Tempsford Hall Explained

Tempsford Hall is a country house in Tempsford, Bedfordshire.

History

The original hall was built in 1769 for Sir Gillies Payne; it remained in the Payne family until 1824 when it was sold to Colonel William Stuart.[1] Following a fire in November 1898 the house was rebuilt and completed in 1903. In 1933 Millicent the last of the Stuart family died and the hall and estate passed to a second cousin Kathleen Ann Pole Wynne, who had been born a member of the Stuart family.[1] In 1938 the Hall was leased by Dr Henry Ward Hales who used it as a clinic. He later purchased the freehold in 1946.[1]

During World War II it was used by the Special Operations Executive as an agent reception and pre-flight preparation centre.[2]

In 1964 Hales sold it to the Kier Group construction business.[1] In October 2019, financially troubled Kier announced it was selling its Tempsford Hall headquarters to raise cash from its property assets,[3] and head office functions were transferred to Kier's Manchester office in April 2020.[4]

References

52.1675°N -0.298°W

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Millennium Garden. Tempsford Museum and Archives. https://web.archive.org/web/20190710073252/http://www.tempsford.org/Millennium_Garden.htm. 25 January 2014. 2019-07-10.
  2. Web site: People's War. BBC. 25 January 2014.
  3. News: Morby . Aaron . Kier to sell historic country HQ to pay down debt . 15 November 2019 . Construction Enquirer . 25 October 2019.
  4. News: Kier moves north . 20 April 2020 . The Construction Index . 18 April 2020.