| Code | DS/UK/629 |
| Corporate Name | Foxdown Evacuation Sites |
| Dates | 1939 - 1945 |
| OtherFormsOfName | Foxdown Camp; Foxdown House |
| 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.
Foxdown House, near Overton station, was leased in 1939 for just £1 a day in order to provide further much needed accommodation to staff. By 1940, pressure was mounting for Bank staff to vacate Overton Chalets, and therefore the decision was taken to buy the whole Foxdown property of around 6 1/2 acres, along with 2 acres of ajoining land, in order to built a new camp. Foxdown camp completed in March 1940, houses staff of the printing works, and consisted of eleven sleeping huts, a canteen, recreation room, sick bay and twenty other buildings.
Staff at Hurstbourne enjoyed a lively social life, one aspect of which was provided by the Bank of England Operatic and Dramatic Society, under the leadership of Frank Coldicott. It was at Foxdown that many of the productions took place, with popular productions including the Chalets Revue and the Foxdown Follies. |
| Source | A Domestic History of the Bank of England 1930 - 1960 (Hennessy) |
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