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Summary

Complex of late 20th century buildings, built as a school for children of American service personnel and converted to a secure residential hospital after the airbase was closed

Monument Type(s):

• ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (Late 20th century - Present - 1981 AD? to 1992 AD?)
• MILITARY SUPPORT BUILDING (Late 20th century - Present - 1981 AD? to 1992 AD?)
• SECONDARY SCHOOL (Late 20th century - Present - 1981 AD? to 1992 AD?)
• PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL (Late 20th century - Present to Early 21st century - 1995 AD? to 2050 AD)

Full Description

Thornford Park Hospital is a secure residential unit for people whose rights are restricted under the Mental Health Act, providing forensic inpatient services across ten wards and two shared flats. In 2020 a psychiatric intensive care unit opened for female patients. The complex of buildings at the eastern end of Crookham Common has been added to and developed in the early 21st century, but originated as a school serving the largely American personnel of RAF Greenham Common base.

It is not clear exactly when this school was first built; a few structures and trackways are shown in this location on the 5th Epoch Ordnance Survey mapping of 1970 <1>, but they are north of a dispersal area of the airfield. There were major developments at Greenham Common in the 1980s and a planning application of 1982 sought highway access to an Elementary and High School at RAF Greenham Common <2>, which may have been the first stage of construction. The school was short-lived, however, as the USAAF left in 1992 and permission was sought in 1995 for the conversion of the vacant school to form a nursing home, training centre, rehabilitation centre and private hospital <3>. The complex included leisure and recreation facilities which were retained. A 1999 aerial photograph <4> shows several large blocks of buildings and an oval running track.

Sources and further reading

Related Monuments

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

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