| Code | DS/UK/625 |
| Corporate Name | Overton Evacuation Sites |
| Dates | 1939 - 1945 |
| OtherFormsOfName | Shadow Factory A; Shadow Factory B |
| Activity | By 1937 it was recognised within the Bank that war would be inevitable. Due to a perceived increase in the threat of air raids, preparations were made to evacuate sections of the Bank away from London. By the time war was declared on 3rd September 1939, the Bank had put into motion its plans to evacuation departments to Staffordshire and Hampshire. The departments remained away from London until the war had ended. While away from London many of the staff provided voluntary labour to local farmers and to cultivating land which the Bank had leased, with the food grown provided to the staff canteen.
In order to safeguard the production of bank notes, in 1938 it was decided to make provision for their production well away from London. An obvious solution was a site in Hampshire near to the Portals paper mills, which had been supplying bank note paper since 1724. Land was purchased adjoining one of the factories at Overton, where the Bank first built what became known as Shadow Factory A, providing 21,000 sq feet, and shortly after built Shadow Factory B in order that the Dividend Preparation Office could occupy premises next to the printing works. Both buildings were completed by June 1939.
Initially, the staff working at the Overton sites were accommodated across numerous billets in the Whitchurch area, and were required to take a bus to the Overton site each day. In order to combat this, the Bank took a temporary lease on Overton Chalets, a summer camp site owned by the National Camps Corporation. However, the Bank came under pressure to vacate this site, and eventually many of the staff at Overton came to be housed at nearby Foxdown Camp, completed in 1940, and from where the staff could walk to work.
Staff working at Overton were the last to leave Hampshire, and returned to work at St. Luke’s in October 1945. |
| Source | A Domestic History of the Bank of England 1930 - 1960 (Hennessy) |
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