The Secret Life of Tangmere Cottage

12 July 2022

The Secret Life of Tangmere Cottage

Echoes of 20th Century wartime history resound in Tangmere Cottage, an exceptional country house that played a secret but essential role during the Second World War.

A plaque now commemorates the RAF 161 Squadron (Special Duties) and the Special Operations Executive who stayed at Tangmere Cottage prior to their covert night operations into occupied France between 1940 and 1944.

Special Operations Room
The house itself dates back to the 1750s and is situated around 4 miles east of Chichester, West Sussex. The dining room, which now comfortably seats 12, was once the Operations Room where agents would plan their routes and watch the skies. Still in place is the GPO socket which once connected to a green telephone, for scrambled calls directly to Whitehall. Fortunately, today’s communications at Tangmere Cottage are ready for the 21st century with superfast broadband.

The opposite side of the house was built around the 1900s and a number of additions have subsequently increased the size of Tangmere Cottage to create around 3,500 sq ft of accommodation.

Now on the market with Henry Adams in Chichester with a guide price of £1,650,000, Tangmere Cottage is a pristine 5-bedroom country home set in half an acre.

Family home with family connections
When Dominic and Monica MacKinnon bought Tangmere Cottage in 2004, it resonated with their own family histories. Dominic’s father was an Air Marshall who trained at RAF Tangmere Airfield while Monica’s late father was connected with the Secret Intelligence Service.

“We didn’t know this area but were thinking of moving from London and buying a boat,” said Monica. “When we came across Tangmere Cottage, we found we were in the right place at the right time. It’s even brought our two family histories together and it has a really nice, homely feel.

“The house has a wonderful flow. Everything is in the right place, every room is a good size, and none of the bedrooms are small. It’s a very light and airy house and we like it being tucked away. The garden is fabulous and has a heated swimming pool so coming from London with our three young children, who are now in their 20s, the house had everything we wanted. We’ve had a fair few parties here over the years - it’s a great house for entertaining."

Refreshed and refined with space to spare
When the MacKinnons bought Tangmere Cottage, it needed rewiring, they extended the kitchen, and the woodchip wallpaper has been consigned to history. In other respects, the house remains largely as it was in terms of room configuration.

The term ‘cottage’ is perhaps a misnomer as this is a sizeable property with generous room sizes. The drawing room, once the recreation room for WWII agents, spans 33ft. There’s a large games room, ideal for entertaining teens and an outside bar adjoins the swimming pool terrace.

"A safe place"
“The house was a safe place where agents and pilots stayed before their secret missions to France and where they returned after a successful journey,” Monica explains. “A photo from that time shows the dining room as it was then, with photos of Princess Elizabeth and of Churchill on the wall, and rows of empty champagne bottles are lined up on the mantlepiece. If you look closely there’s a map of France on the left, it’s very evocative."

Tangmere Cottage is Grade II listed due to its historic interest. It’s tucked away close to the entrance to the former RAF Tangmere Airfield but it’s somewhat inconspicuous behind a high retaining brick wall. That cover proved invaluable for members of the Special Operations Executive and 161 Squadron who could enter unseen. The bedrooms apparently slept ‘as many as could be accommodated’.

Providing conditions were right, crews would take off in Lysander aircraft, which only need shorter runways. They would fly in darkness, using the light of the full moon on clear nights. At their rendezvous in France, usually a farmer’s field, contacts on the ground would send a message by morse code. If the code was wrong, the mission was aborted. But if all seemed well, they would land, turn the aircraft around ready for take-off, carry out their insertion, pick up any injured agents or aircrew, and return to Tangmere. Time on the ground in France was usually less than 5 minutes.

RAF connections
During the war, the RAF commandeered most of the houses in Tangmere village. Wing Commander Douglas Bader was stationed at Tangmere in 1941. The airfield closed in the 1970s, when much of the land was returned to farming. Nearby Tangmere Aviation museum gives a fascinating insight into the history of the area which played a valuable role in the Battle of Britain.

Location & communications
Communications are good from this location, by road and rail. Monica commuted to London for 10 years thanks to the straightforward access to the A27 and up through Petworth to the A3. The beautiful cathedral city of Chichester is just 4 miles away, from where rail journeys to London Victoria take around an hour and a half. Goodwood is around 3 miles away. The sandy beaches of West Wittering are 11 miles to the southwest and there are numerous sailing clubs and watersports along this stretch of the coast.

"I knew I was safe"
Of special significance to Monica and Dominic is a small gate to the front of Tangmere Cottage. A few years ago, an elderly passer-by asked them never to remove the gate and if they did, would they contact him first as he would like it.

Monica takes up the story: “We got into conversation and asked why the gate meant so much to him. He replied, ‘Whenever I walked back through that gate, I knew I was safe.’ So we have kept the gate in place. It always reminds me of just what Tangmere Cottage has meant to so many brave people.”