08/06/2026
In 1942, Exbury House and other properties on the Beaulieu River were requisitioned as part of the war effort. The buildings became collectively known as HMS Mastodon and provided training facilities and administration for the D-Day invasion.
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In November 1943, the Montagu Arms was requisitioned to billet Wrens working at HMS Mastodon. Each day, the women now living at the Montagu Arms were transported to work between Beaulieu and Exbury in lorries for the three-and-a-half mile journey.
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For the Wrens, the Montagu Arms wasn’t just a billet. It became part of a lively local social scene. There were weekly dances in the village hall, plus the Domus at Beaulieu Abbey. American airmen from the nearby Beaulieu Airfield often invited the Wrens to dances too. In the hotel, the women’s mess was now the oak-panelled dining room, a luxurious upgrade compared to what they were used to if having been previously billeted in cold and damp Nissen huts.
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