(former) Troywood RGHQ Bunker (museum)

 museum, military, Cold War 1947-1991, bunker, closed / former military, state government

The bunker was constructed in 1951-3 and was in use until 1957 as a radar station, forming part of the country's early warning system as RAF Anstruther. From about 1960 until about 1968 it was a Regional Seat of Government (RSG) staffed by Civil Defence personnel, and during the final phase of military use (up to 1993) it had the status of Regional Government Headquarters.

The Secret Bunker started life as one of the chain of radar stations operated by the RAF along the coasts of the UK in the years immediately following WWII. Under the codename Rotor these were designed to spot approaching Russian bombers and direct fighters to intercept them. The standard plan for a Rotor site included the entrance "bungalow" you see today, though Troywood's was given a superficial coating to make it look like it belonged in Fife.

The early Cold War Rotor base was rather smaller than the bunker you see today: apart from anything else it was operated by personnel who lived on a domestic site some distance from Troywood itself. The RAF Operations Room that visitors see within the bunker today is a recreation of life in the bunker during that period of its life. Next door is a radar room containing radar equipment and displays brought here from RAF Buchan in Aberdeenshire, and which were used to control some of the final intercepts of Russian aircraft during the Cold War.

With the advance in radar technology during the 1950s, fewer Rotor bases were needed, and Troywood was mothballed. In 1958 it was converted for use as a Regional Civil Defence Corps HQ. Once again, the main command centre from this period of the bunker's life has been recreated: in this room members of the ROC would have plotted the course of a nuclear attack on Scotland.In the years around 1970 the bunker was refurbished and rebuilt on a larger scale. Its role now was to be the main seat of government in Scotland in the event of a nuclear conflict.

But perhaps the most chilling room in the complex is the Nuclear Command Control Centre, a large area in which all those central to running what was left of the country would have tried to do so. The bunker remained ready for use in this role until 1992, and was opened to the public in 1994.

www.secretbunker.co.uk/detail.asp?storyid=28
www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/anstruther/secretbunker/...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Secret_Bunker_Image_1.JPG
www.nuclearinfo.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Scotland...