SNN112275 - Heritage Assessment of outbuildings at Home Farm, Sulby, Northamptonshire

This report presents the results of a heritage assessment carried out by Pre-Construct Archaeology Limited on outbuildings at Home Farm, Sulby, Northamptonshire in support of a planning application for proposed conversion to residential use. The report was commissioned by Matthew Roe of Marrons Planning on behalf of C. Walton Ltd. The outbuildings are non-designated heritage assets, which were part of the former RAF Husbands Bosworth, a Second World War bomber airfield. Research undertaken for this assessment identified the structures as an operations block and a crew briefing room, both built to Air Ministry specification 228/43. The buildings formed the centrepiece of the dispersed administration site of the airfield. A walkover survey identified the principal elements of the buildings and assessed their state of preservation. A photographic survey of the buildings and their setting was compiled. The significance of the heritage assets was assessed and the impact of the proposed conversion upon their heritage significance was also considered and a strategy to mitigate the effects of the conversion was also proposed. The report also presents a gazetteer of surviving examples of Second World War operations blocks on former bomber airfields in England. The results of this research suggest that the example at Sulby represents a rare survival of a significant and once common type of military building.