Well, it’s not
easy to unravel because it was, er, a secret, you understand. But it seems that
the grounds of Kirklevington Hall, situated between the village of the same
name to the south and Yarm to the north, were a hotbed of covert activity
during the mid-20th century.
The hall itself
was built by the Richardsons of Hartlepool in around 1881, and used as a family
home until the great engineering family were decimated by the Great War. The
final surviving family member died in 1940, and it passed, eventually, into the
hands of the military who set the place up as a secret base of sorts – a WWII command
centre, in fact, for a large tract of the North-East.
The hall itself
was utilised, of course, and PoW pens were built in the grounds, but were never
used. No one seems quite sure what else went on there, but a huge sprawling
bunker was also constructed – but as far as I am able to ascertain this was
built in the 1950s during the early years of the Cold War. Officially it was
known as a ‘Royal Artillery Anti-Aircraft Operations Room’ (AAOR) and covered
the Tees
anti-aircraft zone. It seems to have formed an absolutely crucial link in our
Cold War defence network.
Back in the year
2000 the ‘bunker’ looked like this – not sure what has become of it since. As for the hall, well, it’s
now a hotel.
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