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Virtual Tour
 A virtual tour of Greenham and Crookham Commons
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Virtual Tour
A virtual tour of Greenham and Crookham Commons
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Welcome to Greenham and Crookham Commons, one thousand acres of open space just two kilometres from the centre of Newbury in Berkshire.
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Welcome to Greenham |
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Between 1941 and 1993, most of the area was used as a military airfield. It was re-opened to the public in 1997.
Starting from the public car park off Bury’s Bank Road, the tour will introduce you to the historic sites and diverse landscapes of this fascinating area.
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One of the few buildings to survive on the site can be seen from the car park. This is the airfield control tower, originally built in the early 1950s; the octagonal observation tower was added by the US Air Force in the 1990s.
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A Greenham survivor - the control tower |
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Walking westwards along the northern perimeter of the Common, it is possible to see some of the landscaping which has been carried out since the closure of the air base. This includes the creation of a number of ponds which are being developed as wetland habitats.
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A little further on is a good place from which to see the impact on the landscape created by the six massive bunkers constructed between 1983 and 1986 to house Cruise Missiles. Known as the Ground Launched Cruise Missile Alert and Maintenance Area (GAMA), you will get a closer look at these structures later on.
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Silent witness |
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Also in this area are some smaller survivors from the Cold War era, such as the base of a weather recording station (seen with the GAMA site in the background) and an American fire hydrant.
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As you walk towards the western edge of the site, roughly following the course of the northern taxiway, you will notice that the landscape changes, with more trees, mostly silver birch, and a thick carpet of heather and gorse. This lightly wooded landscape is probably what the Commons originally looked like.
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At the western end of the Common, the land slopes sharply down to Sandleford Heath; passing through deciduous woodland will bring you to one of a chain of fish ponds, probably dating from the sixteenth century, but considerably improved by the landscape designer “Capability” Brown in 1781. The ponds were part of the Sandleford Manor estate; this is now a school and there is no public access.
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One of the ponds of Sandleford Park |
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Leaving the wooded area, you now climb back up towards the end of the former runway, to head eastwards along the course of the southern taxiway. Before long, you will see the perimeter fence of the GAMA site to your right.
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Tight security for cruise missiles |
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GAMA site security |
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This area, including Drayton’s Gully, (where Second World War bomb bunkers were re-used to store cruise missiles during the late 1980s and early 1990s) was still closed to the public in 2003, but it is possible to glimpse through the fence the massive bunkers which housed the cruise missile Quick Reaction Alert teams.
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Peace symbols at Green Gate |
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Following the fence as far as you can will bring you to the site of one of the gates which became the scene of the women’s peace protest in the 1980s; this was known as Green Gate and although the camp has long since gone, some of the women’s art (including the characteristic ‘snake’ motif) can still be seen on gateposts and fences.
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Following the fenceline back to the southern taxiway, turn right and head east. Here, the gravelly nature of the Common is very apparent and there are broad views across the wooded gullies in the south to the heights of Watership Down, immortalised in the novel by Richard Adams. From here can also be seen some the buildings of New Greenham Park, a business centre which has been created on the former technical, administrative and residential Areas “D” and “E” of the airfield.
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Reminders of RAF Greenham Common |
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Although it is separated by tree planting and bunding from the rest of the Common, some of the taller buildings can be seen, including a water tower and the former Headquarters building of the US Air Force 501st. Tactical Missile Wing, built in 1985. The building is now part of the business park, but still contains the former Command Centre, including a war room and nuclear decontamination suite associated with the operation of cruise missiles. (This is not open to the public and New Greenham Park cannot be accessed directly from this point).
Nearby, you will see the squat shape of the “fireplane”; this steel mock-up was used during the 1980s and 1990s for fire evacuation exercises. The small building next to it was originally an electrical sub-station, now converted to a bat roost.
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Fireplane |
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Gorse and heather |
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Walking towards the centre of the Common will bring you to the crossing at the mid-point of the former runway. At 10,010 feet (plus one thousand feet over-run at each end), it was once the longest military runway in Europe. The tarmac surface has been retained at this point – the rest of the runway (more than one million tonnes) was broken up as part of the restoration of the Commons and much of it was used in the building of the A34 Newbury Bypass.
Following the course of the southern taxiway eastwards, with the bund of the business park on your right, you will pass from Greenham Common to Crookham Common; the landscape stays much the same, but the boundary between Greenham and Thatcham parishes is marked by a large concrete pillar.
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Parasitic dodder |
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The military use of the airfield meant that for fifty years, there was regular mowing but no grazing and few animals and birds in this area. This has helped preserve a species rich heathland environment, with characteristic calluna heather and dwarf gorse, amongst which may be found a number of small and rare heathland plants, including the parasitic dodder. Most of the Common as well as some areas north of Bury’s Bank Road have been designated sites of special scientific interest (SSSI).
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The fenced area is a heathland regeneration trial set up in 1998 to examine seed recruitment under controlled conditions.
