Whaddon Hall

[2][3] It was once home to the Selby family (also known as Selby-Lowndes), whose ancestor William Lowndes built the larger and grander Winslow Hall.

[4] During the Second World War Whaddon Hall served as headquarters of Section VIII (Communications) of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, or MI6), under the command of Brigadier Richard Gambier-Parry.

[5] That facility, known as Main Line, served in a number of capacities, the most critical the sending of Ultra intelligence from Bletchley Park to officers in the field.

[7] At the time that France fell to the Axis Powers in June 1940, only a small number of SIS agents were in communication with Whaddon Hall.

Early in the war, until about 1941, inexperienced SIS agents on the European continent spent too much time on the air, and jeopardised their security.