Burlington: Gallery 1

Dan
I'm a railway worker and know of two entrances one being in the tunnel itself and one right next to the tunnel mouth (corsham end) would love to go in there sounds awesome!!

Greg
Older bunkers and nuclear missile silos are for sale in the US. Some of the properties are in good order while others require a lot of cleaning and restoring. I would say some of these sites are diamonds in the rough.

Matt
Spent 5wks doing breathing appartus training in this place and its amazing, so much going on down there but official secrets act.... :(

Peter Hilton
I would like to learn more about what it may have been like to live underground for a sustained period of time. What, for instance, could the health issues - both physical and mental - have been? Also what was the potential longest term envisaged for underground habitation? htzu@talktalk.net

Gary Beresford
i'm totaly amased at the number of people that have no knowledge or understanding of the need and use of Special or "secret" underground systems. same for a good number of roads that were actually built as runways in emergancys. Scotlad has a few of them, use google maps to find roads that are 3 miles long with 80 foot of verge either side of the road.There are hundreds of such sites not just in England but All over the world .. Japan Russia USofA most countries have them. in and around Berkshire Whiltshire there are underground weapons testing facilites, one i belive which could be in Sussex has a weapons fireing range which is a mile long tunnel. Look at signs on the Motorway ... any in red writing with a red border, and which will very probably say "Works Unit" well folks thats an MoD site u just passed, ur surrounded by such sites but because things are done under cover of plain daylight and under your nose u not see what you are looking at ..... ever wonderd why u never see milatry fuel tankers on the oads of Britton ? because fuel is piped straight into such MoD sites from the fuel depots and storage sites on the coast and the fuel pipes in most instances runs alongside the road system of the country... its mostly in plain veiw thats why everything is so well hidden. u probbaly walk the dog past such buildings with out even realising it. go look at Google its all there just open an eyeball or 2 and take a peek :>)

mike b
all im thinking is, where is the new bunker to hide in,seeing as this one has been decommisioned!

Don
Very impressive to say the least. It would be nice to take a tour of the place.

mike
Did'nt any of you lot study english at school?

Jmie
What happensto the public in 2012\?

Lizzy Rose
Suce a priceless part of History, and they are now stripping it out and selling it!!so much art!! so much history!! all wasted for what?? bloody business men!!

ned
guys will the 2012vers post their emails please so i can laugh at you in 2013. thanks.

natalie snell
what made the tunnels? whitch company name? when was they built?

gemma
I truly believe that this bunker is purposely being preserved, no one on the cabinet would tell a sole as it would spark panink between both mod and community. lets face it there's always a way that information leaks, as to this day people know the punishment would be less server. I imagine that a mixed group of both top mod and government have been assigned to reapply any life underground in a nuclear threat. do you not wonder were they would go if are community came under attack

Robert
i would like why politics,goverment,had a place to survive 2012,in a secret bunker,they are superior than us?they have more inteligent than us, or they pay more tax than any civilian,why goverment dont tell us how to survive 2012.

EndOfTheWorldKed
ill be there matee when nibiru comes :)

Dave
Two things -1) The bits they always show on TV and in the photos are all from the 50s, which is interesting as the place wasn't formally decomissioned until about 1989. The operational bits of 'Hawthorn' have not really ever been declassified - Prof. Hennessy suspects (the narrator on the video) suspects this himself during his tour of the facility in his excellent book 'The Secret State'. Some bits do seem to remain classified to this day.2) The current bunker is called PINDAR and is below the MOD building in Whitehall. It is where the PM and Cabinet would conduct business from (and indeed did use the military comms facilites for COBRA meetings during the Kosovo and Iraq wars). The facility itself is classified but its existance is not - you can find references to it, and MOD responses, in MPs questions in Hansard.

Adam Honey
Mark Quested - I'm with Gary on this one, a buddy of mine snuck in there (via the Box Hill tunnel entrance) a while back as a truck was going in. Mad place - even had its own pub (The Rose & Crown). The lads had a fair bit of explaining to do when they got caught by security!

Janet Jubilee
I have a basement in need of water proofing. I wonder if any bunker builders would like to assist me. They do such a wonderful job with bunkers that they can certainly help with my house. truthnews@aol.com

Janet Jubilee
I have a basement in need of water proofing. I wonder if any bunker builders would like to assist me. They do such a wonderful job with bunkers that they can certainly help with my house. truthnews@aol.com

Gary Frayne
Mark - I have been Down there when I use to live in Potley. The entrance is right next to Box Tunnel. The door were open when a engineer was taking a truck inside. My friend and myself walked in and had a look around. I can show anybody the entrance by Box Tunnel. Even today as I still visit Corsham as my brother Jimmy lives in Calne. Me and my friend who died in a car crash had a good look around.

Jim from Potley
My question is for Mark Quested = How do you know so much about this place ??

Dan
To the people who are thinking it would be a good idea to turn this place in to a prison - 1. I live in Corsham and I don't want a prison near my house cheers. and 2. It would be totally illegal to lock people up in an underground prison (actually not a bad idea as a concept though) as prisoners are entitled/obliged to spend at least 30 minutes outside daily, the logistics of attempting that (people coming outside into some sort of above ground secure area) would be a complete nightmare.

gary biggs
i worked on the mod corsham site where there are 3entrances, and theres just left, the main lowerin bay is now just empty with a little secruity office in it, and next to the worker entrance (where there used to b a massive lift) they're built a car park and some storage buildin, so theres no chance of it bein open to the public due to the buildin work going on there, cus that land is no longer owned by the mod, it was brought out, for the storage areas 2b built, but it should b open 2the public, its a part of our history in england, so i think it should b opened up, its not fair on the people who worked there or payd there taxs

Nancy M. Edwards
If we never knew that this complex was there, how do we as USA citizens know that it it now not? Proof Please.

CarlosPanda
The best underground safety grounds during 'December 21, 2012' are underground mall and hospital as a evacuation center.

Dawn McLaren nee Comley
Further to what I said last time re my father, Harold Comley, if anyone has stories about him I would love to read them.

D T Bowen
I was stationed in RAF Hawthorn which is not mentioned anywhere in these pages from 1952 - 56. It is quite feasible that such a city existed because there were miles of underground passages where we were. Our accommodation was in RAF Rudloe Manor. To get to our work place in South West Central Signals Centre we had to go out the main gate and cross the road to a lift shaft which took down a couple of hundred feet to just a part of the underground complex. There we had a pbx switchboard and a Tape Relay centre using teleprinters. But I can find no reference to the station RAF Hawthorn.

Ewan
Taffy - The bunker cannot be left to rot, my dad has been down there with the military and even though the place is now decomissioned, they have to keep the air vents citculating otherwise the site would go into disrepair and become a danger to the public.They are unlikely to open it to the public as there have been plenty of bids to buy the place and all have been turned down to my knowledge. If the site has any future it will be sold to a company such as BAE systems or Qinetiq.

Mike in South Korea
I wonder how much it cost to build?

????????????
WOT OTHER SECRETS ARE THEY KEEPING FROM US MMMMMMM I WONDER ?????????????

Mark quested
Gary - all entrances into the former relocation site are within the grounds of the MOD base JSU Corsham (formerly RAF Rudoe Manor site 2 and Basil Hill Barracks). Any entry into the site would have to be made by trespassing onto these MOD sites. I therefore reckon you entered one of the other sites in and around Corsham. There are other former military underground sites such as Monks Park and Monkton Farleigh and RNSD Spring Quarry.

