Julian Hunt's Motor Sport Explorer says that the circuit was first used in July 1952, last in July 1954. The Autosport report of the 1954 event says that it wasn't used in 1953.
The F1R lists 31 entrants for the 1954 F3 events, but Autopsort says that there were only eight starters in heat 1 and that "the non-starters' hand lay heavily upon heat 2 and even brought comments from the PA-Wallah". Sports car races were won by C Chapman (Lotus-MG, upto 1500cc) W A Scott-Brown (Lister-Bristol, up tp 2,500cc) and M W Head (Jaguar, over 2,500cc). Apparently Chapman and Scott-Brown battled in both the small sports car races (Archie in a Lister-MG in the smallest.) Peter Collins is not listed as a starter in the F3 race, but he drove an Aston Martin saloon in the unlimited sports car race. Mon Ami Mate says that this was a DB2 entered by Rob Walker.
Autosport says that chicanes had been incorporated for 1954 and average speeds for all races were around 70 mph so I'm not sure about it being a slipstream's delight.