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Summary

Unlisted mid 20th century building, perhaps associated with the Atomic Weapons Establishment or later use of Aldermaston Court

Associated Legal Designations or Protected Status

• Registered Park or Garden (II) 1000530: Aldermaston Court

Monument Type(s):

• CRICKET PAVILION (Cold War to Late 20th century - 1946 AD? to 2000 AD?)

Full Description

The Registered Park description for Aldermaston Court briefly mentions the cricket ground on the east boundary <1>. The First Edition Ordnance Survey mapping of 1877 depicts a cricket ground with a pavilion at SU 5875 6395, about 800m to the south of the mansion. Although this Victorian pavilion continues to be depicted on OS mapping up to the 5th Epoch of 1971 <2>, it is likely that it was demolished when this part of the park was developed as Aldermaston Airfield in the Second World War, or the during the 1950s Atomic Weapons Establishment era. A cricket pavilion was included in the 1939 sales particulars <4>. The alternative cricket ground and cricket building at SU 6009 6491 is also drawn on the 5th Epoch OS mapping, here dated 1968 <2>.

Information submitted in 2016 with a major planning application for the park of Aldermaston Court <3> included photographs of the cricket pavilion, described as being unused and in a state of disrepair. It is a single storey building of six bays with a veranda running the length of the front elevation. It is built of timber weatherboarding on a brick base, painted black and white. The roof is corrugated iron. It is suggested that it dates to the later 20th century, associated with the occupation and activities of the Blue Circle organisation, but the mapping evidence shows that it is earlier, and it could possibly have been built as part of the Atomic Weapons Establishment occupation of the site in the 1950s.

Sources and further reading

Related Monuments

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

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