Beaumanor Park History
Until just preceding the Second World War in 1939, the Herrick family owned the park. The estate consisted of Beaumanor Hall, several farms, St Mary's in the Elms church, the vicarage house (Garats Hay), workers houses/cottages along Forest Road and 350 acres (1.4 km²) of beautiful parkland.
In 1939 the War Office requisitioned the estate, including Garats Hay, and the vicar moved to a cottage in the village.
The park became a secret listening station where encrypted enemy signals (Morse code) were intercepted and sent to the famous Station X at Bletchley Park (by motorbike everyday) for decoding. Beaumanor Park was to be the home of the War Office ‘Y’ Group for the duration of the war.
After the war (1945) the Beaumanor estate passed back to Lt. Col. Assheton Penn Curzon Howe Herrick, who in 1946, for financial reasons (death duties, etc.), decided to dispose of his assets. In a sale conducted at the Town Hall in Loughborough on December 20–21, 1946, the War Office bought both Beaumanor Hall and Garats Hay and some of the immediate surrounding grounds used during the war.
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