Free
History
#105
Bentley Priory Museum
Headquarters of RAF Fighter Command in 1940—the nerve centre of the Dowding System that fused radar, observers and sector stations into one lethal decision-machine. In grand rooms you meet the cool logic that won the Battle of Britain; downstairs, plotting tables show how minutes became victory.
Opening Hours
Wednesday: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Friday: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Saturday: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
What's not to miss inside?
The Dowding System
First integrated air-defence networkRadar data, phone lines and human plotters turned chaos into a single picture of the sky.
📍 Operations/Filter Room displays
HQ with a View
War run from a country houseOrnate ceilings above, life-and-death timelines below—British irony in brick and plaster.
📍 State rooms & terrace
People of ‘The Few’
Strategy is humanControllers, WAAFs, pilots: the system worked because thousands did.
📍 Personal stories gallery
Inspire your Friends
- Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding ran Fighter Command from Bentley Priory; his networked ‘Dowding System’ prefigured modern command-and-control.
- Winston Churchill visited operations here during the Battle of Britain—the place behind his tribute to ‘The Few’.
- The Filter Room’s plotting table didn’t just track raids—it decided where every squadron in No. 11 Group would fight, minute by minute.
