Thatched Barn
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The Thatched Barn was a two-storey mock-Tudor hotel built in the 1930s on the Barnet by-pass in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England. It was bought by holiday camp founder, Billy Butlin, before being requisitioned as Station XV by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in World War Two, and used to train secret agents. In the 1960s, it became a Playboy Club, and later it became associated with Elstree Film Studios, and was used as a location for TV series The Saint, and later The Prisoner. The original building was demolished at the end of the 1980s, and replaced by a modern hotel,{{citation |title=Playboy girls to rat bombs|author=Tommy Norton|date=9 December 2005|url=http://www.borehamwoodtimes.co.uk/news/659999.playboy_girls_to_rat_bombs/|publisher=Borehamwood Times|accessdate=3 November 2007}} now the Holiday Inn Elstree.
Film stars known to have visited the hotel include Bette Davis.Roy Moseley, Bette Davis, (2003) University Press of Kentucky, 216 pages, {{ISBN|0-8131-9037-1}}. ([https://books.google.com/books?id=Xdt_5s7nexoC&dq=%22Thatched+Barn%22+borehamwood&pg=PA29 Page 29])
1930s: Roadhouse to the stars
In 1927, the Thatched Barn was commissioned by a Mrs Merrick and opened in 1934 as a "roadhouse",Fredric Boyce, Douglas Everett, SOE: the Scientific Secrets (2003) 288 pages, Sutton Publishing Ltd; New Ed edition (9 December 2004), {{ISBN|0-7509-4005-0}} ([https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/reader/0750940050?keywords=thatched&p=S00W&twc=10&checkSum=4NpAyKFcz2LaNAms3PK%2B1mh3krIfIlmzMnOVJUQtR6Q%3D#reader-page page 22]). and a place where film stars could meet a lady.[http://www.theunmutual.co.uk/thatched.htm Unmutual Prisoner Locations Guide]. Retrieved 12 August 2007.
In 1939, Billy Butlin purchased the Thatched Barn as his first hotel; however, like his camps, it was requisitioned (this time by the SOE) before he could develop it further.
1940s: SOE – Station XV of the Inter Services Research Bureaux
In June 1942, the Inter Services Research Bureau Imperial War Museum Sound Archives
Account by an NCO of work at the Thatched Barn, an operational centre of the Inter Services Research Bureau ([www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80015016]) part of the Special Operations Executive moved its Camouflage Section and main workshops to the Thatched Barn,Mark Seaman, Secret Agent's Handbook, (2001) 272 pages, The Lyons Press; {{ISBN|1-58574-286-4}} ([https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1585742864?v=search-inside&keywords=thatched&go=Go%21# Introduction]) developing a research facility to create camouflage, explosive devices,William Stevenson, Spymistress: The Life of Vera Atkins, the Greatest Female Secret Agent of World War II, (2007) Arcade Publishing, 384 pages, {{ISBN|1-55970-763-1}} ([https://books.google.com/books?id=FevLO-hfAtUC&dq=%22Thatched+Barn%22+prisoner&pg=PA166 Page 166]) and coding equipment.William Stevenson, Spymistress: The Life of Vera Atkins, the Greatest Female Secret Agent of World War II, (2007) Arcade Publishing, 384 pages, {{ISBN|1-55970-763-1}} ([https://books.google.com/books?id=FevLO-hfAtUC&dq=%22Thatched+Barn%22+prisoner&pg=PA166 268]). The Victoria and Albert Museum has on display a handkerchief containing secret codes that can be read with an ultraviolet light, that was made at the Thatched Barn Station XV was run by film director and World War I RAF veteran Capt. J. Elder Wills,[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0932625/ J. Elder Wills at the IMDB] who recruited artists, stage prop experts and even magicians; British stage magician Jasper Maskelyne was associated with the Station.Fredric Boyce, Douglas Everett, SOE: the Scientific Secrets (2003) 288 pages, Sutton Publishing Ltd; New Ed edition (9 Dec 2004), {{ISBN|0-7509-4005-0}} ([https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/reader/0750940050?keywords=thatched&p=S08Q&twc=10&checkSum=lyoxuaMF0KtnZRB%2BQ8vmjxGIniWUe2PGLm%2Btq5JDVHY%3D#reader-page page 272])See also "Japer Maskelyne Master of Make-Believe" ({{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070830064021/http://www.maskelynemagic.com/mask7supercut.html retrieved 13 August 2007]}})
1950s: Building Research centre
In the 1950s, the Ministry of Works used the Thatched Barn as its Building Research Station, for example, to test concrete.R. J. M. Sutherland, Dawn Humm, Mike Chrimes, Historic Concrete: Background to Appraisal, (2001)
Thomas Telford, 384 pages, {{ISBN|0-7277-2005-8}} ([https://books.google.com/books?id=GTjW1lZeYwgC&dq=%22Thatched+Barn%22+concrete&pg=PA196 page 196])
1960s–1970s: Association with Elstree Studios
As an expensive hotel close to Elstree Film Studios, the Thatched Barn was used by film stars and film makers. Director Michael Winner says that, during the days before it was possible to telephone America directly from outside London, he would drive to the Thatched Barn to make transatlantic telephone calls in order to cast his film Chato's Land (1972).Michael Winner, Winner Takes All: A Life of Sorts 2004, Robson, 368 pages, {{ISBN|1-86105-734-2}} ([https://books.google.com/books?id=BrRn52aZTm8C&dq=%22Thatched+Barn%22+film&pg=PA171 page 171])
1980s: Demolition
File:Hotel in Borehamwood, formerly The Thatched Barn - geograph.org.uk - 136120.jpg
In the late 1980s the building was demolished, and replaced with a modern hotel, the Elstree Moat House, which later became a Holiday Inn and in late 2020/early 2021 was bought by Hilton and rebranded as a Doubletree by Hilton.
References
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External links
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr_orhFRjNc British Pathé Video showing Thatched Barn]
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Category:Buildings and structures in Hertfordshire
Category:Thatched buildings in England
Category:1930s establishments in England
Category:1980s disestablishments in England
Category:Ministry of Economic Warfare
Category:Training establishments of the Special Operations Executive
Category:World War II sites in the United Kingdom