The tortured history of Nocton Hall includes several vacant owners and two wartime requisitions. This history of neglect, institutional takeovers and non-occupiers leads invariably to the burnt out shell which exists today. Yet Nocton Hall has another legacy, a massive war time construction which not only survived the war years, but continued to provide a service well into the nineties.
Nocton Hall Hospital lies derelict and abandoned in the grounds of the equally derelict and abandoned hall. Its history and fate is entwined with the stately manor in whose grounds it defiantly stands. And like the hall it’s architecturally interesting: not for Victorian grandeur and gothic splendour (which the hall processes); but for its form, function, simplicity and sturdy wartime construction.
It wasn’t going to be pretty but it was going to be interesting.
The sky was deep blue and the heat was stifling. It was the sort of heat that visually manifested itself by shimmering on the horizon. Initially we were glad to be out of the dank, cold basements of Nocton Hall, but we soon longed for their cool darkness again. Luckily our route took us into a small copse, the trees providing ample protection from the sun, although we had to pick our way through the nettles carefully.
The first hospital buildings encountered were hidden behind huge mounds of impenetrable nettles and brambles. However the tarmac of the perimeter roads was still sound, which provided an easy way around these thorny walls.
We made our way quickly to the main hospital buildings at which point the brambles gave way to thick grass. We were anxious to get in; although the buildings would hide us from security, we mainly wanted to shield ourselves from the overbearing heat.
Nocton Hall was acquired by the Air Ministry in 1940 and promptly turned into an RAF hospital. However, the small, cramped manor house was ill suited for a hospital (due to its size and layout) so the RAF requisitioned Rauceby Hospital instead and temporarily moved into the asylum. The hall was pushed into use as a clearing hospital.
In 1944, the USAF took over the hall, and also found it ill suited. Therefore they built the United States Army Seventh General Hospital in its grounds. This huge sprawling construction provided 740 beds plus a host of other facilities (including operating theatres). The now redundant hall became a prized Officers’ Club.
A couple of years after the war, the RAF took back the hall and its new hospital complex (allowing Rauceby to revert back to a lunatic asylum). Realising its potential, the new RAF(H) Nocton Hall became the RAF’s permanent hospital for Lincolnshire, serving the airmen of the many airbases scattered around the county. Its facilities were constantly expanded and improved with a major reconstruction programme in 1955 being followed by several gradual improvements throughout the 1960s. This ensured the hospital could offer all the routine facilities of a modern general hospital. These facilities were also available for members of public from the surrounding villages.
It wasn’t possible to discern any sort of building programme or noticeable extensions. All the wards looked similar and had the same layout. So the plan of the initial USAF hospital was followed by the later RAF extensions.
In planform, the hospital was built in two major sections: a northern half and southern half linked by a central spine corridor which traversed the entire length of the site. Administration and admission were to the north of the site where the hospital joined the village of Nocton.
All the pavilion ward blocks were aligned roughly north-south, most in regimented rows across the site. Whilst most were of a similar size, there were several smaller wards in the northern part of the complex, with two larger wards at the southern end of the site. All the wards were single storey with windows along their eastern and western sides.
A boiler house was situated in the north eastern part of the site, and several large brick built structures occupied the central drive between the two halves of the site.
Whilst walking the down the lengthy central corridor, or exploring the various barrack-like ward blocks, we couldn’t help but be reminded of the former Canadian Red Cross Military Hospital near Taplow in Maidenhead. Both hospitals had a similar history, as the CRCMH was also built during the Second World War, and also long outlived its original purpose (and design parameters) as a general hospital for the Taplow area.
Interestingly the CRCMH arranged its wards east-west along the central spine corridor, whilst the Nocton Hall Hospital arranged them parallel. Why this decision was taken isn’t known, but perhaps orientation of wards wasn’t important for the treatment of short-term patients and the planning of temporary war time hospitals was flexible enough to accommodate various building plots.
Internet research revealed another interesting parallel. Nocton Hall Hospital was supposed to have an eerie feel, the buildings taking on a slightly sinister guise. Such an atmosphere was also supposedly prevalent at the CRCMH, backed up by the well publicised manifestation of The Flincher. As Marlon and I picked our way around the buildings, we found the hospital calm and welcoming. Perhaps the sheer heat of the day made the cool buildings more welcoming than they would’ve done on a cold, squalid day.
