Building record 0857700000 - Hughenden Manor

Hughenden Manor was used as a secret intelligence base during World War 2. It was code-named Hillside and airmen and women based there drew up detailed target maps from reconnaissance photographs of Germany and occupied Europe. In October 1941 the staff moved in to Hughenden Manor numbered 59 officers, 39 civilians and 10 air military police. The Air Ministry moved out in 1946. (B1).
Like many Buckinghamshire country houses, Hughenden was occupied by the military during the Second World War. Codenamed 'Hillside', it was used by the Royal Observer Corps for interpreting aerial reconnaissance photographs. Raids on Hitler's mountain retreat at Berchesgarten were planned at Hughenden. This vital work made it a target for the Luftwaffe, but although the church was hit, the house came through the war unscathed, apart from the cast-iron pergola on the garden front and the railings round the D'Israeli monument, which went for salvage (B2).