Sign in / up

back to article The bunker at the end of the world - in Essex

Kelvedon Hatch is a superb example of absurdist geek life. Not only is the site technically very impressive, it is also completely useless and frequently prompts the question “what on earth were they thinking?”... A tour reinforces this view as the experience now is as enjoyably peculiar as the history behind the place. The …

COMMENTS

House rules Send corrections
This topic is closed for new posts.

Page:

  1. Craig Vaughton
    Mushroom

    Pity

    We could do with a real "Threads" in Sheffield city centre now. We'd get rid of the useless council and run down shopping area in one fail swoop!

    0 0
  2. JaitcH
    WTF?

    Some 'Secret' bases

    I used to visit Princes Risborough a while back, leaving High Wycombe - a miserable excuse of a town - travel along the A40 and hang a right just before West Wycombe, on to the A4010.

    There was a RAF base above Saunderton (Lacey Green?) that was 'secret' except for years of convoys of trucks used to cart dirt down and later convoys of readymix concrete travelled up.

    It is hard to imagine that even the most short-sighted Russian satellite of those years could miss the desecration of the countryside. All these groundworks scattered around the UK installed at the greatest expense.

    In my early work days I worked for a notable company that used to bury VHF transmitter-receivers in the green fields of the UK, all fed through miles annd miles of underground conduits that carried comms and electricity between our underground chambers and the nearest "telephone exchange". These pits had emergency generators, air pumps and antenna - all designed for remote control.

    About 16 years ago I happened to be in an area I had worked in and decided on a small diversion. Took some hunting but finally I located the steel doors of one site and the rusted manual release switch and peeped in. All the equipment, even the pneumatically raised mast/antenna, was there but it was obviously powered down.

    I wonder just how many other millions/billions pounds lie buried across England? All wet dreams of government done for nought.

    You should see RAF Latimer, a few miles away, they didn't even clean the mess up!

    1 0
    1. Dave Bell
      Reply Icon
      Mushroom

      Re: Some 'Secret' bases

      There was a lot of effort spent on photo-recce of the Soviet Union, with various high-flying aircraft such as the Canberra and the U-2 demonstrating that it was hard to intercept high-fling aircraft. Whether the Soviet Union even managed the same over the UK, I've never heard anyone say. But once satellites could do the job, both sidescould fix the locations of what was visible, and Moscow wasn't quite where the official maps said.

      Rough rule of thumb: any bunker completed before 1960 might not have been on enemy maps. And how would those bungalows have looked on the photo-recce images? Google Earth shows it as rather hidden among the trees, almost too hidden, and the radio mast is in the sort of place a radio mast might be put for all sorts of reasons.

      There were always more targets than bombs anyway. And you could never be sure that any bomb would arrive where intended. And it wasn't a good idea to have two missiles aimed at exactly the same location. Some of the odd-seeming targets were just locations chosen so that several missiles were close enough to the "real" target. Do you drop one warhead on Parkeston Quay, or do you lay out an overlapping pattern to cover Harwich and Felixstowe? Shotley Gate Post Office might be as good an aiming point as any.

      0 0
    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Some 'Secret' bases

      "There was a RAF base above Saunderton (Lacey Green?) that was 'secret' except for years of convoys of trucks used to cart dirt down and later convoys of readymix concrete travelled up."

      Having worked there, I dispute the idea that it was secret. The signs outside were something of a giveaway that this was RAF High Wycombe, headquarters of RAF Strike Command.

      Regarding that both Western and Eastern HQ's were all known locations, that was irrelevant - the strategy was detente, in that you had an escalation if you were going to be over-run by conventional means, as well as time to launch an MAD retaliation against an attempted pre-emptive strike. So the protection of the sites was primarily against conventional weapons, where you couldn't justifiably launch a nuclear attack in reponse. Should High Wycombe and Northwood be targeted by nukes big enough to take them out, we'd have launched our submarine based missiles before the incoming arrived.

      The hippies always hated MAD, but it actually worked rather well in avoiding conflict. A vast combined waste of money of course, and one that bankrupted the USSR, but only two real questions arise:

      1) Was the USSR a credible threat in term of an unprovoked invasion across Europe?

      2) Better Red than dead?

      1 0
      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Some 'Secret' bases

        "Having worked there, I dispute the idea that it was secret. The signs outside were something of a giveaway that this was RAF High Wycombe, headquarters of RAF Strike Command."

        Indeed, the Strike Command bunker was very public mainly as a result of a huge fuss when the National Trust allowed it to be built on their land against the wishes of a fair proportion of the membership. Plus the signs as mentioned - in pre Sat Nav days they were jolly useful for finding the place if one had to visit.

        1 0
  3. Test Man
    Thumb Up

    How timely an article - I passed this on the way to Brentwood a few weeks ago.

    0 0
  4. Senior Ugli
    Devil

    Loving the communications history segments on here. This bunker and the BT tower articles were very interesting.

    There is the remains of an early warning defence system in Maidstone in Kent, which is a fun visit. see http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/sites/c/coldblow_ace_high/index.html

    Also for more info on derelict buildings view www.28dayslater.co.uk in particular the military section

    0 0
  5. Andy
    Mushroom

    i went recently with my kids who were about my age at the time of the stuff in the 80s.. i made them watch the videos shown that we used to see on tv and we had to stop watching them as they got scared. i said this is what we had to live through at your age.. great to visit and will do again without the kids so i can read everything properly.

    p.s does anyone remember the other series that was on tv of a dad built a bunker in his house and tricked the family into thinking nuclear war had started? eventually the kids found out it hadnt at all and thats how it ended...

