Kelveden Hatch

[biglouis]

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Not heard of it? Not surprising; until the late 1990s it did not exist on any map in the UK. That's because Kelveden Hatch was one of a number of 'secret' nuclear bunkers designed to be a bolt hole for government in the event of a nuclear war.

 

Today, it is owned by the farmer on whose land (compulsorily purchased) the bunker was built and it is run as a tourist attraction - and a grim reminder of the fact that the world was just as dangerous 40 years ago as it is now.

 

If my pictures inspire you to check it out, do try and talk to the owner (who often works in the cafeteria) because he has some very interesting stories to tell. Sad to say, my overwhelming impression after the visit is just how inept and unrealistic our leaders were during the cold war (plus ca change, plus ca meme!).

 

There is a lot of materiel left laying around in the bunker (it was sold lock, stock and barrel). One room contains a stack of geiger counters:

 

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Various uniforms would have been worn by the civilian defence volunteers. One benefit of a nuclear attack is that afterwards they would have glowed in the dark

 

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This is arguably the one item which underlines the pointlessness of it all. This is a slide rule for computing the damage resulting from a nuclear detonation. Just how the information would have been collected I have no idea because anyone observing the event would probably have been vaporised. And in any case sitting in a hole in ground working out that everything around you has been turned to mincemeat is not particularly useful information, I would have thought.

 

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Of course the ultimate stupidity of the whole idea of a secret nuclear bunker is that its location was well known to Soviet intelligence. If you ever get a chance to look at a map of the targets for soviet ICBMs you'll find that multiple warheads appear to fall on a number of 'empty' places around the UK.

 

All photos taken on my trusty D-LUX 2.

[Guest rubidium]

This is an excellent photo essay. Thanks for the look back ...

Jim

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[vic vic]

louis - this is very interesting. so u have some other photo?

[biglouis]

louis - this is very interesting. so u have some other photo?

 

Unfortunately, this was very soon after I got the camera and believe it or not I had not really played with the flash before - so these are the only shots which are worth showing.

 

Thanks for your interest

 

Louis

[elansprint72]

I worked underground for a short while at this place:

 

 

Cold-War History in Manchester

 

There are some very interesting links from the page. Of course this is only a fraction of the real story.

[jtharvie]

I enjoyed your series Louis, some interesting captures. During my service in the Canadian Air Force one of my secondary duties was the Shelter Monitor. I was the fellow that kept tabs on how long the other fellows collecting the data were allowed to be outside the shelter. It was my job to tabulate the Rads per Hour and then decide just how long the team could do their duties. As an aside, we weren't worried about being attacked but rather from the Fallout from Grand Forks a key target then and where our friend Stuart was stationed.

Thanks for sharing,

Cheers,

jth

[biglouis]

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Thanks for all the replies. This area of cold war history is bound to start to yield some very interesting (or depressing, depending on your point of view) secrets. As a bit of history junkie I love this stuff so I always find it interesting.

 

Pete, your web site on secret underground Manchester is magnificent. Very interesting read indeed and very reminiscent of Kelveden Hatch. If you are interested in that type of thing I really recommend a day visit, as Kelveden is just outside of London (M1 to the M25 then turn left and you are there).

 

If there is enough interest perhaps there could even be a 'Leica' meet-up

 

LouisB

[semrich]

Louis,

 

Love the wig on the middle radation suit, and the beret on the other! Nice to have the D-Lux2 for opportunties like this.

 

Richard

[biglouis]

Louis,

 

Love the wig on the middle radation suit, and the beret on the other! Nice to have the D-Lux2 for opportunties like this.

 

Richard

 

The wig is a nice touch but sad to say that the only head protection for the volunteer on the right would be his beret. Very useful in a 100megaton blast wave (not!).

 

LouisB