First World War reception station, Stow Maries Aerodrome, Cold Norton (EHER 81761)

A brick-built six-by-three-bay building, described as the reception station in the 1918 RAF survey and which appears to have been used as the squadron headquarters building. The roof is covered with slate and is gabled east-west. After the airfield was abandoned by the RAF in 1919 the building was converted for agricultural use. A large opening was inserted in the north wall and a concrete approach ramp was provided. All the internal partitions and stoves were removed and, latterly at least, the building served as an implement shed.

1997. RCHME field survey. The reception station (so-called in the 1918 RAF survey) seems to have functioned as the squadron headquarters building. It is gabled east-west and has a six-by-three-bay plan measuring 18.68 by 9.47 metres externally. The bays are indicated by internal buttresses along the north and south walls, including in the corners. The walls incorporate a slate damp-proof course. Some of the principal windows are taller and narrower than those elsewhere at the airfield and the whole width of the top of each window pivots. Others, however, are of the standard form. Toothing in the brickwork of the north elevation at either end of the third bay from the west indicates a structure projecting in this position. The projected structure (which may have been an enclosure rather than a building, as it would have covered one of the north-facing windows) may never have been built and does not appear on the 1922 Ordnance Survey map, surveyed 1920). The internal partitions have all been removed, but something of the original plan can be recovered from fragmentary evidence. The entrance was in the centre of the east gable and gave on to a long axial passage extending probably for a little over four bays. At the west end of the building there was a large room occupying the full width of the building and extending for slightly more than a bay and a half from west to east. It was heated by a stove served by the single external chimney stack on the west gable, and may have served as a briefing room or similar. It probably formed the western termination of the passage, with a series of smaller rooms being reached via doorways ranged along the north and south sides of the passage. Moving eastwards, on the south side of the passage there were two offices, each heated by a stove, and at the east end a two-bay office, similarly heated, with evidence for wainscoting. The evidence for a superior internal finish, taken with the larger size of this room, suggests that it may have been the commanding officer's office; the less distinguished accommodation probably belonged to staff officers. The stoves have been removed from all these rooms, but are indicated by circular apertures (to receive the flues) in brick stacks adjoining the internal buttresses. Unlike the stack on the west gable, these do not project externally. North of the axial passage arrangements are less clear owing to the extent of later alterations, including the insertion of a large entrance in the third bay from the west. Moving again from west to east there was first a heated room. The room was lit by a window east of the stack; the opening has been incorporated in the present larger opening, but the original ferroconcrete lintel remains in situ. East of this there appears to have been a large unheated room and at the east end a toilet served by a window high in the north wall. The six-bay roof has trusses similar to those in the generator house (EHER 81762). Probably owing to the greater weight of a slate roof, as compared with asbestos, the roof is more heavily engineered. After the airfield was abandoned by the RAF in 1919 the building was converted for agricultural use. A large opening was inserted in the north wall and a concrete approach ramp was provided. All the internal partitions and stoves were removed and, latterly at least, the building served as an implement shed. <1> April 2012. Grade II* listed. Materials: The brick walls incorporate a slate damp course. Plan: Rectangular with a six-by-three bay plan, the building formerly had a porch to the front (north), now removed. Exterior: The reception station, itemised in the 1918 RAF Survey, seems also to have functioned as the squadron headquarters building and formed the principal building on the south side of the parade ground. The north elevation has a late 20th century central double door, flanked on either side by tall, metal casement windows. There are further windows to the left. Each bay on the south elevation has a 16-light, metal casement window. To the west is a buttressed chimney stack and the east has a central door. Interior: The RCHME survey avers that this room had a central axial corridor terminating in a large, heated room at the west end. There is evidence for a high standard finish and wainscoting, suggesting that the commanding officer would have had an office here. Each bay has internal buttresses, denoting a number of rooms accessed from the corridor, with an opening in each for a tortoise stove, all of which have been removed. The heavily engineered roof comprises plank-section timbers comprising a tie beam, king-post and lattice bracing with ten pairs of cleated purlins and close-set boards. <2> The buildings are depicted on the 3rd edition OS map. <3>