The secret bunker uncovered .

The secret bunker uncovered .

It is not every day that one witnesses a “secret bunker “ being dug up as part of a building modernization , but as part of the “ improvements “ to the Clitheroe civil centre building , a section of the former civil defence bunker has been unearthed .

So for the entertainment and education of ATS.com I felt compelled to take some photographs .

First some history .

The civic centre was built in 1874 as the towns civic hall – and became the “ grand cinema “ in the 1920s [ it is not very grand ] , but since the 70s it’s the only one to remain .

A section of the basement was first converted to a civil defence command post during WWII .

Post war , the facilities were expanded and upgraded , in line with cold war civil defence and “ continuance of government “ policies , which aimed to provide a secure command and communications network to administer what was left of the country after any crisis .

It is worth noting that at no time [ post 1945 ] was their ever provision for civilian shelters / protection in the town .

Fortunately , The only time the bunker was used “ in anger “ [ exercises excluded ] was in the mid 90s when it was used as a temporary police station , while the police building on King street was re furbished .

Also , during this time a modernized communications suite [ value > £250 THOUSAND ] was installed .

The communications suite is to be relocated to an annex of the Ribble valley Council offices , located about 400m away .

I will have to do some checking into just what the sub basement levels will actually be used for when the civic centre re opens . I believe that no bunker capacity will remain , but gaining any information from the council is like pulling hens teeth they hate to divulge anything to the public .

So much for civil cervants , they are neither civil or servile

Enough rambling – there are the photographs .

Location : 53°52'24.50"N , 2°23'19.74"W .

Google earth images of the building core



layout



The inner door [ the stairs down to the lower level is beyond that door ]



The lower doorway . [ there are a further 7 rooms beyond that doorway



These are the “ innards” of the bunker . You can see how different building materials – limestone block , red brick and poured concrete have been added over the years – this was always a utility structure – aesthetics were of zero concern .









And finally , new foundations are being poured ontop of the existing works – to support the new structure



Th…that’s all folks .

Apologies for the “ lack of excitement “ , but nothing much happens here .

APE OUT .

That was interesting to look at, thanks alot.

I have been reading alot on secret bunkers recently, it's interesting to think about where all they could be.

england is littered with bunkers ffrom the cold war
many are actually open to visit today

essex nuclear bunker is rather cheap and interesting to visit
especially when they show you the mouse hole, quite simply in the event of nuclear way scientists could put a mouse on a piece of string and send it outside to die then drag it back in to test the radiation levels. akin to the canary down the mine of hundreds of years ago

Thanks for the encouragement , I was starting to wonder if this thread had not fallen down a crevasse

Due to bureaucratic lethargy , there is still no sign of the site plans and drawings I ordered from the town hall over 2 weeks ago . So to keep ontop of things and maintain forward momentum .

There is part two :

Not much of interest really , except they have opened up a further two chambers



The third is hard to see – as they have dropped demolition rubble into it from the floor above , but you can see the doorway in the corner [ directly below the drain pipe ]





Apart from that the biggest progress “ has been enlarging a doorway



And lastly they have completed a damproofed concrete floor , the site was extensively modified over the years , so damproofing below ground suffered .

The area has good drainages , which was just as well .

That , alas is all for now – damm our feckless “ civil servants “

I will have to dig out some more history notes as a stop gap .