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Hidden Nuclear Bunker Unearthed at Castle
13 Mar
Summary
- A Cold War nuclear bunker was found at Scarborough Castle.
- Volunteers would monitor nuclear bomb impacts from the post.
- The bunker has been sealed and forgotten for over 50 years.
A Cold War nuclear bunker, lost for over 50 years, has been rediscovered within the grounds of Scarborough Castle in North Yorkshire. This subterranean monitoring post, constructed in the mid-20th century, was intended for volunteers of the Royal Observer Corps (ROC).
These ROC volunteers would have used the bunker to map the locations and impact of Soviet nuclear bombs. The bunker was sealed in 1968 and its precise whereabouts had become a mystery until an archaeological survey by English Heritage successfully located it.
Similar to other ROC posts, this bunker was designed to be compact, housing three volunteers with rations for approximately two weeks. Inside, equipment like a bomb indicator and a pinhole camera would have been used to record nuclear explosions.
Reports from such posts were relayed to a larger, central bunker at 20 Group Headquarters in York, which still exists today as a tourist attraction. The rediscovery of the Scarborough bunker provides a tangible link to the ROC's wartime efforts and completes a piece of Britain's Cold War history.