    1 0
    1. John Smith 19 Gold badge
      Reply Icon
      Coat

      "p.s does anyone remember the other series that was on tv of a dad built a bunker in his house and tricked the family into thinking nuclear war had started? eventually the kids found out it hadnt at all and thats how it ended.."

      I think you're thinking of a one off TV play. Possibly with Sheila Hancock in it.

      0 0
  6. Dr?
    Mushroom

    S.N.U.B.

    I know of this place only because it was the set of a dreadful film called S.N.U.B. (Secret Nuclear Underground Bunker). The only reason I watched this straight to video garbage is because my old boss (think a fat, bald version of David Brent with neither the wit or charm) was in it. He was some zombie type thing and he got repeatedly shot and smashed over the head. Who wouldn't want to see that happen to their cretinous boss?

    1 0
  7. Tim Worstal

    Hmmm

    Those tungsten reinforcing rods in the concrete are worth some £40 a kg these days. Anyone fancy digging them out?

    No, no, you do the work, I'll do the selling then we'll split the cash, right?

    1 0
    1. wayne 8
      Reply Icon
      Pirate

      Re: Hmmm Tungsten worth its weight in gold

      Sell it as Tungsten? gold plate it and use it as collateral for a securities swap or sell it to the Chinese.

      0 0
  8. NoOnions
    Mushroom

    Maidstone - 1 Group ROC HQ

    In the late '80s, when I was an Air Cadet, I visited the Maidstone bunker as they were simulating a Soviet nuclear strike on the UK - happy days! ;-)

    0 0
  9. JB
    Happy

    The Hole in the Ground

    There's a wonderful film available on one of the excellent BFI COI collections called "The Hole in The Ground", made in 1962, and I believe it was filed at Kelvedon Hatch. It's available on YouTube as well, but broken up into 6 10-minute pieces. Well worth a watch (sorry if it has been mentioned already, but my lunch hour is precious!)

    I'd love to visit a place like this, but I doubt it would fly with the missus, who is the driver in the household!

    0 0
  10. Lukin Brewer

    Disguised as a bungalow...

    As previous posters have touched on, this was probably down to a token, "we might as well - we ought to do something," effort to fool the USSR, plus a more concrete desire to fool Joe Public. Ideally, we weren't supposed to notice all those lumps, bumps, concrete structures and masts that were scattered around the country, let alone worry about what they might be for.

    1 0
  11. Wayland Sothcott 1
    Boffin

    WISP - Wireless Internet Service Provider

    The tower is now used by two wireless broadband companies, Skyline and County Broadband. From that height they get vast coverage, far more than your average BT Home Hub, but they put out about the same power.

    0 0
  12. Nathan Price

    The construction seems identical to the bunker / house-on-top that I gave serious thought to purchasing up in Inverbervie a couple of years ago..

    0 0
  13. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    The B-Ark

    "In the event of nuclear war, the role of the RGHQs was to house the key government and military staff needed to run the country after the bombs had finished falling."

    So that they could do...? Fuck all, basically. A concrete bunker to preserve a bunch of morons who's few skills would be totally obsolete if they ever left it.

    I still can't get my head around how stupid people are.

    1 0
  14. Alistair
    Boffin

    Nifty history things that were once secret

    I LOVE the road sign. That alone is worth the read. And since I live 3 blocks away from it, have a link:

    http://www.camp-x.com/camp-x.htm

    (yes its a tad cheesy and plain, but I have to give the fellow credit, since no one else is really trying to preserve the knowledge, including the gummint)

    There were quite a number of bodies passed through there, more than a few from 'over 'ome.

    2 0
  15. Lone Gunman

    Seriously creepy place

    I went there a couple of years back with my mum as something to do one quiet afternoon. Whilst the place is indeed fascinating, we both got a serious case of the creeps as I think we were the only people there, the smell, bad lighting and the odd noises the place makes. Add in the mannequins and we were seriously glad to get out of there.

    Growing up with the threat of nuclear attack should have really bothered me but I don't remember it freaking me out particularly. But then I suppose it was because it was always there, in the same way that we were always alert to the IRA attacks.

    0 0
    1. mmeier
      Reply Icon

      Re: Seriously creepy place

      Growing up in the 1960s-80s was a time where "Worldwide Thermonuklear War" was always in the back of the mind. But like IRA / RAF / <Insert local terrorist organisation blowing up political figures>, the occasional "PLO flight to Afrika" and other elements it was background. The Red Army could be on Kurfürsten Damm in 15min and in Bonn in 6h (4 driving, 2 in a jam at Kamener Kreuz) but you could not change it if you where in "panik mode". So we lived on and lived with it.

      In many ways the world was easier back then when the game of "Cowboys and Cossaks" where played on a global scale.

      1 0
  16. Vetinari
    Thumb Up

    for more of these places : http://www.subbrit.org.uk/

    0 0
  17. Mark #255

    The Faraday Cage

    I would think the primary purpose of the Faraday Cage would be to protect the bunker from the nuclear EMP blast.

    Post-apocalypse, who's going to be getting close enough to snoop on you?

    0 0
  18. Clive Galway

    Brilliant place - I once spent a whole weekend there doing an Airsoft (Paintball without the paint) event. Realistic looking weapons and mag caps, "time-in" for the whole weekend (As in an attack could come at any time) - was very cool.

    The public liked it too as they got to see "soldiers" walking around the place making it look lived in.

    0 0

Page:

This topic is closed for new posts.