The extraordinary scene in the Potton Manor Ball Room in 1979

Back in the 1850’s when the railway came to Sandy Pottonian James Wagstaff became a commuter. He made a small fortune in the property market and was able to afford a town house in Holland Park. Back in his home town he built a new house called after his London residence which on the OS map of the early 1880’s was known as ‘The Residence.’ Potton History Society member Keith Lawrence created a model of the building, known to post second world war locals as Potton Manor and demolished in 1982. The main house was connected to a ballroom by an ‘L’ shaped conservatory. After war time service by the army and a brief period as a German POW camp it was bought by Otto von Smekal & Eva Pokorova in 1945. New security was put in and locals debated what was going on at the ‘Delta Research Labs’.

Otto died in 1966 leaving Eva who lived a life of a recluse with the house and its contents left to gather dust until her death in 1977. The couple had been working on manufacturing a small car in the 1950’s and the solicitor responsible for winding up the estate called in Michael Ware, the curator of the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu in Hampshire, to see if the cars left in the manor were of interest. He found that “the ballroom was almost filled with this great piece of apparatus for converting tar into petrol. It was one of the most extraordinary things I have ever seen.” The museum bought the cars and associated equipment. One of them was in working order and Potton History Society was able to buy it and return it to Potton. Michael Ware has recently passed a file of his material for the Society to keep in its archive, including colour slides we had not seen before. This and its other Potton Manor material have now been digitised so that anyone who wishes to do so can consult over 3000 scans and items by request via our secretary. Trevor Ball’s ‘Potton Manor:- An enigma’ tells the full story and is available from the Society for £4 + p&p. If you have any stories or questions about the history of the Manor, please let us know.

By Peter Ibbett