THE BBC is selling off its historic Caversham Park site.

The park is set in 93 acres of land in the most affluent part of Reading. 

The BBC says the sell-off is part of its ongoing savings drive. It is not yet known how much Caversham Park will go for, or whom might snap it up. 

It is suitable for a wide variety of uses (subject to planning consent) such as residential, retirement, assisted-care, hotel, leisure, education or healthcare.

Caversham Park has had a long and prestigious history and occupies a cherished place in the hearts of local people. Believed to have been gifted to a relative of William the Conqueror in 1066, the park is recorded in the Domesday Book with a value of £20.

Since that time, the property has been lost to the Crown during the War of the Roses, has been demolished and rebuilt several times (once after being destroyed by fire), has changed hands many times, has been landscaped by Capability Brown and has entertained royalty.

In 1921, the existing site was divided and the mansion and park became The Oratory School, undergoing a period of extension. Following expensive fire damage, other financial difficulties and WWII, it was purchased by the BBC in the 1940s and became the headquarters of BBC Monitoring.

Staff would transcribe and summarise 240 broadcasts per day into an 80,000-word document called the Daily Digest which was swiftly delivered to London by war despatch drivers.

BBC Monitoring played a key role in tapping communications made by Hellschreiber (a teleprinter) from Nazi Germany's propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, to newspaper and radio networks. A site outside London was chosen in part because it was less likely to suffer bomb damage and by the end of the war, 1,000 people worked at Caversham Park.

More follows.