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The Old Rectory, in Doncaster, South Yorkshire

THE OLD RECTORY

This is the grand rectory where World War Two RAF hero Douglas Bader spent his boisterous teenage years. Current owner Trevor Miller, said "He was always in scrapes, taking pot-shots with his airgun, going poaching and later driving his little red MG like a maniac.". The dining-room window still bears the crack where an airgun show of Douglas's hit.

Bader left school to join the RAF in 1928, but still visited Sprotbrough, once by air when the verger's son Mr Dent was in the rectory garden. "This biplane flew over and swooped so low we had to duck. The pilot threw out a parcel wrapped in brown paper and string. Mrs Hobbs came out and picked it up off the lawn. She said: 'It's only Douglas delivering my birthday present.'"

In December 1931, after Bader lost his legs while performing more daredevil aerobatics, he convalesced here at Sprotbrough and later was a regular visitor.

The house is part-Elizabethan, sporting 24 rooms, including 8 bedrooms, separate servants' quarters and three acres of wooded grounds. It was bought by the church in the late 1850's and remodelled in the fashionable Gothic style, as it appears today.

Look Out For...

Look out for the red plaque on the gate saying "Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader CBE DSO DFC, famous legless wartime fighter pilot lived here during his boyhood, circa 1923."

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OPENING TIMES

Private Property, no access to public.

Contact Details

The Old Rectory,
Boat Lane,
Sprotbrough,
Doncaster