Wilton Park Estate

The Wilton park estate once belonged to the monks of Burnham Abbey. It is mentioned in 1412, with John Amond as farmer.[1]

In 1702 it was acquired by the Basill family, who built a house on the estate. Sometime between 1760 and 1770 they sold the estate to Josias Du Pre, the future Governor of Madras.[2] He commissioned the building of a mansion house on the estate, also known as the "White House", from Richard Jupp which was completed in 1779.[3]

In 1939 the house was taken over by the War Office and used as an interrogation centre for Nazi prisoners of war: German refugees working for the allies would listen into prisoners' conversations.[4] After the War the house was used by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to re-educate prisoners of war into the British way of life: between January 1946 and June 1948 approx 4,500 Germans were made to attend re-education classes there.[5] The house went on to become the home of the Army School of Administration from 1949 and also the home of the Army School of Education from 1950.[3] The Foreign Office "re-education" facility, still known as Wilton Park and still organising conferences, moved out in 1951 and is now based at Wiston House in West Sussex.[3]

A single-storey blockhouse was constructed in the grounds of Wilton Park in 1954, to provide a protected wartime headquarters for the senior Army officers of Eastern Command and London District. From 1957, alternative provision was made for the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Command and his staff as part of the Regional Seats of Government planning; but the blockhouse was retained and remained available for use by London District until the end of the Cold War.[6]

In the 1960s a School of Languages was established on the site (Colonel Gaddafi of Libya studied there at that time).[6] Although the house was demolished in 1968, the school remained on the site until April 2014.[7]

Standing sets for filming the ITV TV series Endeavour have been built at Wilton Park since 2016.[8]