Wilton Park Tower, Beaconsfield, Bucks - Dec 2022/Mar 2023

[Landie_Man]

So Wilton Park is one of those sites which just liked to get away from me at every attempt at exploring. I am pretty local to it and had tried a number of times; but things had always been going on, on site; or there was a lot of people around the access point, or it simply wasn’t “The Day”; but I did successfully manage to get on site quite a few times there aft.

The first occasion was around December 2022, got on site on a bitterly cold evening, with the intent on going straight to the roof; but sadly; no such luck! But the frost made for some lovely shots of the building, so I seized the chance to get these.

Second time on site was in Early March 2023; but the heavens absolutely opened whilst on the roof, and I mean it HAMMERED down. This actually made for some pretty interesting pictures though, with the rain clearly visible in some of them, (It did make my camera do some weird things for a few days after mind). I used to work nearby Wilton Park for quite a few years; and used the opportunity to dry off with a delicious pizza from @Home Pizza in Gerrards Cross, a regular spot for when I worked in The Chalfonts.

The previous two visits were a Solo Venture, but Fast Forward a week or two; and I returned to the tower with an accomplice and the weather couldn’t have been more ideal!

Known affectionately as “The Wilton Hilton”; this fifteen-storey Tower Block has been disused for many years now and was used for training up until a few years ago. During Wilton Parks time as the Army College of Military Education after the war; negotiations for the purchase of some of the estate by the War Department were put in hand; which saw the demolition of the White House previously on site in 1967/8; to make way for a 15 storey accommodation block, which allegedly is the tallest point in Bucks.

I would return for a chill; and maybe some night time Long Exposure Shots. Pretty impressive views of London in the background!

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As Always, Thanks for looking! More At:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/landie_man/albums/72177720304363714

 

[night crawler]

Interesting series of photos. Some great great from up there

 

[verdigris]

nice photos. Is this the tower block which replaced the historic Wilton Hall near Beaconsfield ?
'Richard Jupp had designed the house for Josiah Dupre, Governor of Madras, in about 1790. ..wings and elegant neo-Grecian interiors were added in 1803.. it had survived as built and was then the officers mess of the Royal Army Education Corps... yet when in 1967 it was replaced by a mediocre Property Services Agency tower block, no one complained...'
(No voice from the hall - early memories of a country house snooper by John Harris)
There is a picture of the Hall in the 1930s on the website of the Beaconsfield Historical Society.
It's white, and stunning.

 

[flesheater]

great photos drive my vertigo mad

 

[inexplorer]

great photos, its nice to see a recent photo's on the site - can't believe how much of the site has been bulldozed and built on already.

 

[Natters5]

I was based there in 1971 unfortunately the tower was for existing officers not urks like me doing extra education so we could become officers so I lived in a grotty single story block where the new houses are already built. This tower was at the time the tallest brick built building in Europe maybe even the world as the Yanks had been into concrete towers for decades by then. The place had two groups of students going through my lot learning to use a knife and fork properly and soldiers learning foreigh languages mainly SAS doing Arabic and Russian. The bulk of the camp was HQ for the Royal Army Education Corps churning out teaching programmes and doing specialist traing for their officers hence the tower block. The operation got rolled up into the Adjutant Generals Corps in 1992 and moved to their HQ at Upavon some time later.

 

[HistoryBuff]

There are some beautiful photos from the top looking out.

 

[DanMoist]

I had a look a year or so but access didn't look feasible at that time.

 

[Hayman]

You say "tallest brick building in Europe", but - to me - the brick faces seem more decoration than anything else. My guess is that it is a steel tower structure with concrete floors and a mixture of wall fabrication - interior and exterior. The brick sections may give some rigidity to the exterior, which the large glass window areas would not. Quite a mixture of outside faces to what would be an otherwise very standard-looking tower block. Instead of the brick areas, they could well have been poured-on-site reinforced concrete, or prefabricated concrete sections craned into place. An architect's whim?

 

[Hayman]

You say "tallest brick building in Europe", but - to me - the brick faces seem more decoration than anything else. My guess is that it is a steel tower structure with concrete floors and a mixture of wall fabrication - interior and exterior. The brick sections may give some rigidity to the exterior, which the large glass window areas would not. Quite a mixture of outside faces to what would be an otherwise very standard-looking tower block. Instead of the brick areas, they could well have been poured-on-site reinforced concrete, or prefabricated concrete sections craned into place. An architect's whim? The RAEC was never a well-thought-about corps; 'civvy teachers' given ranks to provide them with false authority was one opinion.

nice photos. Is this the tower block which replaced the historic Wilton Hall near Beaconsfield ?
'Richard Jupp had designed the house for Josiah Dupre, Governor of Madras, in about 1790. ..wings and elegant neo-Grecian interiors were added in 1803.. it had survived as built and was then the officers mess of the Royal Army Education Corps... yet when in 1967 it was replaced by a mediocre Property Services Agency tower block, no one complained...'
(No voice from the hall - early memories of a country house snooper by John Harris)
There is a picture of the Hall in the 1930s on the website of the Beaconsfield Historical Society.
It's white, and stunning.

 

[Hayman]

It looked a magnificent building. Too grand for the MoD jobsworths of the day. But this was a few years after the Euston Arch was demolished and John Betjeman was struggling to save the St Pancras hotel and station from destruction.

 

[Landie_Man]

Thanks for all the comments guys! I didn't get notifications for these. It was a nice place to chill!

 

[Natters5]

Can only say what we were told in 1970 when I was based there, it does look to be brick facing on concrete. One thing I know it is a long way to the top using the stairs when we had to check all the doors and widows when on nigh guard duty.

 

[Gillylizzy]

I was based there in 1971 unfortunately the tower was for existing officers not urks like me doing extra education so we could become officers so I lived in a grotty single story block where the new houses are already built. This tower was at the time the tallest brick built building in Europe maybe even the world as the Yanks had been into concrete towers for decades by then. The place had two groups of students going through my lot learning to use a knife and fork properly and soldiers learning foreigh languages mainly SAS doing Arabic and Russian. The bulk of the camp was HQ for the Royal Army Education Corps churning out teaching programmes and doing specialist traing for their officers hence the tower block. The operation got rolled up into the Adjutant Generals Corps in 1992 and moved to their HQ at Upavon some time later.

I was stationed here in 74 & 75. The Army School of Education taught diplomats & other government agents too during the Cold War. Also lots of wealthy students from the Middle East. I remember the under ground bunkers too. The block I lived in had housed German officer prisoners of war. Wilton Park was a fascinating place and as time goes on the government will continue to reveal its secrets, as they have with Bletchley. what a shame it has become another housing development.