York Cold War Bunker (York)

 Cold War 1947-1991, bunker, underground facility, scheduled ancient monument

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20 Group ROC Headquarters at York.
From 1961 to 1991 the Royal Observer 20 Group had their protected HQ (Bunker) in Acomb Road, York. The place is now a listed building, owned by English Heritage.

During the Cold War, the Royal Observer Corps was given the task of reporting the size, location and effects of any Nuclear Weapons that might fall on the UK. To do this, they had about 1500 small 3-man bunkers evenly spread throughout the UK. These were controlled by 25 or so Group Headquarters, which were reinforced and fitted with closed ventilation systems, water supply and power generator, so that they could operate in "locked down" state with the staff of about 40 for 30 days. 20 Group was based around York. The HQ was a semi-sunken concrete bunker (one floor below ground), and was what was known as the "Pagoda Type". It was operational from 1961 to the end of the Cold War. The main parts of the building can be seen: The reinforced main upper floor of the bunker with air vents on the roof. Finally, one can see the earth bank beneath which lay the larger underground areas, and the extendable (here in the "down" position) communications aerial. As you can see, the bunker is in its own fenced compound in the middle of a residential area, and is only a mile or so from the City Centre.