There are those sites that take a while to crack, then there is Brislington War Rooms.
I first looked at this site sometime in 2007 with @rigsby and @Rookinella. Given the actual war room/bunker itself is inside a still live and operational goverment set of offices (DWP at present) its presented so many headaches to even just get to look at the dammed thing never mind actually find a way in. However things changed recently and straight way team wurzel were on it. One sunny weekend myself @WhoDaresWins and @Seffy finally found ourselves face to face with the nemisis that had thwarted us for so long. It would take further planning until we finnally found ourselves walking around the first dog leg corridor and into the heart of the beast. Shouts out to @Disco Kitten and @tallginge who also joined us on countless recees and that first weekend of fun inside.
A little bit of Subrit history for you about the war rooms:
When in 1948, spurred on by the developing Cold War and the Berlin crisis, civil defence was reintroduced the Civil Defence Joint Planning Staff quickly laid down the basis for a new civil defence structure for Britain. Early in 1949 they recommended the provision of “protected control rooms with signal communications at local authority, zone, region and central government level". This lead to the setting up of the Working Party on Civil Defence War Rooms which initially concentrated on planning war rooms for the civil defence regions which had been re-established based on those used in World War II.
The Working Party only considered sites in England and Wales as Scotland and Northern Ireland had their own civil defence arrangements. The Working Party decided to leave London out of its initial plans because its size and potential as a target meant it would have to be treated as a special case. The sites proposed were all in the same regional centres as their wartime predecessors but they would be “outside the central key area of the regional town…where adequate communications can be provided with civil and military headquarters in the region and with the Central War Room in London”. Building the War Rooms did not start until 1952. The London ones were all built by 1953 but the others took longer and it was not until 1956 that the last, at Shirley in Birmingham, was completed.
Most of the war rooms were almost defuct by the time they were completed and in most cases handed over to the local regional goverment/council who would use them as a control centers in case of a fall out. The last evidence of use of the Brislington war room was around 1980/81.
The Subritt report from nearly 14 years ago only contained two pictures inside. We had no idea what was inside or even if anything was left. Thankfully it was worth the effort.
I first looked at this site sometime in 2007 with @rigsby and @Rookinella. Given the actual war room/bunker itself is inside a still live and operational goverment set of offices (DWP at present) its presented so many headaches to even just get to look at the dammed thing never mind actually find a way in. However things changed recently and straight way team wurzel were on it. One sunny weekend myself @WhoDaresWins and @Seffy finally found ourselves face to face with the nemisis that had thwarted us for so long. It would take further planning until we finnally found ourselves walking around the first dog leg corridor and into the heart of the beast. Shouts out to @Disco Kitten and @tallginge who also joined us on countless recees and that first weekend of fun inside.
A little bit of Subrit history for you about the war rooms:
When in 1948, spurred on by the developing Cold War and the Berlin crisis, civil defence was reintroduced the Civil Defence Joint Planning Staff quickly laid down the basis for a new civil defence structure for Britain. Early in 1949 they recommended the provision of “protected control rooms with signal communications at local authority, zone, region and central government level". This lead to the setting up of the Working Party on Civil Defence War Rooms which initially concentrated on planning war rooms for the civil defence regions which had been re-established based on those used in World War II.
The Working Party only considered sites in England and Wales as Scotland and Northern Ireland had their own civil defence arrangements. The Working Party decided to leave London out of its initial plans because its size and potential as a target meant it would have to be treated as a special case. The sites proposed were all in the same regional centres as their wartime predecessors but they would be “outside the central key area of the regional town…where adequate communications can be provided with civil and military headquarters in the region and with the Central War Room in London”. Building the War Rooms did not start until 1952. The London ones were all built by 1953 but the others took longer and it was not until 1956 that the last, at Shirley in Birmingham, was completed.
Most of the war rooms were almost defuct by the time they were completed and in most cases handed over to the local regional goverment/council who would use them as a control centers in case of a fall out. The last evidence of use of the Brislington war room was around 1980/81.
The Subritt report from nearly 14 years ago only contained two pictures inside. We had no idea what was inside or even if anything was left. Thankfully it was worth the effort.