Mark Quested
Conspiracy Mole - most of the UK underground sites are no longer in use. Ditto, same in the USA. Even NOARD is now on the surface. The bunker age has passed. Burlington was never replaced by another site as such; other dispersal plans (such as Python) replaced it. People think there are replacement bunkers, but this is simply not the case in reality.

Gary Frayne
I have been down into the Bunker years ago with a friend of mine who has since died. I can remember exactly where it's entrance is location. I use to live 300 yards from the entrance in a little place called Potley in Hawthorn.

Conspiracy Mole.
There are many replacements for places like these. They are usually 'diguised' as other services. Like underground reservoirs, even hidden in or near underground stations. Westminster for example!!! Why did Big ben really Start leaning?? Easy to disguise extra earthworks when doing 'civilian' construction....

EYEGLASS
"EYEGLASSWhat is not widely known, is that from 1968 - December 2004 this facility had no pre-strike or survival phase role. It's main role was to act as a decoy site! A role which it successfully managed to pull off for 36 years.I wonder why the BBC forgot to mention this? * * * According to Steve Fox's research, it was superseded by a dispersal plan, referred to as Python.MQ *That's why it became a decoy site, MQ - to stop people finding (or even looking for) the PYTHON sites.Btw, PYTHON became PEBBLE in July 1970.

interested
like the stone quarries it could become a money making tourist attraction....wont happen though!

Anita Chocolate
Wow this was a great idea in troubled times , how about opening a section to the public?

DDAY
IT SHOULD HOLD UP TO ONETHOUSAND PEOPLE AND THE SIZEOF LA STRIP

Mark Quested
Ask one two be one...How does one move an UNDERGROUND quarry and all its fixtures and fittings?

Ask One Two Be One
This should be disasembled and relocted to the United States and then open to the public...Ask One Two Be One...

GARETH RICHARDS
I DO THINK THIS FACILITY SHOULD BE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC AS WE PAID FOR IT IN TAXES ,IT ALSO WOULD HELP FUTURE GENERATIONS UNDERSTAND WHAT WENT ON IN THE PAST THANK YOU.

Gags
kizzy - you say that when your son/daughter if you have them, becomes fatally ill with a disease and a hospital or short staffed and cannot treat him, because low an behold you didnt pay your taxes. i think youd feel differently about paying your taxes then hey?

Mark Quested
Taffy - a MASSIVE archealogical survey, including photographic survey, has been conducted of the site, on behalf of English Heritage. The EH hope to preserve parts of the site, which are preservable. Some are beyond preservation, due to dry rot. MQ

will morgan
hey this should be open for the public!!!

Ant
It definitely should be open to the public to visit.

rob h
this is a amazing site. ok it never got used, it can be seen as a waste of money. To to have such a complex system, that is that old, amazes me. The size of them generators!!!!! the omount of people that had a job due to the construction. If the goverment had large projects like this unemployment would go down!!!

Sam
This is SO cool! :D I wanna go explore it :D

Taffy
Good job the bbc went and took photos of the place its falling apart now and nobody will care, sealed and left to rot even more it will be

D
In a word? Asbestos

kizzy
i cant believe this exists and WE PAID FOR IT!! i really really hate the people that control our country. imagine if everyone on this country stopped payin their council tax it is our money it should be our choice!!

Mark Quested
Simon White - the site was made redundant shortly after it was built, precisely because the Russians could target it with nuclear weapons. Instead a dispersal plan called Python was introduced, which seemed to have replaced it. A resurgent Russia has the satellite and missile technology to take the Relocation site out with one or a cluster of warheads, making the site utterly useless; which is precisely why it became redundant in the 1960s. (And maybe Iran wants Nuclear Missiles to prevent Israel from wiping Iran off the map? Just a thought.)

Mark Quested
EYEGLASSWhat is not widely known, is that from 1968 - December 2004 this facility had no pre-strike or survival phase role. It's main role was to act as a decoy site! A role which it successfully managed to pull off for 36 years.I wonder why the BBC forgot to mention this? * * * According to Steve Fox's research, it was superseded by a dispersal plan, referred to as Python.MQ

Steven B
Is it for Sale? If it is how much?I'm interested!

DIRK PITT
25/3/09.SO WHATS IT DOING NOW.IT SHOULD BE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC FOR TOURS, WHAT DO YOU THINK AL.

Matt n Vic
We're in Oxfordshire & we'd row to come see it! Tourist attraction now!

cottage pie
thats a fantastic idea, who thought off this.They should build more off these before other countries turn against us!

Trev Baker
I would love a chance to visit.... Im sure im not alone either!!

Odyssey
Where is it?

Quarry sheeter
Gloria, i remember your father as i was at Copenacre and was part of the Quarry sheeting gang who he was in charge of. a very fair and nice man, we always knew he was coming because he had Heel caps (blakeys)on his shoes and as they make a bit of noise we always knew he was about, and his wife was a very nice lady too i think she worked in 32 store.

EYEGLASS
What is not widely known, is that from 1968 - December 2004 this facility had no pre-strike or survival phase role. It's main role was to act as a decoy site! A role which it successfully managed to pull off for 36 years.I wonder why the BBC forgot to mention this?

Gloria McLaren nee Comley
I am proud to say that my father, Harold Comley helped build this and rose to be head of quarry safety over a vast area.

Dawn Mod worker
When i saw the Gnomes early last year the sight of them made everyone in our group laugh, so i was dismayed to learn that the Gnomes had been vandalised by the workers underground, some were smashed apparently i hope the rest are allright.

Alfie
Why did they build that for theirselfs how selfish that they only used it for the goverment what about people who were diying in wars or misle launches

emma
whose fault would it of been for getting into this situation? where are we ment to go when they blow us up?

Hannah
They wrote this article as if nobody knew about it until now. My friends and I grew up in the area and knew all about it - we explored many of the left over bits and pieces of tunels and bunkers in the area - we sometimes still visit the connecting caves. This is nothing new.

Corsham dweller
The entire town knew about the underground base for ages. Not so 'secret', eh?

brummie john
can you visit

Simon White
Seems very foolish to me,with a resurgent Russia & Iran threatening to wipe Isreal off the map & trying to develop nuclear weapons?I would say we need it now more than during the cold war.....is it for sale,I may be interested?

Andrew
A reply for Christine who thinks geordys and welsh are good workers, i laugh in your face, i met some when i was up scotland way and well most of the time all you would hear them say was no mate thats not my job let paddy do it and guess what paddy did do it without complaint.

Graham
Never decommissioned they is still parts ready for the elite to go

Gregorie
If your underground was properly design then there might not be a Burlington.the russians did it.

Kool
Area 51 of the US and this similar city indicates that governments are ready to start civilization.Is something related to 2012?Is this the future home for survivors of the 2012?Please say more or declare about 2012.Thanks

David Booth
i was a carsham in 1978 in the army and I was one of the lucky few that was gived a chance to tour the bunkers, and even then we walk for what seemed like days but turner out to be two hours before we got to the entrence the led onto the mail rail line. on the way back we came accross part of the bunker that was well out of bounds I can only gess what ws down there.

christine Spencer
I'm sure that this place corresponds with an event in my father's life, however as he tells it, it was being built at the beginning of world war 11. He was about 15/16 and an apprenticed electrician. He and a friend were sent to Bristol to work on just such a place,with an entrance near Minehead, to install lighting for McAlpines. A lot of Irish labourers were employed blasting out further areas. It was so dangerous, many killed each week, that my dad and his friend left after 3 months. They weren't paid off because they left without notice, and had to walk back to London.

