The Archaeology Centre, London Road, Bagshot was vandalised and the inside trashed [August 2024].
The site has had minor incidents of vandalism over the past few years, broken windows, attempted forced entry and an arson attack on a garage, but nothing like this.
Someone entered the building via an upstairs rear window. All the internal doors in the building were locked (as a result of past incidents) and the vandals smashed them open if they could, or just kicked the panels out if they could not. The computers were smashed, walls were daubed with paint and furniture thrown around.
At first it was thought that irreplaceable archaeological finds, such as rare very early English Venetian style glassware, dating from the first half of the 17th Century had been smashed. But once members of the Archaeology Group gained permission from Surrey County Council, who are the landlords, to go in and make a more detailed assessment it was discovered that, while many artifacts had been tipped out and scattered, none had actually been broken.
All the archaeological finds, and the group’s records, have now been removed to safe, but temporary, storage. The building has been boarded up and the group is without a home.
The building from the outside.
The building is locally listed but not on the national list. A submission was made but the relevant inspector turned it down because the two doors in the front are not symetrical.
It was built as a police station, providing three residences (two for constables and and one for a sargeant) plus a police office and cells. The door on the right was to the police office and was presumably made taller to give more clearance for police helmets. Some people think that this adds to, rather than detracts from, the building’s attraction.
Bagshot Village 