Goverment sites

The TNA forgeries thread has got me thinking.

When I was a nipper we used to go to Civil Service Christmas parties in a Home Office (I think) complex in Eltham, near RAF Kidbrooke. The buildings, and there were quit a few, were brick built with asbestos type roofing and metal window frames. I have often wondered when and what were these building used for as there were a few similar sites littered around the area and further out into Kent.

Also a lot of "prefab buildings" of wartime appearance were down the road from me (now demolished) and used as play group building and adult education classrooms. Both daughters went there. These were concrete and looked old.

All the sites I used to know are mostly gone but it would be interesting to know what they were originally built for and who knows maybe there was a Maycrete amongst them.

I only wish I could remember the exact locations of these "goverment" sites.

I am resisiting diverting my attention to these but it would be interesting if anyone else has come across these non-military sites that found themselves embedded in the middle of suburban housing estates.

Copied from the TNA forgeries thread

Interesting as I have seen one of these Maycretes cant remember where though. These were often erected for mothers engaged in munitions work, somwhere where they can dump their kids on the way to the factory. They were always pre-fabs (of all types) and just about every town had them. Most are gone now. The one in Ware is a BCF hut, that in Diss is a a 18ft 6in span MOWP standard hut.

Peter you are talking about Temporary Office Buildings (TOBs) and the expert on these is Mr Carnaby - he will be along soon!

The Sawbridgeworth building is almost certainly one of the nurseries. Its a British Concrete Federation hut.

norwichpaul;40723 wrote:

Peter you are talking about Temporary Office Buildings (TOBs) and the expert on these is Mr Carnaby - he will be along soon!

That sounds about right. Truth is I have no idea what they were built or used for. My aunt worked in one for many years and I never thought to ask her about it before she died. None of the ones I had in mind had any airfield associations as the nearest were 10s of miles away.
I think one group in the Bromley/Orpington area (my cycle route to Biggin Hill) was called something like Aquilla in the seventies.

Denis;40721 wrote:

Here is one that fits the bill Peter.
It is opposite the former airfield gymnasium that is has been remodelled and is now a function hall. It resides in The Forebury Sawbridgeworth. It looks 'government' and is used now as a school I think. No one I know recalls when it was built though.

That looks like the buildings in my old primary school which were used as a dining room/canteen. The school also had large wooden building which were moved from somewhere else. The school was a new brick building and opened in 1952 (by an old naval chap called Peter Scott) and the temporary building were supposed to be removed (spent two year in them as classrooms). They remained until the school was demolished in 2008 or 9. Apparently it's SATS score was too high!!

The buildings of the type I originally referred to are also located at this site

wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepath.htm?lat=5...2668&gz=18&oz=9>=1

The area is now built over but as you can see from the attached map it was very compact and built in the middle of 1930's suburbia. Does this fit in with the TOBs in the other thread or could this be a smaller version?
It was still in use in the seventies but probably went in the eighties. We had all moved away by then.

It is interesting to note that they don't appear on the 1951 maps but then again they are exactly the same as the 1938 maps for this area. If they were there during the war then the Getmapping historicals have been doctored for this site.

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