Did you know that a site as significant as Bletchley Park is at the end of the Piccadilly line?

Trent Park House in Cockfosters was the home of the Secret Listeners in World War 2. Having initially been a country house for the Sassoon family, it was requisitioned by the government in 1939 in order to house and interrogate Axis prisoners-of-war. In 1942, its role became even more important. Trent Park House became the home for high-ranking captured German generals who were then encouraged to talk.

It is thanks to the painstaking work undertaken by the Trent Park Museum Trust and their volunteers that the stories of the Secret Listeners and their vital service are now being uncovered and preserved for future generations.

One story told by the Trent Park Museum Trust shows how the diligent work of the Secret Listeners probably saved our lives. It was thanks to the Secret Listeners at Trent Park that the extent of Germany’s work developing rockets was discovered, following a fateful conversation between two German generals on the 22nd March 1943. Until then, the British had not taken this threat seriously. In order to extract more information about the rockets from the generals, a partially faked newspaper was planted in the house with false details about Germans developing rockets in the Baltic regions. The casual remarks made by the German generals that followed helped the British to discover the extent of the operation developing both V1 and V2 rockets. It was after this event that preparations for Operation HYDRA began, the first attempt to hinder Hitler’s progress developing secret terror weapons. Without the work of the Secret Listeners, the Allies could have been left defenceless against this powerful weaponry. We have a great deal to thank the Secret Listeners for.

Following a long campaign to preserve it, the ground floor of Trent Park House is being refurbished by the Trent Park Museum Trust into a museum telling the story of the Secret Listeners and the vital intelligence that they discovered. Their work was vital in the Second World War, and it is only fitting that it will be remembered for generations to come in the place where it happened.

Trent Park House hopes to open its ground floor and basement as the Trent Park Museum very soon. They are in need of funds in order to carry out the restoration; Trent Park House was left derelict by its previous owners. If you can donate, please visit here: https://www.trentparkhouse.org.uk/donate. For more information, please visit: https://www.trentparkhouse.org.uk.

Watch out for Trent Park Museum’s opening and be sure to visit!