“In Wiltshire, England, 120ft below the surface, lies Burlington, aka Cold War City – the 35 acre subterranean complex built in the 1950s to house the Conservative prime minister Harold Macmillan’s cabinet and 4,000 civil servants in the event of a Soviet nuclear attack
“It was equipped with the second largest telephone exchange in Britain and a BBC studio from where the prime minister could make broadcasts to what remained of the nation. A system of underground power stations would have provided electricity to the 100,000 lamps that lit its streets and guided the way to a pub modelled on the Red Lion in Whitehall.
“A spur railway was built inside a tunnel on the main London to Bristol line, linking it to the bunker. It was meant as an escape route for the royal family to flee London in the event of an attack.
“The bunker’s very existence was meant to be top secret until it was decommissioned in 2004. Inside, it is like stepping back 50 years. Hundreds of swivel chairs delivered in 1959 are still unpacked. There are boxes of government-issue glass ashtrays, lavatory brushes and civil service tea sets. Pictures of the Queen, Princess Margaret and Grace Kelly are pinned to the walls.”
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All images BBC / Crown Copyright.
It kind of looks the way the Ministry of Information from 1984 would look.
Does anyone else think of ‘LOST’ when seeing this pictures?
Vault 59
Pik.
Hungary.
“Vault 59.” LOL. You beat me to it.
depressingly stunning
I thought of LOST too!!!
My Granddad was a clerk of works, or somesuch, for the construction of lots of it. They had a big problem with lightbulbs. The quoted life of 10,000 hours wasn’t being reached and with so many, it was a big issue. They called the manufacturer (probably GEC) and said “what’s going on”.
A man turned up, looked at the fittings and said “you put them on the walls the wrong way round”. All the fittings were rotated 90degrees and the light bulbs started lasting significantly longer.
If you want to know more, there is a book called “Secret Underground Cities” about Corsham and other similar places.
I want a government issue ashtray!
Dear Mrs Queen, may I please have one of the telephones, that white lamp, and the basket of books?
Whatever WILL be done with all of this “decommissioned” stuff? Will there be tours of the place, or will they use the US model of decom = throw away? Selling the lovely mid century fittings would make a pretty penny, I can tell you that!
The Government could make some money back selling those “Hundreds of swivel chairs, unpacked, delivered in 1959″ I for one am sitting in my bedroom typing this out sitting on a £4.99 plastic garden chair from B&Q I bought 4 years ago, I’d shell out a fiver for a 1959 swivel chair happily.
Absolutely fascinating, is it open to the public? And what will happen to all the very collectible items. I’d love some of those keys or phones.
Think of what Britain and America could have done with all of those resources we wasted preparing to fight a weak and war torn opponent. The 1%ers at Boeing and Rolls Royce profited handsomely and used their gains to buy our government(s).
Thomas, you are a fool. Did you forget that the USSR swallowed up previously-independent Eastern European countries in the aftermath of the war, and imposed tyranny upon them? Retro-idiot. History–U failed it!
There must be a computer game out of this layout and images – but please, no bl**dy zombies… Fantastic website BTW – well done!
I would love to take all those keys and see what other retro treasure lies behind the many doors. I used to do alot of urban exploring in Detroit (so so many opportunities there!) but now I do it mostly at my PC.
Everything looks so cold and stark.
So this was only decommissioned in 2004 . . . imagine if they’d had to use it in 2002!
Fascinating!! Looks like time just stood still down there!