ON TOUR: Bentley Priory Museum - Where the Battle of Britain was won

With a star-studded cast, headed by Lord Laurence Olivier, MGM’s “Battle of Britain” is a classic war film.  It is well worth a viewing on BBC iPlayer as we come up to the 85th anniversary of 15 September 1940, which was considered the peak of the aerial battle.  Even better still, plan a visit to the North London parkland venue of Bentley Priory, the nerve centre of the action.  The glorious setting is just a ten-minute drive from Stanmore Underground station, the northern terminus of the Jubilee line.  

My visit, writes Malcolm Ginsberg, was organised by a near neighbour of Bentley Priory, the De Havilland Museum at London Colney.  

In the autumn of 1940 it was from this one time stately mansion that Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding, Royal Air Force (RAF) Commander-in-Chief, the boss of Fighter Command, directed the resources that were to defeat the Luftwaffe and Nazi Germany.

Lord Olivier, ex-RAF, and a keen pilot, seems to have got on well with Hugh Dowding, whom he used as an adviser in the film.

In 1775, Sir John Soane designed a large mansion house north of the original priory, called Bentley Priory, for the wealthy businessman James Duberley. This was added to throughout the 18th and 19th centuries by various owners. It was significantly extended in 1788, again by Sir John Soane, for John Hamilton, 1st Marquess of Abercorn. The priory was the final home of the Dowager Queen Adelaide, Queen Consort of William IV, before her death there in 1849.  It subsequently served as a hotel and girls' school before being acquired by the RAF in 1926.  Whilst the RAF moved out in May 2008 to RAF Northolt in Uxbridge, Bently Priory is the symbolic memorial to those who fought in the skies over South East England in 1940, “The Few”.

The focus of the museum is very much Fighter Command.  A replica Spitfire and Hurricane provide the parkland guard aircraft to the museum.  They had previously featured in the film and are painted in the battle colours of two Battle of Britain veterans who helped to launch the museum project, Squadron Leader Cyril Bamberger and Air Commodore Peter Brothers.  

Luftwaffe High Command knew of Bentley Priory's existence. Amazingly it was never the target of a German bombing raid, Goring knowing of its glorious location and putting it on his “not to be bombed list”, designated as his London HQ!  Surprisingly two of its most senior officers, Ernst Udet and Erhard Milch, were entertained there on a visit to Britain in 1938.


The Mansion

As you enter the mansion you notice the ornate entrance-hall ceiling and, on each side, the stained-glass windows depicting aspects of Battle of Britain history.  Much of what you can see today was lovingly restored after a devastating fire in 1979. This includes the rebuilt grand staircase, which now leads to private accommodation not open to the public.

You are faced with a remarkable enormously long panel, 13ft long and 5ft wide, created by a Nottingham lace-making company Dobson & Browne, which is full of imagery and symbolism of the Battle of Britain period.  At the top, below the details of the makers, are the badges of the Air Forces of New Zealand, Canada, Australia and South Africa, with the RAF badge in the centre, highlighting the diversity of aircrew.  In the centre of the panel are allied and enemy aircraft in battle with airmen bailing out. Above them are the words, ‘The Battle of Britain’, surrounded by flames. 

Displayed vertically down the right and left hand sides of the panel are images of bomb-damaged buildings from the Blitz, including Parliament, Buckingham Palace, St Clement Danes and Guildhall. In the middle, near the foot of the panel, is St Paul’s Cathedral surrounded by flames but standing resolutely intact, untouched by bombing.  A scroll across the bottom contains Churchill’s iconic quote, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few”.
 
Lord Dowding’s original office will be familiar to those who have seen the film.  This is where we in effect start the visit, a ten-minute introduction to the man and his efforts.  

In charge of preparations for the war since 1936 Dowding had his critics, including the cantankerous Douglas Bader, and was not at his best in dealing with the politics of the job.  He was finally ousted by Leigh Mallory  and others in his moment of victory.   It was argued that in November 1940 aged 58 he was well past official RAF retirement age. 

The boss of the RAF was much appreciated by his boss, but real praise was slow in coming.  Churchill seems to have appreciated Dowding, but in an off-handed sort of way.  Dowding was an airman’s man, every life lost a tragedy.  And much respected by ground crews too.   

Later to become Lord Dowding he campaigned hard in early 1940 not to release more squadrons to France for what he considered a lost cause, and when it came to the German onslaught from August 1940 fought successfully against the ‘big wing’ concept of others.  He favoured smaller, dispersed formations for quicker response and to counter the hit-and-run tactics of the Luftwaffe.  And it worked.

Perhaps the most memorable part of the museum is the recreation of the Filter Room, where information from the chain of coastal radar stations was received and assessed. Life-size bronze figures are poised over a map of the UK, on which colour-coded counters represent the position of Luftwaffe formations. On a balcony above the map-plotters, more figures represent the controllers who oversaw the process. 

What is very evident is the sheer quality of the original artefacts, all backed by video presentations showing archive film with commentary in 1940’s clipped English.

As with the De Havilland Museum, Bentley Priory is staffed by volunteers, our guide Bryce Kennedy, a former US serviceman from Oregon, and married to an English woman for 39 years.  

Parking is no problem (accessible bays are near to the Priory entrance) and the tea-room looks out onto beautiful priory gardens and beyond the extensive Stanmore Country Park, lake and nature reserve.  Allow three hours to include a guided tour.

Bentely Priory is now within an impressive gated private estate covering 40 acres, plus 90 acres of parkland.  As such visiting is limited by statute and it is only open four days per week during daytime.  Check on the website before visiting.  Do not just roll up and expect to get in.  


Saturday 13 September

This year the annual commemorative day will include a talk and book signing by Dr Victoria Taylor on her new book "Eagle Days" and a performance from the Harrow Apollo Male Choir, as well as pop-up talks and family activities. Children under 12 are free and the usual admission prices apply. 

https://bentleypriorymuseum.org.uk

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