As ne fule no.
Well done to BM and others in similar vein. I can only hope that this site, with its global audience, elicits responses from said catchment area and not just the UK or even Wiltshire. The money currently being spent on this project would be much more usefully applied to basic spelling, grammar and punctuation for the majority of contributors.

some one who knows
iv'e never seen any body work harder than those geordie&welsh lads.the gnomes have had it can't keep up with those lads. they have left thanks christine you know your stuff hinny

Dick Best
If anyone thinks that Corsham is completely dead, go to Google and look for Wansdyke Security

Michel de Viggiani
There is no mention or tour of the secret railway platform in the Corsham complex which was a spur off the main London to Bristol route!

Christine
Whats is noames? the noames underground.Anyone Gnome what it is.If they got welsh and geordies down there rest assured that they have the finest workers this country ever produced beat the pants of those softie irish workers.

Dick Best
Corsham dates back long before the Cold War. In 1945 I worked for the Post Office Engineering Dept.and was there for a short while on the Defence Telephone Network and Corsham was QQCC. QCEN was Leighton Buzzard if I remember rightly. I left UK in 1952 but I see from this column that we lost the Cold War.

the truth
dave the dramatist for your information the facts are.. the welsh lads are stripping asbestos and the newcastle lads are removing rusting pipework which is hazardous as it could fall blocking fire exits. the place is being made safe and nothing is being removed with anything like historical value. asbestos and rusting unused pipes is it. dave your spreading lies.

Pete Wetree
Place is ruined, I went down a few weeks ago, its just a hole in the ground with a few relics of the 1950s. would make a nice wine cellar. thats it.

maximusmichaelus
A lot of people would agree that the people for which it was originally designed should take up residence anyway.

Bwz
All is said but as this location is not in use anyway and looking at the pictures it would be just a shame to not use it for an underground rave!!!!

KEITH PORTER
I was a Royal Air Force conscript in 1948-1950 stationed at RAF Lyneham during the Berlin Air Lift. I was partially responsible for the 24 hours running of the Lyneham telephone switchboard and was taken on a visit to the enormous underground telephone switchboard at(or under) Corsham operated by The Womans Royal Air Force at the time. It was known as South West Central and was part of a very lare area of shops and sleeping quarters .I only saw a very small part of the "Underground city" before leaving in a lift which took me back to a hut in a field near the main road .

Napoleon Blownaparte
I would love to experience the inside of this facility and see how my parent's and grandparent's taxes were wasted on preserving the lives of the ruling classes.Maybe the money would have been better spent on teaching people to spell...

Gavin Beaumont
Where's the new one?

Nigel
This site was used by the RAF in the 1950s, and I worked there as a telephone operator at the South West Signals Centre for almost all of my National Service in 1954-56. There was also an aircraft-plotting section of Fighter Command in another part of the complex, as well as a (rumoured) Navy ammunition dump under the nearby village of Copenacre. (But why would the Navy store its ammunition beneath Wiltshire??)

the noames underground
the newcastle and welsh ladsare working to make the place safe the history of the place is not being touched.its nice to see some one working apart fromus.noames

Simon
Oh yes a perfect under ground prison. Pack up in and flood it. Drain and reuse.

some one who knows.?dave /.dereck
all work being done.by thegeordies.and welsh ladsis being strictly moniterdand nothing of historicalintrest is being disturbed.

Lynn Ford
How about turning it into a high security prison.

Malcolm of Wrexham
Hi I live in North Wales, but came across this site by accident. I would like to point out to everyone,especially the knowledgeable "westwellslad" that there are plenty of"Secret Bunkers" open to the public. There is one for Cheshire and thesurrounding are where the "Great and Good" could cower near Nantwich. Itis on/under an RAF base.

Brian Giles
Very interesting piece of history. I could not believe it existed, but very very interesting.

Anon
There's quite an interesting site near Much Wenlock, Shropshire. Now used as an animal feed plant I believe it was once used as a fuel and aircraft storage base for the RAF/Army during WW2 and just after. Much of the area is overgrown now but it shows signs of underground ammo dumps/fuel dumps and bunkers. Some of the bunkers are still operational as they store animal feed and ammonia. They go hundreads of feet into the ground. The whole area is very interesting but obviously it's not accessable to the public.

Tony P
This site was suitable for 4000 people. 50,000,000 / 4000 = 12,500 such bunkers required to house the "general population". This would be both impractical and unaffordable, so if you decided not to build accommodation for everyone, how would you choose who gets in and who does not?Personally, I'm not sure I'd want to survive to live after a significant nuclear exchange. How would we feed ourselves given contamination and a breakdown of international trade and energy provision? Public shelters would be irrelevant: even if it were feasible to provide enough for everyone, most of us would die from starvation when we emerged. It strikes me that the ranty Martin is not seeing past his personal chips-on-shoulder.

Peter Townson
That we allowed the coldwar to get so cold is initselfa cold play with no winner'scircle.

W Jago
I hope we have a new modern version ready for the inevitable terrorist nuclear attack which, incidentally, will be hastened by all this publicity.

Ali
This site accomodate 4,000 thousand people, wat about rest of the people, there should be some remedial action every where in the world.

Flat-Twin
Well, as I could have guessed, a story like this will always bring out the nutters to chip in with their ODDLY capiTALIsed ranTings and amazing illiteracy. Of course there weren't any places built for the general public in the event of nuclear war. Think about it - just how on earth would we organise the timely evacuation of, say, one million people (and that's a hugely optimistic figure) within the space of perhaps an hour at most? Can you imagine the panic? It's utterly impossible. And let's not even begin to think about just how much it would cost to build what would effectively be a sub-UK, an underground country. Bottom line is, if the balloon should ever go up (isn't that a quaint saying?) which is thankfully looking less and less likely, then we've all had it. Including the Government, MOD and Civil Service top-brass too, I should imagine. But let's not dwell on that.We have our own decommissioned bunker in Scotland - The Secret Bunker in Fife. It's a fascinating place to visit from an historical perspective and serves as an almost tragi-comic warning to the futility of entering into large-scale nuclear conflict and the expectation that the country can function in any organised capacity afterwards. It would be good to see the Wiltshire installation opened for a similar purpose.

David Miller
I went to see a similar nuclear bunker at Kelvedon Hatch, in Essex. If ever you want to have a mind-chilling, miserable, but thought provoking afternoon out, then this is it. This one too was for the use of the Cabinet. Among the horrors was one that the police were to be armed, and given instructions to shoot any of the civilian population if they had suffered injury during the nuclear attack. And as regards Martin's comment, it was pointed out that the privileged ones in the bunker were likely to suffer a lingering death of the entrances were blocked, because the bunker was so secret that no-one would know to come and rescue them!

