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During the Second World War, Kiplin Hall was requisitioned and initially used as army units. In 1942 the Hall was converted into flats for R.A.F. officers, with the lower ranking men living in the stables and outbuildings. There were bomb and ammunition dumps in the woods nearby. The two photos of unidentified airmen were taken on Scorton airfield, which is nearby.

Like most requisitioned buildings, Kiplin Hall suffered a great deal of damage. Many country houses were demolished in the 1950s and 1960s because families could not afford to restore them, and because many could not pay the high death duties and land taxes of the period without disposing of their ancestral home. Fortunately the story at Kiplin was different. At that time, Sarah Turnor and her cousin, Bridget Talbot, were joint owners of the Hall. After the war, Miss Talbot tried for years to obtain compensation for the damage done, but without success. Somehow Kiplin Hall survived and it is now one of the few houses in England that was neither demolished nor completely restored. The photograph of the kitchen shows how this room has been left untouched since the end of the war after its use by R.A.F. officers. The 1930's cast iron range and ceramic sink are still in place, and there are furnishings from that time.

Bridget Talbot was actively involved during World War I and II. During the First World War she was a memberof the Belgian Refugee Committee and organised Little Gaddesden Cooperative Allotment scheme in her home village near Berkhamsted in Hertfordhire. In 1915 she served with the 'Pro-Italia' group on the Austrian-Italian front, receiving and tending soldiers wounded in the trenches, before sending them back to base hospitals. When the Red Cross took over these operations in 1917, Bridget Talbot remained with them until 1919, and then moved to Turkey to work with Russian refugees. She was awarded the Italian Medal for Valour, the Croce de Guerra, and an O.B.E. in 1920 for her work with the Red Cross, and remained an active supporter of the organisation all her life.

In a major campaign in the 1920s and during the 1930s to preserve the lives of merchant Seamen, she invented a waterproof torch for lifebelts to give men lost overboard after an attack or accident a chance of rescue. She then used her political and social connections to badger parliament to make the provision compulsory for all Merchant Navy, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy personnel, which saved many lives during the Second World War.

We are always looking for information about the history of Kiplin Hall to add to the house's archives, and to use for exhibition and educational purposes. We would be very pleased to hear from anyone who was stationed here or nearby, and also anyone who rembers visiting the Hall, or worked in the house or gardens

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