I wonder if such ghostly feelings were more to do with the more casual explorers who frequented these places. We saw no sign of security and wondered if the site had any. The CRCMH was similarly unprotected and a wide cross-section of the curious who never would normally set foot in a derelict building plucked up the courage to enter. Perhaps it was the nerves and adrenaline of these explorers who gave these places their slightly undeserved sinister overtones.
Both the CRCMH and Nocton Hall Hospital closed in the 1980s. The closure of the CRCMH appeared to be a remarkably quick event as many of the buildings still contained furniture, documentation and miscellaneous equipment. Nocton Hall Hospital was the complete opposite: stripped clean, the result of a military move out. As we moved around, there was nothing remaining to differentiate empty ward from empty ward.
RAF(H) Nocton Hall closed on the 31st March 1983 as part of a rationalisation of RAF medical facilities (a move which would see them eventually using wards in NHS hospitals).
But the buildings did not stand idle. They were immediately taken by the USAF who wanted to use their old hospital for contingency use.
Their plans reached fruition during the 1991/1992 Gulf War when 1300 US medical staff were sent to the hospital in preparation for the treatment of casualties. Thankfully only 35 casualties required treatment and they were hospital’s last patients.
The buildings remained under care-and-maintenance of 13 American personnel after the end of the Gulf War until being handed back to the RAF in September 1995.
The former Nocton Hall Hospital now stands empty, the site earmarked for a new residential development. Given the current financial situation, I expect the hospital to remain standing for a few years more. This, in my opinion, is an opportunity.
Whilst Nocton Hall Hospital is totally stripped the buildings themselves have an interesting story to tell - one which I couldn’t begin to discern given our mere hour at the site.
This hospital is worthy of further study as it’s a rare 20th century relic. Most of the RAF’s hospital sites were demolished after the rationalisation of the 1980s. To find Nocton Hall Hospital still standing is fortunate.
Therefore a return to this hospital to compile a better photographic record is planned for the near future.
More pictures of Nocton Hall Hospital can be found on my urbex website.
All the best,
Simon
Nocton Hall Hospital lies derelict and abandoned in the grounds of the equally derelict and abandoned hall. Its history and fate is entwined with the stately manor in whose grounds it defiantly stands. And like the hall it’s architecturally interesting: not for Victorian grandeur and gothic splendour (which the hall processes); but for its form, function, simplicity and sturdy wartime construction.
It wasn’t going to be pretty but it was going to be interesting.
The sky was deep blue and the heat was stifling. It was the sort of heat that visually manifested itself by shimmering on the horizon. Initially we were glad to be out of the dank, cold basements of Nocton Hall, but we soon longed for their cool darkness again. Luckily our route took us into a small copse, the trees providing ample protection from the sun, although we had to pick our way through the nettles carefully.
The first hospital buildings encountered were hidden behind huge mounds of impenetrable nettles and brambles. However the tarmac of the perimeter roads was still sound, which provided an easy way around these thorny walls.
We made our way quickly to the main hospital buildings at which point the brambles gave way to thick grass. We were anxious to get in; although the buildings would hide us from security, we mainly wanted to shield ourselves from the overbearing heat.
Nocton Hall was acquired by the Air Ministry in 1940 and promptly turned into an RAF hospital. However, the small, cramped manor house was ill suited for a hospital (due to its size and layout) so the RAF requisitioned Rauceby Hospital instead and temporarily moved into the asylum. The hall was pushed into use as a clearing hospital.
In 1944, the USAF took over the hall, and also found it ill suited. Therefore they built the United States Army Seventh General Hospital in its grounds. This huge sprawling construction provided 740 beds plus a host of other facilities (including operating theatres). The now redundant hall became a prized Officers’ Club.
