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- Jan 6, 2013
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1. The History
Not too much info on these substantial remains of a WWII decontamination hospital (with water tower above) which also includes a stand-by set house and blast trenches. Decontamination hospitals were constructed during the Second World War, for both military and civil use, in anticipation of chemical or gas attacks. The stand-by set house housed the stand-by generator, set in a tall 4.5m room with flat roof.
The site is situated behind Harlaxton manor, in its grounds. The site was part of RAF Harlaxton, a satellite base to RAF Grantham which from the late 1940s to 1991 also served as a Royal Observer Corps post. The airfield itself opened in November 1916 as a Royal Flying Corps (RFC) training aerodrome with three grassed runways laid out. RAF Harlaxton closed in 1957 and the decontamination block now lies derelict and forgotten, although it appears to have been recently discovered by Grantham’s graffiti massive.
2. The Explore
This place is a complete walk-on and over the years I’ve been many times, including as a youngster, biking around the Grantham area. Not done a report on the place since 2015 so with a half hour to kill, thought it was time for an update. One recent development is a lot more graff in the stand-by set house. More significantly, the stand-by set house has now been secured with a combination lock door. Weird given there is zip in there. They’ve also put a combination lock door on one part of the main building. They’ve tried to secure the main part but the local yoofs have made easy work of the corrugated sheet metaling.
The reason behind all this is possibly down to the fact Planit-X has gained approval for the conversion of both the Decontamination Hospital and Stand-By Set House into two dwellings. Initial site plans were drawn up back in January 2018 and then followed by detailed plans of the proposed conversion in March 2019. However, a year down the line, work is still yet to commence. Full details of all the architect’s plans and proposals HERE Decontamination Hospital, Harlaxton | Plan-it X
3. The Pictures
The main block:
img5737 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Harlaxton decon 01 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Harlaxton decon 04 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Parts of which are starting to crumble:
Harlaxton decon 02 by HughieDW, on Flickr
There’s some pretty run-of-the-mill graff here:
Harlaxton decon 03 by HughieDW, on Flickr
I guess this would have been the front entrance:
img5718 by HughieDW, on Flickr
A glimpse of Harlaxton Manor, now used by the American University of Evansville:
img5723 by HughieDW, on Flickr
On to the Stand-by Set house:
img5738 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img5740 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img5741 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Peeking inside:
Harlaxton decon 05 by HughieDW, on Flickr
And round the back:
Harlaxton decon 06 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Harlaxton decon 07 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Finally, one of the blast trenches:
img5727 by HughieDW, on Flickr
..and another:
img5728 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Not too much info on these substantial remains of a WWII decontamination hospital (with water tower above) which also includes a stand-by set house and blast trenches. Decontamination hospitals were constructed during the Second World War, for both military and civil use, in anticipation of chemical or gas attacks. The stand-by set house housed the stand-by generator, set in a tall 4.5m room with flat roof.
The site is situated behind Harlaxton manor, in its grounds. The site was part of RAF Harlaxton, a satellite base to RAF Grantham which from the late 1940s to 1991 also served as a Royal Observer Corps post. The airfield itself opened in November 1916 as a Royal Flying Corps (RFC) training aerodrome with three grassed runways laid out. RAF Harlaxton closed in 1957 and the decontamination block now lies derelict and forgotten, although it appears to have been recently discovered by Grantham’s graffiti massive.
2. The Explore
This place is a complete walk-on and over the years I’ve been many times, including as a youngster, biking around the Grantham area. Not done a report on the place since 2015 so with a half hour to kill, thought it was time for an update. One recent development is a lot more graff in the stand-by set house. More significantly, the stand-by set house has now been secured with a combination lock door. Weird given there is zip in there. They’ve also put a combination lock door on one part of the main building. They’ve tried to secure the main part but the local yoofs have made easy work of the corrugated sheet metaling.
The reason behind all this is possibly down to the fact Planit-X has gained approval for the conversion of both the Decontamination Hospital and Stand-By Set House into two dwellings. Initial site plans were drawn up back in January 2018 and then followed by detailed plans of the proposed conversion in March 2019. However, a year down the line, work is still yet to commence. Full details of all the architect’s plans and proposals HERE Decontamination Hospital, Harlaxton | Plan-it X
3. The Pictures
The main block:
img5737 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Harlaxton decon 01 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Harlaxton decon 04 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Parts of which are starting to crumble:
Harlaxton decon 02 by HughieDW, on Flickr
There’s some pretty run-of-the-mill graff here:
Harlaxton decon 03 by HughieDW, on Flickr
I guess this would have been the front entrance:
img5718 by HughieDW, on Flickr
A glimpse of Harlaxton Manor, now used by the American University of Evansville:
img5723 by HughieDW, on Flickr
On to the Stand-by Set house:
img5738 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img5740 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img5741 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Peeking inside:
Harlaxton decon 05 by HughieDW, on Flickr
And round the back:
Harlaxton decon 06 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Harlaxton decon 07 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Finally, one of the blast trenches:
img5727 by HughieDW, on Flickr
..and another:
img5728 by HughieDW, on Flickr
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