Secret Nuclear Bunker - July 2001

In the 'heart' of Essex there is one of the worst kept secrets in Britain - the secret underground nuclear bunker. There were loads of these places in the midst of the cold war, many of them had rooms for national services and the Prime Minister to use if they happened to set up government there - it didn't necessarily mean it was their chosen emergency bunker!

This particular bunker  is well well worth a visit -

• It is very big
• It has loads of equipment and plant to see (both original, suitable replacements and random bits and bobs)
• It is open to the public
• If you love Tesco Value soup - you get a fourth bullet point!

The bunker closed soon after our visit in 2001, but ....
apparently the bunker is open to the public again!!
See the bunker's new(ish) official web site for details http://www.japar.demon.co.uk/

When I took the tour in 2001, the bunker was under different ownership and I haven't been back yet, but I suspect the contents are little changed and I'm sure it's still well worth a visit. I can't guarantee that there's quite so much Tesco soup avaialble.

If this interests you, check out the superb 'Subterranea Britannica' website - covering all things Cold War & Subterranean -  http://www.subbrit.org.uk/

This is a tour through the bunker - click on a photo if it interests you - but there are lots of them.
   

The entrance is concealed within an apparently normal farmhouse. It's plain that serious civil engineers don't design farmhouses, but as long as it convinced the Russians.	Are you partially foreign?  It's a subtle attempt to weed out spies from entering.
This is the passageway into the ground. This is serious blast protection.	Interestingly the radio comms stuff is on the wrong side of this blast and radiation proof door. How much would that locksmith featured on 'Rogue Traders' charge you for getting in here if you lost your key?
Emergency juice controls.	The phone exchange. I think the final modernish one was removed during decommission. I think this is typical of an installation around in the early 80s.
There are loads of cracking telex and ticker tape machines in the comms room.	"The Kremlin on Red, PM." Key operated too. Better than Reggie Perrin.
Limbs reprograms a cabinet in the small BBC studio.	A selection of odds and ends.
Limbs in the operations room. Lots of light up maps etc. Just like in the films.	Part of the 2 massive air con plants. Designed to keep the air breathable whilst being sealed for fall out.  This sends a chill through your spine - would it all really work?
Serious climate controls	Part of the serious internal plant for the air con compressors.
More of this plant.	State of the art processing power. (Limbs has this sort of equipment at home running OS/2 anyway.)
No home counties bunker would be complete without a room for John, in case he was in the Ongar area.	Every regional an national service had a desk in this room. From agriculture to the GPO
The home office had their own printer.	NATO had little confidence in their role in a nuclear war, assuming that it indicated failure on their part. They went for a fridge full of Apple Tango - (oh and a dot-matrix, to avoid suspicion.) Limbs proved that they hadn't got around to lacing the final Tango with cyanide.
Hen enters postcode info into the GPO's terminal.	The GPO ensured they had a years supply of dog licences for Essex.
Limbs examines the toilet in the sick-bay.	There's serious operating stuff in the hospital room. Would they have a surgeon there capable of using it?
A dormitory with the narrow bunks.	There was a fair few toilets. Water was collected on the roof. When the bunker was sealed the flush toilets couldn't be used because the roof water might be seriously contaminated - then it's back to buckets.
This toilet roll has to be seen to be believed. Was ownership really the issue? Surely "use both sides because we're going to run out" was more the point.	Lots of Tesco Value vegetable soup in the dormitories. Interestingly they sell 'special bunker vegetable soup' in the canteen.
The antennas on top of the bunker are discreet and typical of farm buildings in Essex. The tunnel is the exit, made to comply with fire regulations for building use as museum. I heard that places are going  to be sold in the bunker, in case the worst happens. Surely not a good investment with the defences entirely ruined by this exit tunnel.	Either the sign was erected after the bunker was decommissioned, or it was a brave double bluff.