Bentley Priory Battle of Britain Trust

I first heard about The Bentley Priory Battle of Britain Trust when I attended Egham Museum’s Identity and Collection Conference earlier this year. I was intrigued to hear from the curator about this new museum and a few weeks ago I finally got around to visiting. Here are my reflections on that visit.

Photo taken by author.

The first thing that struck me, with my public historian ‘hat’ firmly on, were issues of accessibility to the site. As a ‘brown sign’ destination there was a significant lack of signage on the main roads and it was only because I’d read the small print on the website about needing to follow signs for the new residential development, that I eventually found my way. The fact the site is located on this new development is also somewhat hindering, for to gain access to the site you must first appease the curiosity of the security guard and hope he opens the gates to you. I wonder whether this will be a permanent fixture once construction is complete, my hope would be however that this is only temporary and eventually people may come and go as they please.

The Priory itself, plays on the idea of ‘sense of place’ rather than on the presentation of ‘historic items’. The history evoked is tied up in the building rather than the items on display and as such, it has a very ‘new’ feel to it. In most rooms items are sparsely displayed, and where there are higher concentrations, this idea of it feeling new and fresh is very prominent.

Photo taken by author.

The first room that you enter establishes the main historical narrative for Bentley Priory and presents its history as the Headquarters of Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain. I really liked the strong chronological flow that was presented in this room and established a base line of information on which the following rooms would build. There were however, surprisingly few authentic items on display that relate to the history of the RAF and the building; rather the sense of history comes from the information and the ‘place’ itself.

That said, there were four desks in the room, each of which presented information on a specific period of the history of the RAF and memorabilia could be found in each of the desk draws to illustrate this. For example in some draws there were model planes to give visitors a sense of what was being flown at this time. These draws could be opened and closed by visitors, encouraging a higher level of engagement. This was enhanced by the oral testimonies that could be heard when you picked up one of the telephones found on each of desks. It encouraged the use of another of the visitors senses – the only thing that would have made this better, was if it had been in first hand and not the voice of actors. With such a detached sense of the history, first-hand accounts could have gone someway to rectifying this.

Photo taken by author.

The next room which we encountered was simply fantastic! I have never experienced anything like it and quite simply, I was blown away. Each visitor is invited into the Film Room by the wonderful volunteers and once inside you watch an 8 minute (or thereabouts) film on the history of Bentley Priory. This has been done to the highest standard and was a wonderful thing to watch. The film begins and you feel as though you’re in a small private film screening, until gradually the screen becomes more transparent and reveals a room behind the screen in which the story of Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding is played out. I was made to jump on several occasions as a door opened and I expected someone to suddenly appear, but thankfully they have restrained from introducing any actors and have created what can be described as a wonderful tribute.



Photo taken by author.

Photo taken by author.

The Medal/Dome Room which followed was another assault on the senses and was much more in keeping what you would expect of a classic ‘museum’. The room centres on a vast collection of medals donated to the museum by one of its patrons and it gives a very personal touch to the museum. The touch screens which are located around the room also present the history of all those in Bomber Command and for the first time you see the human faces of those involved in the conflict. It’s very emotive and to read the stories of individuals was very moving. I was also surprised to find on display the Dickin Medal presented to Rip the dog – you just can’t escape the presence of animals in history!

Photo taken by author.

The fourth and final room I’d like to pay particular attention to was the Filter Room which was a really interesting construct. The Priory have attempted to recreate the original and offer visitors and idea of what this room would have looked like during the height of war, but it felt oddly new. The timber freshly cut and untreated  - but then as my friend pointed out, this was probably how it was then too, thrown together and built from scratch as the need arose. So it actually works in both senses. It was another very atmospheric room and again incorporated oral testimonies to good effect. They were however quite long excerpts and the museum could do with making sure visitors had somewhere to sit and listen.

Photo taken by author.

What was particularly striking about this room however, was the strong sense of commemoration that is evoked. The room has been recreated to resemble the original filter room and its hectic atmosphere, but rather than use tacky models, a series of bronze (I’m taking a guess) statues that represent the men and women who had once worked in this room have been erected and the parallels to other war memorials are uncanny. These faceless yet poignant figures, really added to the sense of atmosphere I felt as a visitor and in evoking such a sense of commemoration the museum has ensured the efforts of those on the ground during the war are recognised too.

Photo taken by author.

Overall I felt like there was a lack of information around – in some places there was a bit but not in others. Perhaps this is something that will develop over time, after all, the museum is only a year old. It does have a really fresh feel to it however and it seems to be taking a new approach to presenting history. I’d be really interested to go back in a couple of years and see how it’s developed and what direction it’s taken but for now I will remember it as a wonderful memorial to those men and women of bomber command.