History:
Headley Court was an Elizabethan farm house bought by the Cunliffe family, from Tyrrell's Wood, Leatherhead. They later sold this farm house and built in 1899 the imposing mansion at the centre of Headley Court to the north, namely under Lord Cunliffe, who was Chairman of the Bank of England. Its architect was Edward Warren. During World War II, it was used as the Headquarters for the VII Corps and then for the Canadian Corps. Since the war, it has been used as a Royal Air Force and Joint Services medical rehabilitation centre. During the war, nearby Headley Heath was used as a training ground for engineers building airstrips and trench systems then demolishing them again.
Purchased after that war with money from the Royal Air Force Pilots and Crews Fund, a public collection as a tribute to the deeds, including the Battle of Britain efforts of the RAF, Headley Court lost its social club focus to expand its medical and rehabilitation credentials and become the Defence Services Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC), which aims to return all those service personnel injured or seriously ill to full fitness.
During the 2002 UK Firefighter strike, two Green Goddess fire engines were based at RAF Headley Court. If called upon, the crews would have had to wait for Surrey Police to escort them to a fire.
In November 2005, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall visited the centre. They met Major David Bradley of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment who had been given a five per cent chance of survival, after coming under fire from a Rocket Propelled Grenade launcher (RPG) in Basra, southern Iraq in 2004. Other notable patients in 2006/2007 include Sgt Mark Sutcliffe, The Royal Anglian Regiment, Sgt Stuart Pearson, 3 PARA and many others.
In July 2014, the Minister of Defence, Philip Hammond, announced that the services provided by Headley Court would be transferred to a new centre to be developed at Stanford Hall. The opening of the new Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre by the Duke of Cambridge took place in June 2018. The centre at Headley Court ceased operations in September 2018 and the site was bought by Angle Property in May 2019. They are currently working on plans to redevelop the site including substantial new housing replacing many of the existing ancillary buildings.
The Explore:
Having seen this one pop up in various different places, Myself and @TrevBish decided to go and pay the place a visit for ourselves. Arriving on what was to be quite a hot and sunny day, we initially had a scout around the big swimming pool complex first before hitting the main manor house. We searched for a way in to the pool area but to no avail. Our next plan of attack was ofcourse the manor house but all seemed to be sealed tight except for one window but this later appeared to have bars behind.
Eventually after a long search and expecting to get busted by the on site security in the process, we found a way in and only when we were inside, it was that we spotted the way in was staring us in the face all along but it would have meant being on full view to the security team!
The inside pretty much speaks for itself, it's mint in pretty much every aspect and ready to move in to!
I'll let the pictures do the talking!
Headley Court was an Elizabethan farm house bought by the Cunliffe family, from Tyrrell's Wood, Leatherhead. They later sold this farm house and built in 1899 the imposing mansion at the centre of Headley Court to the north, namely under Lord Cunliffe, who was Chairman of the Bank of England. Its architect was Edward Warren. During World War II, it was used as the Headquarters for the VII Corps and then for the Canadian Corps. Since the war, it has been used as a Royal Air Force and Joint Services medical rehabilitation centre. During the war, nearby Headley Heath was used as a training ground for engineers building airstrips and trench systems then demolishing them again.
Purchased after that war with money from the Royal Air Force Pilots and Crews Fund, a public collection as a tribute to the deeds, including the Battle of Britain efforts of the RAF, Headley Court lost its social club focus to expand its medical and rehabilitation credentials and become the Defence Services Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC), which aims to return all those service personnel injured or seriously ill to full fitness.
During the 2002 UK Firefighter strike, two Green Goddess fire engines were based at RAF Headley Court. If called upon, the crews would have had to wait for Surrey Police to escort them to a fire.
In November 2005, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall visited the centre. They met Major David Bradley of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment who had been given a five per cent chance of survival, after coming under fire from a Rocket Propelled Grenade launcher (RPG) in Basra, southern Iraq in 2004. Other notable patients in 2006/2007 include Sgt Mark Sutcliffe, The Royal Anglian Regiment, Sgt Stuart Pearson, 3 PARA and many others.
In July 2014, the Minister of Defence, Philip Hammond, announced that the services provided by Headley Court would be transferred to a new centre to be developed at Stanford Hall. The opening of the new Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre by the Duke of Cambridge took place in June 2018. The centre at Headley Court ceased operations in September 2018 and the site was bought by Angle Property in May 2019. They are currently working on plans to redevelop the site including substantial new housing replacing many of the existing ancillary buildings.
The Explore:
Having seen this one pop up in various different places, Myself and @TrevBish decided to go and pay the place a visit for ourselves. Arriving on what was to be quite a hot and sunny day, we initially had a scout around the big swimming pool complex first before hitting the main manor house. We searched for a way in to the pool area but to no avail. Our next plan of attack was ofcourse the manor house but all seemed to be sealed tight except for one window but this later appeared to have bars behind.
Eventually after a long search and expecting to get busted by the on site security in the process, we found a way in and only when we were inside, it was that we spotted the way in was staring us in the face all along but it would have meant being on full view to the security team!
The inside pretty much speaks for itself, it's mint in pretty much every aspect and ready to move in to!
I'll let the pictures do the talking!
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