Visited with TBM and a non-member, this was a permission visit because the site is still a very much operational Emergency Planning bunker!
I can't find too much history about the site but it was originally constructed in 1960 as an emergency bunker for use by the council during crises, and could house civilians as well if need be - there are still 400 sleeping bags stored in various spots around the site. It is a single storey bunker situated entirely below the grounds of Wood Eaton Manor School a few miles north of Oxford. There are a couple of photos floating around from when Subbrit visited in 2000 but since then the whole place has been refitted with modern equipment - however there are still small relics from the past dotted around (and the ceiling tiles are still original), and a whole corner of the main planning room is sort of an impromptu museum of all the stuff left behind before the refit, some of which makes pretty sobering reading - the highlight being a map detailing every single bomb dropped on Oxfordshire in 1940.
The doors to the bunker weren't blast proof. In the event of a crisis the stairwells leading to the doors would be filled with rubble and sand, and if they needed to evacuate the bunker escape would be through a small door in one of the comms rooms, with the poor workers having to actually dig their way out because the 'escape' route was filled with sand!
Thanks for looking
I can't find too much history about the site but it was originally constructed in 1960 as an emergency bunker for use by the council during crises, and could house civilians as well if need be - there are still 400 sleeping bags stored in various spots around the site. It is a single storey bunker situated entirely below the grounds of Wood Eaton Manor School a few miles north of Oxford. There are a couple of photos floating around from when Subbrit visited in 2000 but since then the whole place has been refitted with modern equipment - however there are still small relics from the past dotted around (and the ceiling tiles are still original), and a whole corner of the main planning room is sort of an impromptu museum of all the stuff left behind before the refit, some of which makes pretty sobering reading - the highlight being a map detailing every single bomb dropped on Oxfordshire in 1940.
The doors to the bunker weren't blast proof. In the event of a crisis the stairwells leading to the doors would be filled with rubble and sand, and if they needed to evacuate the bunker escape would be through a small door in one of the comms rooms, with the poor workers having to actually dig their way out because the 'escape' route was filled with sand!
Thanks for looking