Jane Doe
I used to deliver towels to their toilets so I must have been one of the few civilians to know it was there and to have a detailed view. They tried hard to hide what it was but it was obvious to anyone with eyes and a brain, and they were seriously surprised and upset when I pointed out to them that I could describe the location, the size, access points, what was being stored etc. As is very common they assumed that the van driver who brought their towels was not a security risk and I had free access to most areas without supervision provided I was carrying a bundle of towels and a clipboard. I had similar access to all sorts of military and business establishments and I am quite sure that the same still applies.

Norbert
So the "elite" stirs it up then escapes from it?Above all we pay tax for all this being created...Thet do not think for us so they should pay from their own money to build things like this.Same as saving greedy banks from our money!

Jack
Some people really need to get it in there heads that it is completely unrealistic that the whole of the UK population would have a place to survive for two years. Tragically the Government and Royal Family are the major decision makers therefore were the most important to be rescued.

Tom M
I definitely think this should be opened as a museum

YahooBot
Nice site, thanks for information!

GoogleBot
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Peter
Civil Defence Policy looks after the Elite - the General Public in the UK are invariably left to DIE!

Martin
Why are there no Nuclear Bunkers for the GENERAL PUBLIC in the event of a Nuclear Strike?It is far more likely to happen than not.After all, ALL 10 DOWNING Street & Royal Family have a refuge - why not for the General Public - or are they conveniently expedient - as always!OXBRIFGE types seem always to rule the UK through Bullingdon Club, Freemasonry or the detested Masonic Supreme Council (for OXBRIDGE types only)!

Hazel from Devizes
WOW!! there has been huge interest in this!I personally feel that this should be used for something, it would be a total waste to just leave it empty, and why should the liars and corupted in the country be the ones to be saved from nucelar blasts while the rest of us suffer? how can you just hand pick "important people to be saved" like that?!?I agree with who ever has said it should be either turned into a living museum, as i bet loads of people would like to see it, or to house prisoners. However, i think the tourism idea is best, the area could gain jobs and wealth from opening it up for people to look around and learn about. it shouldn't be either left abandoned, or just allowed to be tuined by people taking away what was once there.

normanbeatty@hotmail.com
what a waste this could be converted into an underground prison all our prisons are overcrowed think of all the people could be kept down here

Mandie Stone
Olga Lehmann painted underground murals in the canteen area of Spring Quarry here during the Second World War, the idea was that these would brighten up the place and boost the morale of workers. The murals are still there today and should be maintained, protected and opened up to the public as they are important and interesting art history, celebrating the work of a prolific artist.

mr c hodges devon
you have missed a good a good chance for a great money investment in tourism, as you have not given the opportunity for the public to view the site

myspace.com/minnesotamoneyboss
i want in!

Amber_Jonelle
I wish i could throw my son in there and never see him again lol.

Phil
OXBRIDGE RULERS RULE UK [& all aspects of BBC]!If Churchill's War Time [WWII] Bunker called "Paddock" is open when there are Health & Safety concerns [as it is wet on the lowest floor] - I went there during 'Open House' - then "Burlington" could quite easily be open to the public.Sadly, the public are still treated as "subjects of the Crown" and as we live in a society with a culture of "Official Secrecy" not "Freedom of Information - culture of Openness" we are denied what is OURS and for which we have paid all our lives.We should have a series of bunkers where we can survive in the event of a nuclear strike, as in Switzerland & Israel where the public come first & are treated as RESPONSIBLE ADULTS - not as hapless servile slaves who 'tug their forelocks to a purportedly superior race of Oxford & Cambridge toffs' who control virtually all the levers of power in the UK that are not controlled by the hereditary peers or royal family that are imports from germany! WHY DO WE NOT GROW UP & CALL FOR A TRUE DEMOCRACY RATHER THAN A FEUDAL MONARCHICAL ELECTIVE DICTATORSHIP?

andrewjones@sky,com
can anybody tell me about the malpas roc bunker cheshire

Sean
In the event of a modern war without nuclear missiles, would it still be used and who would be allowed to use it?

Mark Quested
To Dave Corsham - I belong to a historical society, specialising in underground structures. (One of our members has written a definitive account of the Relocation site. And has personally visited the site.) According to the membership secretary, the Relocation site is not being completely emptied as you claim. He says "none of the equipment you have mentioned has been moved and there are certainly no plans to move or strip oput the telephone exchange, other rooms will be stripped in time once the new owner is in place. Some items (like duplicate teleprinters) have gone to other museums like Holmpton and some furniture has gone to local schools etc. but most of what was there is still there." Whilst some rooms are beyond preservation, English Heritage hope to preserve some of the site. Mark Quested

Colin ex Corsham resident
I read with interest the comments from people who seem to know an awful lot considering they can't get down there. Those people that think December 2012 will be the end, do they really believe that this place will be the only place left standing.

Colin Sheppard
I am writing a book about Corsham and would like to incorporate Burlington in it. This is a fictional book and it would assist me if it was possible to view parts that were not considered secret so that I could get a better feel for what I am writing.

Dave corsham
Apparntly there are gangs of welsh and newcastle blokes down there now who will be getting all the scrap out and generally ruining the place a bloke i know who reckons he knows what is going on says that anything of value will be gone and also the interesting bits you see on this site will be got rid of as well telephone place hospital canteen etc

connor sinclair from york in uk
what about the uk populations survival we need bunkers and locations to run if we need to after all its the population that keeps our country alive and running

Westwellslad
(For Mark Quested)The reason it is not open to the Public is because it is part of a live MOD base,if it was a standalone bunker and not near the MOD the Health and safety issues could be resolved and then it would be open to the Public.

Mark
What an amazing place - a hugely impressive piece of building. I can see why safety concerns mean that it will never be open to the public but thanks particularly for the video drive-round. I wouldn't fancy getting lost in that place!

Mark Quested
In answer to nature223, it will never be open to the public. English Heritage hope to preserve some of the preservable areas, such as the telephone exchange. But due to health and safety, it will never be open to the public.

A Quin
The main reason that it is not used is in fact because there is no Cold war anymore, yes there is Radon there is also Mould in places, Mark quested is correct in what he says.Take heed it will soon be ruined

D
Stationed there throughout the 90's first as RAF then with a civilian company, most of what is written about this site is complete guff. The main reason that this site is no longer in use is because of the H&S risk, and the potential law suits that would follow a fire down there. Also there is RADON gas issues down there.

