NUclear Bunker

[steveo]

Where in Landcroft?

[Applespider]

Apparently the one on Dulwich golf course has been converted into a small reservoir to irrigate the gold course

http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/roc/db/988732245.003001.html

[SimonM]

Ha! That's just what they want you to think! The works just camouflaged the installation of new computers in The Grid B)

[Penguin68]

There are, all over the country, small deep 'bunkers' which were actually the working locations of the Royal Observer Corps (since disbanded) post-war. These bunkers had room enough for 3-4 people and were to be manned (for real, rather than for training) in the event of (a) nuclear war or (b) a civil nuclear incident. They were equipped with simple photographic plates (forms of pin-hole cameras) which would be able to capture the size (by scale of the image), height and direction of a bomb exploding. Observers would then, using land-lines, report these to a Regional Central HQ (I was stationed in one of these) where the bomb would be triangulated (from 3 or more reports) with its position and size known (and whether a ground or air-burst). Additional equipment in the bunkers were radiation counters so that radioactive clouds could be plotted - this last role would also have operated in case of a civilian emergency.

Goodness knows whether any of this would ever actually have worked as planned - thank goodness it was never called-on to do so - though the ROC was put into stand-to mode on a number of occasions during the cold war.

The bunker in the golf course is most likely to have been an ROC observation bunker, I would think, rather than a bolt-hole for government people.

Edited to say - I have just spotted the post above this which confirms that this was an ROC post.

[Marmora Man]

I used to work in a big one at Northwood, Middlesex. We controlled all submarines and the rest of the Royal Navy from there. Some of Snorky's pictures look very familiar

[i*Rate]

Penguin68,

Many thanks for you information, we seemed to have got a fair amount of good historical detail now on the thread.

Even more thanks to computedshortly - wow, some really hard work there.

Kind regards to all.