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Summary

Location of former mid-20th century accommodation to the south of the Royal Ordnance Factory, Burghfield and associated with this facility

Other Statuses and Cross-References

• National Monuments Record No.: SU 66 NE 84
  SU6781367314
• Pastscape Mon No or Hob UID
  1605672

Monument Type(s):

• MILITARY CAMP (Second World War to Mid 20th century - 1940 AD? to 1946 AD?)
• WORKERS HOSTEL (Mid 20th century - 1946 AD? to 1960 AD?)

Full Description

The 5th Epoch 1:10,000 Ordnance Survey mapping <1> shows a large number of regularly spaced H-shaped buildings, together with several larger ones, within a parcel of land immediately adjacent to the Royal Ordnance Factory at Burghfield. The complex is marked as a hostel, and it seems likely to have been associated with either the construction or maintenance of the factory, later known as Burghfield Atomic Weapons Establishment.

The hostel buildings appear to have been removed by 1970 <2>, and the land is used as a sports ground in the 21st century <3>.

The Silchester Iron Age Environs mapping project <4> recorded the buildings as a Second World War military camp attached to the southern edge of Burghfield Royal Ordnance Explosives Filling Factory. The camp is visible on aerial photographs of the 1940s <5> and its area measures 315 m by 127 m. It later became an agricultural field and no longer part of the military site.

According to a history of AWE Burghfield <6>, the Grazeley Green Hostel was built for 600 female employees of the Royal Ordnance Factory from Wales and Ireland. It was constructed by a joint consortium of Coode, Wilson, Vaughan-Lee and Gwyther chartered civil engineers. It had timber ‘H’-shaped accommodation blocks containing four bedroom wings joined together by a central ablution block with bathrooms, showers and toilets. It also had a central welfare block, which included a large assembly hall/theatre, common rooms and a dining room. It was used by the Royal Ordnance Factory up to c. 1969 and demolished in around 1970.

There is anecdotal evidence <6> that the Grazeley Green Hostel was used as overflow accommodation for US troops, in particular the 44th Bomb Wing, HQ Wing, 1st Fighter Division, at least from October 1943.

Sources and further reading

Related Monuments

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

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