1939 - 1945 :: Kinmel Military Hospital
The Kinmel Park Military Training camp was built in 1914 in the grounds of Kinmel Hall as a basic training facility. It took over a substantial area of parkland, and had its own branch railway line connecting to the main line at Foryd Station in Rhyl.
It contained a number of stores, a Post Office, a bakery, a cinema, and a number of churches. and included areas set aside for bayonet practice and trench fighting. A series of trenches were built both at Kinmel Park and in nearby Bodelwyddan Park.
Kinmel Park Military Training Camp became notorious because of a riot which took place on March 4th and March 5th, 1919 during which 20,000 war weary soldiers expressed their anger at their treatment following the end of the First World War (WW1). Five men were killed, and 23 were injured during the riot.
In the years 1939 - 1945 (during WW2) Kinmel Hall itself was requisitioned as a military hospital and the Rheuma Spa was forced to close.
After the end of World War 2 (in March 1946) the Rheuma Spa owners recovered the keys and discovered years of military occupation had taken its toll and they could not face renovating Kinmel Hall. The Rheuma Spa did not reopen and Kinmel Hall became vacant again.