A couple of years after the war, the RAF took back the hall and its new hospital complex (allowing Rauceby to revert back to a lunatic asylum). Realising its potential, the new RAF(H) Nocton Hall became the RAF’s permanent hospital for Lincolnshire, serving the airmen of the many airbases scattered around the county. Its facilities were constantly expanded and improved with a major reconstruction programme in 1955 being followed by several gradual improvements throughout the 1960s. This ensured the hospital could offer all the routine facilities of a modern general hospital. These facilities were also available for members of public from the surrounding villages.
It wasn’t possible to discern any sort of building programme or noticeable extensions. All the wards looked similar and had the same layout. So the plan of the initial USAF hospital was followed by the later RAF extensions.
In planform, the hospital was built in two major sections: a northern half and southern half linked by a central spine corridor which traversed the entire length of the site. Administration and admission were to the north of the site where the hospital joined the village of Nocton.
All the pavilion ward blocks were aligned roughly north-south, most in regimented rows across the site. Whilst most were of a similar size, there were several smaller wards in the northern part of the complex, with two larger wards at the southern end of the site. All the wards were single storey with windows along their eastern and western sides.
A boiler house was situated in the north eastern part of the site, and several large brick built structures occupied the central drive between the two halves of the site.
Whilst walking the down the lengthy central corridor, or exploring the various barrack-like ward blocks, we couldn’t help but be reminded of the former Canadian Red Cross Military Hospital near Taplow in Maidenhead. Both hospitals had a similar history, as the CRCMH was also built during the Second World War, and also long outlived its original purpose (and design parameters) as a general hospital for the Taplow area.
Interestingly the CRCMH arranged its wards east-west along the central spine corridor, whilst the Nocton Hall Hospital arranged them parallel. Why this decision was taken isn’t known, but perhaps orientation of wards wasn’t important for the treatment of short-term patients and the planning of temporary war time hospitals was flexible enough to accommodate various building plots.
Internet research revealed another interesting parallel. Nocton Hall Hospital was supposed to have an eerie feel, the buildings taking on a slightly sinister guise. Such an atmosphere was also supposedly prevalent at the CRCMH, backed up by the well publicised manifestation of The Flincher. As Marlon and I picked our way around the buildings, we found the hospital calm and welcoming. Perhaps the sheer heat of the day made the cool buildings more welcoming than they would’ve done on a cold, squalid day.
I wonder if such ghostly feelings were more to do with the more casual explorers who frequented these places. We saw no sign of security and wondered if the site had any. The CRCMH was similarly unprotected and a wide cross-section of the curious who never would normally set foot in a derelict building plucked up the courage to enter. Perhaps it was the nerves and adrenaline of these explorers who gave these places their slightly undeserved sinister overtones.
Both the CRCMH and Nocton Hall Hospital closed in the 1980s. The closure of the CRCMH appeared to be a remarkably quick event as many of the buildings still contained furniture, documentation and miscellaneous equipment. Nocton Hall Hospital was the complete opposite: stripped clean, the result of a military move out. As we moved around, there was nothing remaining to differentiate empty ward from empty ward.
RAF(H) Nocton Hall closed on the 31st March 1983 as part of a rationalisation of RAF medical facilities (a move which would see them eventually using wards in NHS hospitals).
But the buildings did not stand idle. They were immediately taken by the USAF who wanted to use their old hospital for contingency use.
Their plans reached fruition during the 1991/1992 Gulf War when 1300 US medical staff were sent to the hospital in preparation for the treatment of casualties. Thankfully only 35 casualties required treatment and they were hospital’s last patients.
The buildings remained under care-and-maintenance of 13 American personnel after the end of the Gulf War until being handed back to the RAF in September 1995.
The former Nocton Hall Hospital now stands empty, the site earmarked for a new residential development. Given the current financial situation, I expect the hospital to remain standing for a few years more. This, in my opinion, is an opportunity.
Whilst Nocton Hall Hospital is totally stripped the buildings themselves have an interesting story to tell - one which I couldn’t begin to discern given our mere hour at the site.
This hospital is worthy of further study as it’s a rare 20th century relic. Most of the RAF’s hospital sites were demolished after the rationalisation of the 1980s. To find Nocton Hall Hospital still standing is fortunate.
Therefore a return to this hospital to compile a better photographic record is planned for the near future.
More pictures of Nocton Hall Hospital can be found on my urbex website.
All the best,
Simon