And there's more...
I used to be a subbie to the old PSA, Property Service Agency, and did work all over the country, the most interesting job I have ever done, the governments over the years have built loads of undergroung sites, op's buildings to living quarters. There is some tell tale signs as you walk/drive about the country, you just need to know what to lokok for.

nature223
it'll be open to the public and trashed within two years.

beul
never forget the time when i was 11 circa 86 when as kids me and a mate tagged along with some cavers from bristol uni or something in freestone and somehow ended up near one of these districts some couple of miles away

Mark Quested
(For chris.) Various cold war researchers, such as the superb Steve Fox, agree that the Queen would NOT have been housed at Corsham. She would have been at a safe house, in a safe area of the country (north or mid Wales), on a boat at sea, or maybe in Canada. They all seem to agree that she would not have been at Corsham. And knowledgeispower, I would not worry about the end of the world happening in 2012. Many people have predicted the end of the world, and they have all been wrong thus far! Mark

chris
The royal family can go down there because its alot easyer then building a underground residence for the other 60 million people living in the uk?they wouldnt choose joe blogs from down the road would they? Practucaly it is inevitable that the royal family would have safety yet fair. There is no way this country could provide safety for all 60mill in the uk to live underground for 1-2 years.

knowledgeispower
this place will be used as time approaches 2012

Mark Quested
There have been a lot of rumours regarding Corsham and its underground sites, which have later proved to be totally without foundation, such as the Rose and Crown pub, a nuclear reactor, and a Whitehall-to-Corsham railway tunnel. Some individuals have spread ill-founded rumours regarding a second level below the Corsham quarries, where UFO research took place. This is complete and utter nonsense! (These individuals have probably spent too much time reading “Cosmic Top Secret” by Jon King, or back issues of Jon King’s UFO Reality magazine!) So let me give these armchair UFO researchers and conspiracy theorists a few facts… At surface level, there is the “Joint Support Unit – Corsham”; formerly known as RAF Rudloe Manor site 2 and Basil Hill Barracks. Then 100 feet below the surface there are the underground Corsham Bath stone quarries, including Spring, Browns, and Tunnel Quarry (amongst others). Spring Quarry was home to a Royal Naval Stores depot and the Central Government emergency relocation site (as described on the BBC Wiltshire Internet site). Tunnel Quarry was home to RAF and MoD communications facilities, and much more recently a MoD “computer centre”. Browns Quarry was also home to a MoD communications facility. There were no other levels below the Corsham Bath stone quarries. That is a myth. However, RAF Rudloe Manor (now absorbed into the Joint Support Unit - Corsham) was once home to the Headquarters of the RAF Provost and Security Service (the RAF police force). During the Cold War, the P&SS did occasionally investigate UFO reports (as evidenced by an old government file uncovered by Paul Damon in the Public Records Office in Kew). With successive UK governments fearful of Russian incursions into UK airspace, it was understandable that the P&SS did occasionally investigate UFO reports. The Flying Complaints Flight section of P&SS also used to collate UFO reports submitted to RAF bases and passed these on to Secretariat Air Staff 2A1 at the Ministry of Defence in London (i.e. the MoD UFO desk). And thus this is how the conspiracy theories - regarding UFO research at Corsham - gained their momentum. But there were no dead aliens or crashed flying saucers in the Corsham quarries! Besides, there are other government sites in Wiltshire that are much more capable of storing and studying alien technologies and alien bodies, such as Boscombe Down and Porton Down. If I was the Prime Minister and I wanted to store and study alien bodies and their technologies, I would house them at Porton Down and Boscombe Down, but NOT Corsham.

Naomi
yeah a tour would be a good idea, looks cool.

Mark Quested (bunker bore)
Dear Rodentinthedark and the one,The only connection to UFOs was that the RAF Provost and Security Services occasionally studied UFO reports, in case it was related to Russian intrusions into UK airspace. Flying Complaints Flight also used to compile UFO reports for passing on to the MoD in London. There was NO second level in any of the quarries. That's a myth put about by the likes of John King (formerly of UFO Reality Magazine and author of the book "Cosmic Top Secret"). Get a grip! Besides, there are more relevant ABOVE GROUND facilities in Wiltshire capable of studying UFOs and aliens, such as Porton Down and Boscombe Down!Corsham was merely used for storage, as an aircraft engine factory, as a government emergency relocation site, for communications, and part is still used as a "Computer Centre".

T. Snowling
Fascinating, and a complete waste to decommission such a resource, taking into account the cost to build and maintain it. Surely instead of simply leaving to rot, or using it as yet another 'Secret bunker' tourist attraction, such a large and secure site would be best put to use on its merits, given our currently overstretched criminal justice system, as a high security prison. Such a facility would house literally thousands of inmates, with minimal cost to convert the already highly secure underground area.

the one
this place is currently being used as a ufo facility

Feargal Hunter
I like it

sam batey
i realy want a tour in there

N. McCamley
This is a fantastic place, full of Cold war history it is a dreadful shame that it is going to be ruined, once it gone its gone forever just like so many before it.

D.Blackwood
I started my working life 0nthe site at Westwells in 1942.The consultants were Sir Alex Gibb & Partners and the Main contractor was Malcolm MacAlpine.My uncle was the Chief mechanical Engineer and my Father was the Plant manager.I started as a welding apprentice and by 12 months I was working as a fully blown welder. There were hundreds of Irishmen Drafted in because of the shortage of labour as it was wartime.A massive car park was constructed to accomodate the numerous buses that conveyed them to and from their lodgings.At christmas time we held the parties underground.BAC & BSA had shadow factories working there. WE finished working there .in about1946

salwa
i heard about these palces but i was 100% sure, and i agree with what soem of teh poeple have said. It's all about looking after number one, and literaly its to hell with the citizens of united kingdom, although this is something i hoped was just a rumouri now know that its a reality thjat if anything was to happedn to this country we can say that the citizen will be forgotten about,, and thats a very scarey thought. :(

dave corsham
all wot you see in photos here is going to b destroyed they are removin evrything and scrappin it all telphone place will b scrapped to no one can stop them

Richard
HiI know the question's been asked several times but does anyone know how I can get official access to the site. I've tried to contact Wing Commander Steve Rover-Parks but its proving difficult to get hold of him. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Please email info@richardrowland.co.uk

sebby
So is the Underground ~City open to the public and if not why not. You can get inside the underground hospital used by the Germans in Jersey and inside a Pyramid. As our government is now so money/tax grabbing why don't they charge to view this one..

Jeremy Hails.
I was stationed at RAF Rudloe Manor(Box) from Feb 1952 to Sep 1953.As a Fighter plotter,although I was misemployed as Staion Armourer for some of this time.We had a lot of laughs forming a Station Band.Brian,Pete,Ray, John Hoffen.are you still around. If so get in touch. Jerry

pe
i think its such rubbish for the sakes of the u.s wanting to be the super power through the cold war. why would anyone in the human race want to only live 3 months under ground then yer gonna die anyway, if there was a real attack. russia cant be that bad if everyone is equil.communision. so much for u.k geniral public getting left out to suffer. upper class get looked after. tory scu.

Mr smiths pupil kerrie vines =)
Mr smith rules!were in science right nowim sat next to bianca XDwere having fun on this websitebye mr smithxx

!!!!!
is this place 4 sale

ol
so now if it is not top secrete any more, is it purchasable? does it have any market value at all? it seems such a waste all those material for nothing whatsoever at all.

underground minotaur
go into the quarry entrance near gastard , ridge quarry , then go thru the 'blocked ' entrance to monks park quarry n hey presto ur in secret land

Mr Smiths pupil george
Make more of them.

Mrk Bennet
yes it a good piece of English cold war history, with the help of English heritage this site will be preserved, i have been there and have great knowledge of the site.

al
I think they should keep it open - it would be an amazin thing 2 have up our sleeves if we ever go to war again, They should build more and make them bigger!

Me
Iworked down there about 3 years ago doing maintenance on 11kv substations and was allowed to drive the little electric cars around i must say it is a pretty impressive piece of engineering some of the air movement fans are 20ft in diameter there is lots i could tell but better not i suppose

bob the builder
well done

ivor
so where is the new one?

Sebastian
the prime minister would probably be the one who started the war so maybe he/she shouldn't be the one who gets to go there! i'd love to know what else is held back from us.

