The Cold War Comes to Berkshire
In June 1980, RAF Greenham Common near Newbury was selected as one of two British bases to host American nuclear-armed cruise missiles. The decision placed this corner of West Berkshire at the centre of East-West tensions that defined the late twentieth century.
The base became home to the 501st Tactical Missile Wing, activated on 1 July 1982. Its mission was to house and, if commanded, launch the BGM-109G Gryphon Ground Launched Cruise Missiles as part of NATO's response to Soviet SS-20 deployments. Six hardened shelters were constructed at the GAMA site, each designed to withstand a thermonuclear airburst or a direct hit from a 500lb conventional bomb. The shelters stood approximately ten metres high, built with reinforced concrete ceilings around two metres thick, steel plates, sand layers, and tonnes of protective soil.
The Women's Peace Camp
Protest against the missile deployment began on 5 September 1981, when 36 women from "Women for Life on Earth" arrived at the base and chained themselves to the perimeter fence. By February 1982, the protest had evolved into a women-only camp, a decision justified by organisers through appeals to maternal identity and the protection of future generations.
The camp grew to comprise nine smaller encampments at various gates, each named after rainbow colours, including Yellow Gate, Blue Gate, and Green Gate. The protesters employed creative tactics: dressing as witches and teddy bears, performing keening rituals, and cutting sections of the perimeter fence, which they described in press releases as "our Berlin Wall."
The largest demonstration occurred on 12 December 1982, when 30,000 women held hands around the six-mile perimeter fence for the "Embrace the Base" event. Participants decorated the fence with personal items, family photographs, poems, and expressions of opinion to highlight the contrast between the weapons inside and the lives represented outside. On 1 April 1983, 70,000 protesters formed a 14-mile human chain from Greenham to the Aldermaston and Burghfield ordnance factories.
The protest continued for 19 years, making it one of the longest-running peace demonstrations in British history. The camp persisted until September 2000, closing only after the missiles had long departed and the base had ceased military operations.
Closure and Transformation
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, ratified by American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in June 1988, marked the beginning of the end for the missile deployment. The last cruise missiles were removed in March 1991, and the 501st Tactical Missile Wing was deactivated in May 1991.
RAF Greenham Common officially closed in September 1992. In 1997, the land was designated as public parkland and returned to its pre-Second World War common land status. Greenham and Crookham Commons were designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest, recognising the ecological value that had developed during decades of restricted access.
The former technical site was converted into a business park, now home to Greenham Trust, which has distributed more than £85 million to over 5,000 local charitable causes since its establishment in 1997.
The Control Tower Visitor Centre
In April 2014, Greenham Parish Council purchased the former air traffic control tower. Following restoration work, it opened to the public in September 2018 as a visitor centre and café. The facility operates on three levels: a ground-floor café, a first-floor visitor centre with a permanent Cold War exhibition, and a top-floor observation deck offering views across the commons.
The tower, which operates as a charity, hosts exhibitions exploring both the military history of the base and the peace camp protests. In 2021, it hosted "Both Sides of the Fence," an exhibition marking 40 years since the arrival of the Greenham peace women. The centre opens on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and Bank Holidays from 10am to 4pm, with free entry supported by donations.
A Hollywood Backlot
The dramatic landscape of Greenham Common has attracted numerous film and television productions. The GAMA missile shelters proved particularly suited to science fiction, serving as the Resistance base on the planet D'Qar in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" (2015) and returning for "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" (2017). The site also featured in the "Andor" television series in 2023.
Other productions filmed at the former airfield include "Fast and Furious 9" (2019), the Netflix thriller "Heart of Stone" (2023), and scenes from Beyoncé's self-titled visual album in 2013. The long runway and open spaces have also attracted automotive programmes; an episode of "Top Gear" in 2010 featured Jeremy Clarkson and James May filming at the abandoned airfield.
Commemoration and Legacy
In October 2002, the former protest camp site was inaugurated as a Commemorative and Historic Site. Seven standing stones mark the location, alongside a "Flame" sculpture and a spiral sculpture engraved with the words "You can't kill the Spirit." A memorial plaque honours Helen Wyn Thomas, who was killed near the site in 1989.
Today, visitors can walk across the commons, observe the preserved missile shelters that now serve as reminders of Cold War tensions, and explore the control tower exhibition. Cattle from local farms graze the land under permitted arrangements, occasionally straying onto the nearby roads in a scene far removed from the nuclear standoff that once dominated this corner of Berkshire.