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> RAF Bases
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Woodhall Spa
1917 - 1919: Convalescent home for American officers
Opened: 1940
Re-designated: 1943 United States Army Seventh General Hospital
Re-designated: 1945 RAF Nocton Hall
Closed: 31 Mar 1983
Leased to USAF: 1984 - 1995
Formally closed 23 Jun 1995, handed back by US Forces Sep 1995
Units based here:
United States Army Seventh General Hospital
There has been a Hall in Nocton for hundreds of years and each incarnation has had a particular affinity with flames. The current Nocton Hall was rebuilt in 1841 for the first Earl of Ripon. By the Great War it had passed into the Hodgson family, and after the United States' entry into the War in 1917 the family moved into Embsay House in the village, and the Hall was turned into a convalescent home for American officers wounded in the War, the last of whom left in 1919. Towards the end of 1919 the now vacant Hall and its estate were sold to William H. Dennis who having little affection for domestic life in the village, did not reside there.
Having lain vacant since the departure of the American military in 1919, Nocton Hall became attractive during the gathering storm in the late 1930s. It was soon clear that the rapid increase in RAF stations being created across Lincolnshire would exhaust the only RAF Hospital in the county at Cranwell. The Air Ministry acted and acquired the Hall and 200 acres of parkland in 1940 and built an RAF Hospital. However, even before it had opened it was deemed to be too small and another RAF Hospital was established at Rauceby.
Nocton Hall did not go to waste and was instead leased to the US Army - again! - to be used as an Army "clearing station". A complex of buildings was added to the east of the Hall and was formally re-designated the United States Army Seventh General Hospital.
At the end of the War in 1945 the RAF selected Nocton Hall to be their permanent general hospital for the county of Lincolnshire, No 1 RAF Hospital Nocton Hall. This required additional building works which started in 1946, adding four wards, admitting the first patient on 1 Nov 1947. The Hall was at least initially used to billet female RAF medical staff, with married quarters built nearby.
Construction and expansion continued apace with the following facilities added:
by 1954: ENT, surgical, opthalmic and dental
May 1957: Maternity Wing
1966: Twin operating theatres, neuro-psychiatric centre.
The decision was taken on 31 Mar 1983 to close RAF Nocton Hall which had developed into a 740 bed hospital, used by civilians and forces personnel, and one of the country’s undisputed RAF Hospitals.
Almost immediately, in 1984 Nocton Hall (hospital) was leased to the US Armed Forces for a third time, as a United States Air Force wartime contingency hospital. During the Gulf War in 1991/92 that contingency was activated with approximately 1300 US medical staff being sent to staff it, as the 310th Contingency Hospital from Travis Air Force Base in Northern California. Many were billeted at RAF Scampton. Almost unbelievably, only 35 casualties were treated at Nocton during the conflict. Once the ground operations had completed, and the patients and staff dispersed, only 13 American personnel remained at the site to keep the hospital serviceable.
In the mid 1980s Mr Torrie Richardson bought Nocton Hall, the surrounding wood, woodland, grassland and cottages. The profits from selling the cottages for redevelopment left him with the capital to Nocton Hall as a Residential Home which was a significant local employer.
There followed a short period serving as an RAF forward outpatient department, from 1992 until 1993. This formally closed in 1994, with one contributor to the site, Steve Pickett, PMRAFNS, being present at the closing ceremony. Then the RAF Hospital site was again handed back to the state on 30 Sep 1995 to stand empty once more. Meanwhile Mr Gary Richardson was forced to closed the Residential Home in the mid 1990s after financial difficulties, and the Hall was sold by the receivers to Leda Properties of Oxford. In turn, Leda also bought the RAF Hospital site from the MOD, having been identified for disposal by the Defence Estates.
The site remained undeveloped for years, with predictable random looting and targeted removal if items like bannisters and fireplaces. Shortly before midnight on Sat 24 Oct 04 the Hall was set ablaze by arsonists. At its height, about 70 firefighters attended the blaze which started just before midnight. After several hours it was brought under control, but the roof collapsed and the building was severely damaged. Only a shell was to remain.
A second fire in 2005 caused further damage; photos will be added in due course.
The Victorian Society chose to list Nocton Hall in Oct 2009 in its top 10 endangered buildings list for England and Wales. Due to continued inactivity by the developers, English Heritage have also placed it on the UK 'Buildings At Risk' register and are seeking with North Kesteven District Council to secure and preserve what is left of the old Hall and restore its gardens.
There are two pages which, together, provide detailed history of the Hall and its owners on the MACLA website > http://www.macla.co.uk/newsmag/2009/06/the-history-of-raf-nocton-hall.html
Three videos taken around the hospital site in 2009
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