their work has been completed through site visits, archival Thanks for assistance with the research, consideration and preparation irreplaceable historic buildings for the foreseeable future, on a single research and off-site research, analysis and reporting between April of this work are gratefully given to Breda Daly, Roger J C Thomas site of enhanced heritage significance. and June 2015. and Matthew Cooper, all of Historic England, for their help with research and review. The RAF Archive Hendon gave valuable research LB Bromley expects to acquire the Chapel and its precinct from the assistance. Kristen Alexander and Erik Mannings kindly responded to Introduction 1.0 MoD in 2016/17. The Borough granted the civil airport to Biggin Hill 1.3 Structure and authorship email queries about their relatives who served at Biggin Hill. Laurie Airport Limited (BHAL) in 1974 on a 125-year lease. BHAL owns the Chester, the Custodian of St George’s Memorial Chapel, supported dispersal hut, but has agreed to its relocation by the Council to the our investigation of the Chapel and cares for it knowledgeably and Chapel site. The Treasury has awarded £1m towards LB Bromley’s Statement of Significance diligently. Katy Woolcott and Colin Hitchins of Biggin Hill Airport creation of a Battle of Britain heritage complex at the Chapel site, to This Statement of Significance sets out a concise but wide-ranging Limited also provided invaluable information and support on the comprise the conserved Chapel and a Memorial Museum with visitor history of the Memorial Chapel set in the context of the history and airport site. Dr Howard Tuck of Minerva Specialist Projects and Col Phil centre and facilities. development of RAF Biggin Hill. This is the evidence which informs the Wilson of the Royal Engineers were also consulted. Statement of Significance with which this document concludes. Alan Baxter St George’s Memorial Chapel, Biggin Hill Statement of Significance / July 2015 1 Site Plan St George’s Chapel precinct; site of Memorial Museum Dispersal Hut (not original location) 1.0 Introduction 1.0 Ordnance Survey © Crown Copyright 2015. All rights reserved. Licence number 100022432. Plotted Scale - 1:6000 2 St George’s Memorial Chapel, Biggin Hill Statement of Significance / July 2015 Alan Baxter The Chapel precinct: identification of buildings N N Air Cadets’ Building, former RC Chapel (site of Site of Parachute Packers’ Hut) MG Car park Works Central Heating North Range boiler-house extension and chimney St George’s Memorial Chapel Introduction 1.0 St George’s Gate Guardians Room Nave Screen Memorial Garden Bell tower OASC building BIGGIN HILL STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE PLAN Alan Baxter St George’s Memorial Chapel, Biggin Hill Statement of Significance / July 2015 3 1711/200 JULY 2015 Alan Baxter 2.0 History Biggin Hill’s official role in military aviation places it among the oldest aerodromes in Britain, pre-dating even its official opening on 14 February 1917 as a landing ground of the Royal Flying Corps. While it retains a powerful cultural resonance founded in events which occurred 75 years ago, the site’s century-long history of innovation in aviation and associated technologies also persists. Biggin Hill’s early association with aviation is owed to its elevated situation, of about 200m above sea level on a solid bed of clay above the mist-prone vale to the south and west. The land on which the Airport stands was historically part of the manor of Aperfield, owned by the Earls of Stanhope, part of the parish of Cudham; the village of Cudham is about two miles to the east. Several houses stood in the manor, including Aperfield Court and Cudham Lodge, a Tudor establishment rebuilt in the eighteenth century. The tenanted farm stood on a site near the middle of what is today the Airport’s main runway. Frederick Henry Dougal, an entrepreneur, acquired part of the manor in 1895. He sold inexpensive plots for development, eventually led to the development of the modern village of Biggin Hill, south of the Airport. 2.0 History 2.0 John Westacott was farming Cudham Lodge at the outbreak of the First World War. Even before 1914, he may have allowed private pilots to make use of a very large flat field on the east side of the Westerham Road, spanning the area between what is now the south end of West Camp and Churchill Way. At the corner of this field, at the junction of Westerham Road and Saltbox Hill, stood the ‘Old Salt Box’ — a pair of eighteenth-century farm cottages with very steeply sloping roofs, which were said to be a helpful landmark for pilots. The shocking potential of the aeroplane as an engine of war was revealed during the First World War (1914–18). The development of Biggin Hill as a military aerodrome reflects the exploitation of that potential, in three district phases. Image: National Library of Scotland, http://maps.nls.uk/view/101428869) Scotland, of Library National Image: A 1909 OS map of the Biggin Hill area, showing the large fields attached to Cudham Lodge, visible near the top centre, and the Saltbox cottages, where a road to Cudham Lodge joined the curve in the Westerham Road. 4 St George’s Memorial Chapel, Biggin Hill Statement of Significance / July 2015 Alan Baxter View: Kent XXVIII.NW (includes: Orpington.) - Ordnance Survey Six-inch England and Wales, 1842-1952 http://maps.nls.uk/view/101428869 2.1 The Royal Flying Corps Aerodrome and the First World War Radio With the permission of the Stanhopes, the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) — the air arm of the British Army — opened a landing ground at Cudham Lodge Farm in 1914. Early in the First World War, which broke out the same summer, emergency night-time landings were taking place. Experimentation with radio technology followed,