History of the UK's Nuclear Bunkers

Preserving our Cold War Heritage

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    After the Soviet Union tested its first Atomic Bomb in 1949, the British Government between 1950 and 1955 ordered the construction or renovation of over 100 bunkers to give protection to Government Ministers, civil servants and the military from the Soviet Nuclear threat.

    The Government's biggest scheme was the RAF's "Rotor" Network which involved over 70 bunkers being divided into two areas, West coast and East coast. The bunkers on the West coast being mainly surface or semi-sunk. The second area on the East Coast was a standard design of a bungalow, and in the basement, a tunnel leading to the underground bunker. The bungalow doubled as a guard room and to the unsuspecting eye this would seem to be the perfect rural cottage, unaware that some 40 feet underground the machinery of Government churned away in a one, two or even three level underground facility.

    Most of the "Rotor" Network was redundant within five years with the advances in British radar. Many of the "Rotor" stations were adopted into other areas of Civil Defence, such as local government, police and the Civil Avaition Authority. Some of them even being sold to the public to be used as private accommodation such as the bunker at Goldsborough (pictured above) and Crosslaw in Scotland.

    The Crosslaw bunker renovation involved the water tanks in the attic being removed and made into two bedrooms and the basement entrance to the bunker being their tv room. The interior of this private house baring no resemblence to its former use as a guard room. The only drawback is that the Civil Avaition Authority still maintain a radar site in the garden and to the left of the radar site is the Crosslaw ROC post.

    SCOTLAND

    In the mid seventies Scotland was split into four zones:

  • North Zone was the former RAF "Rotor" station near Anstruther in Fife. This is now an excellant museum and well worth a visit.

  • East Zone was the former Regional War Room in Kirknewton which after disposal became a nightclub and was recently put up for sale.

  • West Zone was the Army's former Anti-Aircraft Operations Room near Torrance House in Calderglen Park, East Kilbride which is now used by the park's department as an equipment store.

  • Central was Scotland's Zone headquarters. It was located in the affluent area of Corstorphine in Edinburgh. This had formerly been Scotland's Regional Seat of Government, (RSG 11) in the early sixties. Before this Barnton Quarry had been a WWII Operations Room within the Turnhouse sector of RAF Fighter Command. The underground (R4) site is a three level SOC built in 1952. More recently after a devastating fire in the early nineties the site has been aquired by a developer believed to be James Mitchell, the owner of the Anstruther museum. Just before the site changed hands the Trust were lucky enough to explore as guests of the then owners, the three underground levels.

    Most of the floorboards and interior have been completely destroyed by the fire and vandalism. Which brings us onto an important point. THESE SITES ARE DANGEROUS. YOU SHOULD NEVER ENTER THESE SITES WITHOUT THE OWNERS PERMISSION OR ALONE. PEOPLE HAVE DIED AND BEEN SERIOUSLY INJURED ENTERING THESE SITES. ALSO, SITES WHICH MAY SEEM UNOCCUPIED TO YOU MAY STILL BE PART OF THE MOD AND YOU MAY FIND YOURSELF HAVING AN UNPLEASANT EXPERIENCE WITH THE MOD POLICE.

    ROYAL OBSERVER CORPS

    The Royal Observer Corps whose primary function was spotting enemy aircraft were moved underground in the early sixties to small three man bunkers known as ROC Posts. There were originally 1,582 underground posts until 1980 when almost half were closed as part of Government cutbacks, of which 872 were operational until standown in 1992.

    We have adopted several Royal Observer Corps posts. These posts would have been used by members of the ROC to report details of radioactive fallout, blast strength and location taken from readings of equipment within the posts. The information would have been passed to a UKWMO (United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation) Group Headquarters.



    Scotland was split into five areas:

  • Edinburgh (24 Group) had a semi-sunk bunker at RAF Turnhouse this sadly has now been demolished.

  • Ayr (25 Group) Group Headquarters (pictured left) was actually an above ground bunker in Prestwick and is now owned by the Church of Scotland who have recently commissioned its demolition to expand the car park for their church next door.

  • Dundee,(28 Group) Which is currently owned by the Trust and was kindly donated by GS. Brown Construction of Perth who renovated the nearby Craigiebarns House which they acquired after the Home Office disposed of the site in 1993.

  • Aberdeen,(29 Group) an above ground operations room in the Northfield Industrial Estate sold off in 1993 by the PSA on behalf of the Home Office.

  • Inverness,(30 Group) a two level underground bunker at Raigmore, which was originally part of three RAF bunkers of which only one survives and is currently used by Highland Council as their Emergency Planning Centre.

    TO THE PRESENT DAY


    Since 1993 most of the UK's bunker network has been sold off or become derelict with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. Bunkers are interesting places but are best viewed at one of the restored museum sites where they can be enjoyed safely. Have a look at our links page for interesting places to visit.