Record Details

NHER Number:59019
Type of record:Building
Name:Workshop/Theatre and battery charging bay, Former RAF Coltishall (Buildings 14 and 14A)

Summary

This workshop was constructed in 1939. Adjacent is a battery charging bay.

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:TG 2589 2290
Map Sheet:TG22SE
Parish:SCOTTOW, NORTH NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Full description

This workshop was constructed in 1939. Adjoined to its north-east corner is a battery charging bay of brick construction, added in 1989.
A. Cattermole (HES), 20 March 2013.

According to (S1) this shed was also known as the Field Force Mechanical Transport (FFMT) shed and was erected in the wake of the Munich Crises of September 1938 to store the mobile squadron's vehicles and all of its portable equipment should the unit be transferred to France. It is unknown when half of the shed was converted into a cinema, but it is thought to be around 1957. The first extension was added to this building in 1978 to accommodate the Ground Support Equipment Section. The second extension (a batter charging facility) was added in 1987 and a final extension was added in 1988 for link detached offices and a crew room.
See (S1) for further information.
A. Cattermole (HES), 16 September 2013.

The British Expeditionary Force left for France in September 1939, and the station did not open until May 1040, so it is debatable whether this buildign was constructed for the purpose described in (S1), or whether the buildign design was reused for more general MT sheds. (S2) describes a number of sheds built to the same drawing number as merely "Mechanical Transport Sheds", without attirbuting them to the Air Component of the BEF.
K. Hamilton (HES), 8 September 2015

Monument Types

  • WORKSHOP (World War Two to 21st Century - 1940 AD to 2006 AD)
  • CINEMA (Mid 20th Century to 21st Century - 1957 AD? to 2006 AD)
  • CREW BRIEFING ROOM (Late 20th Century to 21st Century - 1988 AD to 2006 AD)

Associated Finds - none

Protected Status - none

Sources and further reading

<S1>Unpublished Document: Francis, P.. 2013. RAF Coltishall: A Historical Appraisal. Part 9, Technical Buildings. pp 14-17.
<S2>Monograph: Buchan Innes, G.. 2000. British Airfield Buildings: The Expansion and Inter-War Periods.. Vol 2.

Related records

7697Part of: RAF Coltishall (Monument)
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