Think it through...
You have all missed the point.These bunkers are NOT built to run the country if everyone is dead above. that situation is pointless.These bunkers are built to run the country during a crisis and, run and rebuild the country IF enough people are left alive above. Think about it.

LAWL
T3H JAIL IS T3H BIG SUX0RZ!!!!1!ONE!1!1!1!!!111!!ONE!TWO!

John
Are any parts of this site going to be preserved?

Contact Defence Estates Bath office on 01225 883279

rah rah girl
This comment goes directly to the grenadier - Please don't tell me you honestly believe that some calibre of prisoners should not be sentanced to a life with no fresh air & windows. Peodophiles & the like should be sent down below to live in a version of hell on earth they lost all their rights on this earth when they steal childrens innocencence for their own perverted desires. People who mindlessly kill & harm others for no reason - put them down there to rot I say.

Jack Woosley/USA
I'm very keen on learning all that I can on subbterranean cities still being used this date/

BM
Fascinating. The UK must be riddled with underground chambers and such like. Those who went underground would envy the dead above ground after a few weeks. Probably a fitting punishment for screwing up the world. The next war will be fought with missiles and hi technology, the one after that with rocks and shin bones. The underground city should be used today for those mean minded people who would put the homeless,criminals and teenagers in it. Aslo I tink thos hoo carnt spel shud gow their two until thay lern hoew to yuse a spelchequer.

stuart randall
As ex "Royal Marine NCO)cannot comment much as signed offficial secrets act, hower what I will say theres a lot more to that place than we realise.As to closing??? do you believe that.Thanks again BBC Swindon/Wilts as I have lived in Port de Soller MallorcaPS Hope Mark OD enjoyed is Cuba vacation

Rodentinthedark
Mark bore, you are wrong there is a second level it went down 100feet, the provost were forever looking at UFO sightings anything you cant identify is A UFO, no area of the UK would have been safe the Queen would have been thousands of miles away,

Kev
Does anyone have directions to get to this site?

Tim
This sounds like a place of great interest, if it can't be opened to the public how about the BBC making a documentary of it???

Mark Quested (bunker bore)
This site was the relocation site for central government in time of (nuclear) war. The Queen would have been housed elsewhere; at sea on a boat, or at a secret above ground location, in a safe area of the country. However, shortly after it was built, it became a white elephant due to ICBM nukes being able to target it. Other plans succeeded it (such as PYTHON). Due to years of negelect, it was left to decay into the sorry state that it is now in. Dry rot, damp, areas in darkness, equipment broken down or rusty, etc. Its existence was exposed by Duncan Campbell, in his 1982 seminal book "War Plan UK". Whilst the RAF Provost and Security Services (formerly based at what was once RAF Rudloe Manor) did occasionally investigate UFO sightings...in case the "aliens" were Russians!..., the underground sites were purely military, not scientific. ET was not down there! It only had one level, NOT two as a previous correspondent alleges. It was a Bath Stone quarry on one level, there were no other levels. Although, nearby quarries also housed communications and computer facilities. Originally Bath Stone quarries, the Corsham underground sites were used throughout the 20th century as an aircraft factory and ammunition storage, Royal Naval stores depots, Central government emergency relocation bunker, military and RAF communications, and more recently as a government "computer centre".

The Grenadier
Burlington was a wast of money when they built it and its a wast of money now.It gave a sence of security it did not poses as one nuclier bomb with a dely action would have left only a smoking crater wher it is, the soviets would have known exactly where it was as soon as it started comunicating with the outside world.As for it being used as a prison whell thats just plain stupid, prisoners are people too and every one is capable of being sent to prison nowerdays for the smallist thing. the only use it could posibly have is to store valubles such as data in a controled enviroment.

El Duderino
Site 3 'Burlington' is just up from the old entrance to Spring Quarry as you drive from the Royal Arthur entrance on the West Wells road.(On the left)The Lift pictured in the galley photos I spent every working day for a year travelling down when I was doing maintence there in the mid 90's. I managed to check out most of if not all the sites pictured (making full use of the toilet in 'Maggie's bunker') as well as some other highlights which include the 'old workings' at the west end of the complex (Which included the old quarry cranes and various tools left there when the workers were kicked out after the MOD take over at the beginning of WWII.)Another great place there is the secret underground railway station, locomotive shed, conveyor belt system and large ammunition storage rooms which are built parallel to Box Tunnel on the eastern entrance. You can see the entrance quite clearly when travelling on the train but don't bother trying to get in there as it's been bricked up the other side of the gate. As for there being a door inside box tunnel itself, that's crap.There is a way that you can get from the complex into Box Caves and the 'cathedral', but I only did it once so couldn't really tell where the entrance was from the map on this website. It's one way also (As to get from Box Caves in, you'd need some serious oxy acetelene equipment to get past the hard core iron door)Oh and there's no alien space ships down there by the way.

Ms.S.North
A good resource for the government to use as a prison.

Mark Gillard
Does anyone know who to contact about using this place to host a airsoft skirmish event?

Geoff Terry
Blimy, I used to deliver freigh near there with a lorry. This county is full of suprises and I feel privalidged to live here!

mike
this would make a great prision or a home for thehomeless

surfacelad
Yeah i saw u leah whn u was sat outside your cabin thought u was well tasty hurry back liked it when u was sunbathing too

alf
Worked underground at Monton Farley for 12 months1955-56 while serving at CAD Corsham.It was open to the paying public in the 70s but when I wenty back again it had closed due to safety concerns

jake
i had worked in this enviroment for 2 months in the late febuary last year and i found the experience very exciting and i found out alot about the structure

alicia
Ever heard of december 21 2012. Wish we could use it then, but nope probably just the government. Look the date up in your search bar. I hope its not true. There is just so many facts though

Leah
I spent 3 months working in this underground mine/quarry from June last year, and will be back there the middle of this year, its absoluteley amazing, the pictures do it no justice, its like a completely different world when you are down there. I would definatley recommend a visit, but at the moment it is not open to the public.

lindsey
hey bba i like these picters i can lurn a lot of stuff

lizzie
w-wow!!!

B. Taylor
I lived in Westwells when I was a child and always wondered why there was an army, navy and RAF camp in close proximity. I remember playing near an entrance on Green Lane when I was stopped by a soldier from going any further.I have been back many times and tried to drive down this lane which was the lane I used to go down to school. One time we were on video and a police car came down the lane to see what we were doing.I found out in 2000 what it actually was!!!

sean blackwell
good place to make a horror movie the dead underground trapped between radoactive surface and the undead

dj churchill
farther said " more here than what meets the eye"it should be used, not left to waste

Rodentinthedark
Apparently level two has now been declassified, it had to be cleared of top secret items.

Tre - Salisbury
I really want to visit this place!!!!

Iain B
Can't it be converted to a museum to the Cold War? I think there's one up north near Livrpool, which has the bunker looking as it would nave done 40-50 years ago with presentations on nuclear weapons and the Cold War i.e. videos, posters, books, leaflets e.c.t. Would help to pay back some of the tax payers money spent to build it.

Richard Evson
Is this site open to the public

R
Who built Burlington and when? Anyone interested should read 'Underground Bases & Tunnels' by Richard Sauder.

