Standing empty with its non-incumbent owner often away, Nocton Hall was ripe for wartime acquisition.
In 1940 it was acquired by the Air Ministry and pushed into use as an RAF Hospital (the second time the
building was used as a hospital). Such a move was temporary; Nocton Hall was ideally suited as a
central hospital for the airfields littered around Lincolnshire but the hall itself was too small.
With the hall being used as a “clearing station”, a huge new wartime hospital was built in the grounds and
the hall became an officers club.
It was probably during this period that the underground cellars and passages were converted into
the shelters we were now exploring.
Whilst many of the rooms were clearly marked as shelters, others remained anonymous. This southerly
cellar was probably used as a store, but the lone chair and blocked and plastered window now gave
it a more ominous feeling.