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Plant regeneration area |
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Runoff of rainwater from the Common has created the typical steep sided gullies which are carved into the northern and southern slopes of the Common. Some of the stormwater balancing ponds associated with the airfield have been retained as water features. A little further on, to your right, almost at the end of the southern taxiway, you will see the top of Brushwood Gully; this has been landscaped and is being allowed to regenerate as typical alder woodland.
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Brushwood Gully |
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Site of landing lights, Crookham |
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Walking a few more metres east will bring you to the perimeter of the former airfield, but Crookham Common continues for a kilometre or so to the east. Cross the road to take a brief look at the site of the runway landing lights, now reverting to its natural state.
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POL tank, Crookham |
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Walking north for a short while will bring you to an underground fuel tank. This is the last remaining of twenty-one fuel (POL) stations on the airfield; the others have been removed and the sites landscaped. At the peak, eight million gallons of aviation fuel were stored at Greenham.
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The pumps and other equipment on the concrete cover of the tank have been retained as a reminder of the site’s military heritage, as have some of the 80,000-gallon fuel tanks which you will see near the car park.
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Fuel tank |
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Walking north from the POL tank across the eastern end of the site will bring you back to the northern taxiway. Notice on your right the school built in 1986 for the children of American servicemen and women stationed at Greenham, complete with its running track and baseball ground. There is no public access to this site, now known as Thornford Park.
Near here, but on the other side of the main road into Thatcham is Crookham House. Built in about 1850, it was formerly the manor house, once a school and now apartments; close to the road stands South Lodge, a small house in the Italianate style popular in the early 19th Century. There is no public access to these buildings.
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Taking the waters |
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Now head west back towards the carpark; you may notice cattle here; from 2000, cows have been grazing parts of the Commons to clear the grass and allow the natural heather and gorse cover to return. Grazing is also used to reduce the growth of birch trees on the open heath and to encourage typical heathland species such as woodlark, green tiger beetle and adder.
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"Bioremediation" at Greenham |
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You may also see a mechanical digger turning the ground surface at various sites on the Common; this is part of the ‘bioremediation’ scheme aimed at using natural bacteria to disperse the last vestiges of aviation fuel from the restored POL sites.
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Your virtual tour ends back at the main carpark; Greenham and Crookham
Commons are managed by West Berkshire Council and are regularly patrolled by the Council’s Rangers, one of whom is pictured here by the flagstaff which has been retained as a reminder of the site’s former use by the Royal Air Force.
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Greenham - we salute you! |
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If you still feel energetic, there is more to see on the other side of Bury’s Bank Road.
The Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) maintain nature reserves at Bowdown Woods, Baynes and the so-called ‘Bomb Site’. From the carparks, there are waymarked routes through the sites. Bowdown woods is an area of mature oaks and ash coppice. Baynes is an area of dry woodland on the northern slope of the Common supporting a mixture of rowan, oak and hazel. There is a species rich butterfly population.
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Bomb loading platform |
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The ‘Bomb Site’, as its name implies, was used during the Second World War for the storage of munitions; it forms part of the Greenham Common plateau, and is largely mixed birch and oak woodland. Many species of butterfly, dragonfly, lizards and fungi are established here. Almost overgrown now are the platforms from which ammunition was once loaded.
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From the BBOWT carparks, go west along Bury’s Bank Road to the car park opposite the top of Greenham Road. From here you can walk to a number of buildings associated with Greenham past and present. The car park itself is on the site of one of the women’s peace camps – known as Blue Gate; across the road, now a private home, is the former Greenham School.
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Greenham School |
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West Lodge, Greenham |
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A few minutes walk will bring you to a brick-built house with stone-mullioned Tudor style windows.
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This was originally the entrance lodge for Greenham Lodge, a much larger Elizabethan style structure built in 1879-1881 to designs by Norman Shaw, which you can see at the end of the road, originally the carriage drive.
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Greenham Lodge |
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It was built for Lloyd Baxendale, lord of the manor of Greenham, and has since seen service as a school and the USAF officer’s mess for Greenham Common airfield. It is currently a primary school for deaf children and there is no public access.
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Home runs at Greenham |
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Water tower, Greenham |
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Reminders of the more recent past may also be seen here – a baseball scoreboard on the playing fields next to the former officers’ mess and a dramatic water tower, built in 1985 to store 700 cubic metres of water to supply the servicemen and women of the 501st. Tactical Missile Wing.
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St. Mary's Greenham, from the north-east |
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Complete your virtual tour with a visit to Greenham Church, which is reached by returning to the lodge and turning right. The old Greenham chapel was demolished in 1875 and its replacement – on an adjacent site – was consecrated in 1876. The church was designed by Henry Woodyer, who was the architect of many notable buildings in southern England.
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If you’ve enjoyed your virtual tour, why not visit Greenham Common next time you come to Newbury?
A leaflet describing themed walks may be obtained from the Tourist Information Centre, The Wharf, Newbury RG14 5AS and there are interpretative maps at the main Greenham Common car parks.
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