Scott
Seriously, another Area 51??????? They blame everything on the threat of the Soviet Union. But the real threat was when they finally discovered we was being visited by Extra Terestrial Life Forms since the late 40's. Look up the Majestic 12 in Google. The Usa have the exact same facilities with all the names in power at that time this is just a huge cover up!

Kat
I WANT A TOUR!!!

pacific
its all over your heads .The subject should be taken seriously and the locomotives should be removed.

Jacs
We would be interested in organising a paranormal investigation here too..

bob
how do we get a tour??

Rob
without having to walk down a train track, are there any tours? if there are, who would we contact??

Spookwhenurspooken2
Janet you should get in touch with Yvette fielding she will be on the same wavelength as you

David Brooks
Are there any thoughts about opening for the public? I would imagine that this would be very popular. I find the whole thing amazing and would love to tour around it.

Arto Rantanen/Pekka Granqvist (Finland)
Is there anyone who can help us?I have Telephone Mu-seum in Hämeenlinna,Finland.I would like to have a photoof that big Telephone Exchange I don't no any links or addres from where Ican ask a copy,please help us,thank you!!!

johnb
I was in the RAF working at 6SU in late 60s early 70s. To all the doubters - yes it does really exsist and it`s huger than a big thing if you take into account all the underground facilities in the nearby areas (joined up or not) I accidentally "found" parts of it that I shouldn`t have, including the station and various other odd places whilst "exploring". To Janet Rule - there were enough odd people down there already. You wouldn`t need to organise a paranormal event - working there was one !!

Janet Rule
How can I access this site to organise and lead a paranormal event?

DAVID GARETH RICHARDS
THIS FACILITY COULD NOW BE USED AS A PRISON OR DETENTION CENTRE FOR YOUTHS THIS COUNTRY IS TOO SOFT ON CRIMINALS .THEY SHOULD NOT HAVE PRIVALIGES AT ALL .

Matt Kill
where is the entrance, or is it not possible any longer to access this amazing looking underground world email me! oilyboy68@hotmail.co.uk

dylan ross
wow i neva even knew about this place untill my daddy told me .i think there should be more of them all over the country ,really good thinking i would say

the grils
HOW DO WE GET IN ????

steve ball
if you run at the wall at the box tunnel entrance you should be able to get in

andrew woods
is there another entrance apart from box tunnel

carl clark
the end is nigh

ollie floyd
i lost half my finger down here

c.r.c
i want 2 get in help please i think its rather exquizive

finger
go half way throw box tunnel thers a underground train station go in 2 it thers a red door go throo it its black with soot but u can still mack out the couler you will cum out on a little road follow it u will cim out in the middle of the citty

sheena
i think that ist not right to have like people livein in an underground tunnel thing because its not really a home and i just think its wrong and that every homeless person shoule have a real home and if they dont have enough money to stay there then put them some wear to work for the time being to get the money up to pay for it. but thats my apinon.

Lynne
very interestering

DAVID
THIS IS SO AWESOME

Chris Rickards
In the 1940's my father worked for the MOD/ BAC assembling aircraft engines. The stupid thing about Burlington was, if the UK was bombed out, where were all the civil servants going to go at its end. And who was going to partner up with who up to rebuld the destroyed population?

Katie Philly
i think that this is cool but it shouldn't be for all parliment they should have doctors as they are better than parliment members

GEOFF
I suppose the tax payer payed for all this. As my brother used to say, Churchill said 'Let us go forward together', Oh yea.

ben
how do i get in?

ep
fantastic most brilliant city underground ever found

Ian Taylor
i Find this very intresting To see is there any Tours going i would'ent to pay and have a Tour Round this underground nuclear bunker .

Steve
How could I go about building one of these underground cities for myself?

Dave
Some yearsago my Dad who was a Scientic Officer with the RN visited RNSD Copenacre and he used to take me along,he was attached to the Underwater Weapons Division,this plac was not just for Storage there was a R&D down there and Testing of Sonar Equipment,my Dad was working on a new SONAR called Sword Beam.Nothing more said.

Dorin Benedek
It's an interesting site. I thougt that only the Romanian president Ceausescu had built bunkers... It's well to prevent anything...

Cynthia Kerly
Stationed at Rudlow Manor and worked underground in the teleprinter room in 1948. Anyone else remember these days ?

Civil Servant
the only reason its been decommissioned is because they have built a much better one, and which is easily accessible by Eurostar.

keith
how can i vist this site

allan
olly. my father served in the wartime constabulary responsible for security at the 9 sq. mile monkton farleigh facility, patroling underground or on the surface(against perceived paratroop attack threat.i went down in the 80s after the mushroom company had left which operated there for some time. thecomplex ammo transportation railway had been stripped of its copper wiring. i could see the wartime warning notices on the walls. i must visit again to see if the main west shaft entrance is still intact. unless the huge extraction-fan plants have been kept running, the damp will have ruined the infrastructure, underground i would think.allan i live in a nearby village and will post again-probably

...........................
Part of the city is still open and people are working down there for the MOD !!!!

tom
can i go here

Alan Cristall
I worked for Chivers of Devizes during the reconstruction in the 1950s and was down there as a labourer for two years or so. Are all of your correspondents only semi-literate?

L.A.C DAVID TUCK 4076069
I WAS STATIONED AT R.A.F RUDLOE MANOR FROM 1952 TO 1954 AS A TELEPRINTER OPERATOR AND WORKED UNGROUND. IT WAS A FASCINATING PLACE AND I FEEL VERY PRIVILEGED TO HAVE BEEN POSTED THERE. I NOW LIVE IN NORTH DELTA BRITISH COLUMBIA CANADA JUST OUTSIDE OF VANCOUVER.

barry
i was a fireman there in the early 70s if i remember right there were 7 cavens each joined together by tunnels appox 10feet wide&hight . i was only there a year,went down in the dark came up in the dark .coudn`t wait to be posted out!!!

kenley burns
the top on looks like a subway that nis not finishedthe next one a dinner last looks like my roomthese are not really from an underland....

Andy Lewis
Hi, just wondered if you would be interested in a story, accidentally came across a 25ft large underground nuclear bunker / WWII command post under my garden at the weekend (In Salisbury). It was almost empty apart from a few bones and some tins and cutlery. Also found some coins and children’s toys. We had an exciting day yesterday when the Fire Brigade, Police and SOCO people were all swarming about; fifteen people were in our garden at one point! It this story is of interest, can you please email me back and I'll provide contact phone number, thanks. Andy Lewis

mark howell
fill it with the overcrowded prisoners who deserve to be underground and not in socioty

Edward
What's all this noise, Tubbs? This is a LOCAL underground site for LOCAL people... We'll have no trouble here! They must not be allowed to touch the precious things.

michelle
cold damp but very amazing, maybe should be converted for all the homeless people in uk, put a large space to good use,

Chris Randall
It is appalling that all of this information is now public. I only hope that, as some contributors have suggested, Burlington has been superseded by another site. History reveals that successive British governments go through phases of allowing the defense of the realm to lapse only to be shocked back to reality by an unforseen or ignored turn in world events. "Be prepared"!

Turmit
I knew about this place in the early 60's and also explored the underground stone workings.

