Aldermaston Court, Berkshire. Photograph: Trevor Bishenden
Aldermaston Court, Aldermaston, Berkshire.
Grade II*, P C Hardwick, 1848-51, Brightwen & Binyon, 1894
The Victorian Society has placed rambling mansion Aldermaston Court on its Top Ten Endangered Buildings 2025 list.
Griff Rhys Jones OBE, Victorian Society President, said: ‘Aldermaston Court is right in the middle of the prosperous South of England. How can it be in trouble? It has had an extraordinary past, with even Britain’s Atomic research being centred there once, but look at it. It remains a glorious and distinguished building ripe for repurposing and recycling. This is yet another story of owners who appear to be paralysed by what they have. Now, surely, they could get off this site couldn’t they? Sell it and give it the chance to live again. A lengthy period of inactivity is dangerous for the building and wholly unnecessary.’
Grade II* Aldermaston Court, now closely associated with Britain’s nuclear history, has a far older and richer past. The estate’s origins trace back to 1299, though the current Victorian house, built in a Tudor revival style, replaced a Jacobean mansion of 1636, itself successor to an earlier medieval manor. The 19th-century house is romantic and rambling, and incorporates features of its Jacobean predecessor, including an ornate staircase, stained glass, and chimney stacks. Set within 17th- and 18th-century pleasure grounds on a plateau overlooking a lake and the Kennet Valley, the site retains significant historic landscaping.
Original ornate Jacobean staircase and stained glass at Aldermaston Court, Berkshire. Photograph: Trevor Bishenden
The Victorian house was commissioned by Daniel Higford Davall Burr, an eccentric figure known for keeping exotic pets, including snakes and monkeys, and was designed by architect Philip Charles Hardwick. Hardwick, part of a celebrated architectural dynasty, drew upon his work on London’s Inns of Court for inspiration. Best known for designing the Great Hall of Euston Station, demolished in 1962, Hardwick again brings a genuine sense of grandeur to Aldermaston Court.
In 1893, the estate passed to Charles Edward Keyser, a stockbroker, antiquarian, and authority on medieval church architecture. Following Keyser’s tenure, the estate was broken up in the 1930s, never to be reassembled. Associated Electrical Industries (AEI) acquired the house and surrounding parkland, installing an airfield that served key wartime roles. During WWII, Aldermaston Court became a barracks for the Women’s Land Army and the USAAF HQ XIX Tactical Air Command, complete with anti-aircraft batteries.
Aldermaston Court, seen here in c.1944, was the scene of the birth, infancy, and early maturity of the US Army Airforce XIX Tactical Air Command. It was here that many of the now-routine aspects of close air cooperation were first pioneered during WWII. Photograph: Carl E. Bailey, Historian of the US Air Force Historical Research Agency Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Postwar, AEI adapted the site for scientific research, constructing the MERLIN reactor – Britain’s first commercial scientific reactor – opened by Prince Philip in 1959. Meanwhile, the adjacent airfield evolved into the UK’s Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, later the Atomic Weapons Establishment, central to Britain’s nuclear programme. Aldermaston became a symbolic focus for anti-nuclear marches in 1958, 1972, 2004, and 2008.
Marchers outside the Atomic Weapons Establishment in Aldermaston in 1958 Photograph: CND https://cnduk.org/peoples-history-of-cnd-easter-marches-to-aldermaston-1958-60/
March to London from Aldermaston anti nuclear weapons protest rally in London’s Trafalgar Square circa 1959
Robert Joyce papers 1952 1973 Historical Collections and Labor Archives Special Collections Library University Libraries, Pennsylvania State University licensed CC BY NC SA 2.0
The house transitioned into a school in the 1960s and later, under Blue Circle Industries, into a hotel and conference centre during the 1980s. Large office buildings, including award-winning Portland House, were added. Holaw Ltd acquired the property in 1997, but after its 2012 insolvency, the house was abandoned, leaving it vulnerable to decay. Public access to the parkland was curtailed, cutting local people off from the landscape they once enjoyed.
Hallway at Aldermaston Court. Photo credit: Trevor Bishenden
Aldermaston Court has languished on the market for years. The Victorian Society urges the Council and Government to work collaboratively with the owner to secure a sustainable, sensitive future for this nationally significant, increasingly at-risk building.
James Hughes, Director of the Victorian Society, said: ‘Aldermaston Court is a remarkable building with a lofty historical and architectural legacy. From its medieval roots to its role in Britain’s nuclear history, this estate has shaped and reflected our past in profound ways. It must not be allowed to deteriorate further. The Victorian Society urges all stakeholders, including the local council and government, to collaborate on finding a sustainable and appropriate future for this remarkable building and site.’
Facade Aldermaston Court. Photo credit: Trevor Bishenden
The full Top Ten Endangered Buildings list 2025 of Victorian and Edwardian buildings, and the archive of our previous Top Ten lists can be viewed here.
View from window at Aldermaston Court. Photograph: Trevor Bishenden