Matt Williams
It was never really a secret! Did you never wonder why there were so many ventilation shafts between Copenacre junction and Box???My mother worked down there during the 1st Gulf War (at least a running section of it) but most of it has now transfered to Cheltenham.I went down there on a couple of occasions, rumour has it you can get all the way from London to Bristol (or at least the govt could). Box tunnel has a complete railway station underneath it as part of this complex. It's an ingenius complex and should be opened to the public and kept in a re-usable condition.I wonderif ppl knew that RAF Rudloe Manor used to store all the records for UFO sitings in the UK during the post war era up until it closed!!

Oliver - consumed with fasination of this hidden h
I am from the west country and as a kid always dreamed, when exploring, of finding the entrance to an abandoned wartime/coldwartime bunker! Never did, but if only I searched a little harder!

Burlyvole
Steve RAF,the area that was cold and uncomfortable would have been the old CAD and the areas outside of site 3.Site 3 had 2 heating systems one in the west end and one in the east end these kept the place warm.The infrastucture has suffered from dry rot the stone pillars and ceiling are not decaying at all, there is still a lot of equpment down there.Copenacre was the Royal navy store depots, Spring quarry was next to site 3

Steve Ex-RAF
I have been amazed by the comments so far. I worked down there in the 70s and I can assure each and every contributer to this site, that you would never ever want to live down there. It was cold damp and uncomfortable in the 1970's, who knows what it is like with many years of neglect and lack of maintenance. In parts the infrastructure must be very unsafe now and would cost a huge amount of tax payers money to just keep the status quo. It is a large mainly empty hole, just like a lot of old/decommisioned Coal Mines. Not worth the bother at this time, believe me. It was just an underground town, with the same facilities that you would expect on ground level, but only on a much more basic level and not a first choice location to any sensible person. Dream on though.

william lloyd,14 nd pissed off.
so this means that the very people who have probarbly instigted the nuclear war r safe nd cosy, whils the people that they are supposed to protect r dying a slow nd painful death if they were lucky (used in the loosest possible sense of the word) enough to avoid the initial explosion.

John Smith
I know that as this huge site has been decommissioned [as the ROTOR secret government bunkers as at KELVEDON Hatch] this means that other more secret more secure governm,ent bunkers have been Commissioned [as at the CITADEL].Why does no one ask the question?Why are we all treated as subjects in thew UK - that in the event of a Nuclear Strike [which is fast approaching] the subjects of the UK who try to access the secure bunkers will be shot so that the Royal Family and the members of the Supreme Council (33) will take precedence for survival, as at the vast underground US government Cheyenne Mountain Complex in Colorado in the US [of NORAD - check it out on the Internet together with MENWITH HILL the largest secret intelligence base outside the US based in Yorkshire (which monitors all computers and phones by means of the ECHELON system...) whereby the UK is controlled by the US (Supreme Council 33 of Washington)!We are so ignorant in the UK - wake up subjects - become citizens!!!

colin untt
i think it should be used for its original purpose. but lets not wait for a nuclear strike lets put the government and officials in there know. hee hee!

Kimberley
I cant believe something like this exists so close to where i was brought up and now live it's amazing how little we actually know about the world we live in!

Dan Furlong
I understand that the Brunel Stature in Swindon Town holds access to underground tunnels for council officials in the event of an emergency. Rumour has it that the shop once home to Principles leads into these tunnels via their basement. Interesting to find out if there is truth in this?

pamela t rodriguez
well this is not a big supprise to me we have tons of these in the united states for the same reson to save the so called inportant people not the regulars ones just the inportant ones .the only difference is you have pictures of this we are not suppose to know about what ares looks like and for the most part we do not know that.there are probally aliens living deep deep inside it also .

Ben
I worked here in the late 50s and it was known to me as Copenacre. And we lived in accomadation at Rudloe Estate.Battery driven vehicles, we drove down there.

Mr Secret
I was Stationed at Rudloe Manor and worked down there. I have walked a few good miles down there, We've had pot holers turn up that was unusual. As for the city, i've been there and you would be amazed at the place as i always was. Would love to back and take another look. All you doubters, it's very real, it can't be used for anything else, apart from growing mushrooms, and i very much doubt you will ever get to see it.

Mr Secret
I worked down there!! and no, there ain't no ammunition rotting..stupid

faster four tec
[quote]I get the impression that many things are being kept from the general public, possibly to avoid mass panic[/quote]not really, if the general public knows about it, then the enemy does, if the enemy knows about where the government of the country is hiding that they are attacking then they'll just stick a nuke thru the roof, and nowadays they are so accurate, to within 10metres! and self propelled from the other side of the planet.so if the enemey knew where it was, they might as well be standing on the surface, not much/nothing can withstand a direct hit, it may not crack it open, but it would certainly tumble the walls/columns of rock internally.

Michael Billett 26 April 2007
I grew up in corsham, never had the bottle (was not stupid enough) to go down into the caves and tunnels "exploring" but plenty of my friends did go in there and tell stories similar to those already mentioned here. The reason why it stayed a secret for so long was we had no internet in those days... and word of mouth never travelled very far, as all the kids in the surrounding towns and villages called us liars when we told them.

paul
this place is creepy.. i used to live in corsham.. right next to the cricket pitch.. weird how it was there n never new till years after lol ..trippy stuff, if thats decommisioned now.. imagine what it "could" of been replaced with lol ..dark indeed

Steven butcher
Dan p, yes it is the place, some of the ammo is still there rotting away.

Dan P.
Is this the same area used to store munitions during WW2?

Brenda
I lived in a fall-out shelter in Canada for more than a year. It was built for the same purpose as this one - to house the government, only it was much smaller. 4 stories deep but with all the comforts of home (well...) It is now a cold war museum (nee: Canadian Forces Station Carp), called The Diefenbunker. They have a web site, if anyone's interested.

Steven Baker
we used to sneak in there when we were younger - no lights though just torches - that was about 1993. It was very scary. I remember hundreds of stairs before getting to the roads and corridors below.

David Biggins
Since we paid for this, the government should, I think, open this site to visitors, so that we can see where our money went.

william
Its cheap and rubbish not standard no tv

pararealist
It seems that just this sort of thing is continuing all across the world. I get the impression that the "govs" are secretly building or restoring these sort of underground cities today. I get the impression that many things are being kept from the general public, possibly to avoid mass panic. Yet i think the world is ready to know, and work together to achieve this if true, rather than the select few, dont you think? As one person comments, "what about the rest of us?"

david
god they kept that secret for long anoth.

matt
its surreal that such a place could exist with nobody knowing and makes you think whether there are others like it elsewhere

m ford
60 mils of underground wow this has grait potentul it could help reduse croweded prisons. tern it in to a 100ft underground maximum securety prison one way in and out via main enterence shaft for britons most extream crimanels .

Andy
re john s, Its not fake at all! just been on tv!

Raiden
They should keep it open for future emergencies or turn it into a prison or shopping mall.

steve
im amazed that this undergound city can not be used for some other perpose,like affordable housing or a prison.there must be lots of uses.if nobody wants or needs this underground place can i have it

duedes 74
I belive that coverment`s has these kinda of place´s all around europe (EU) from the times of war. The borning off newage is giving us weakening peopple news and information of yesterdays politics and new world order (NWO). "see them in Bohemian Grove"

jaj
well thats ok,but what about us then.

Pat from Havant
Burlington; very interesting and what a complete waste. A nuclear strike, 4000 government officials alive and well, and no-one for them to look after. Civil servants need domeone to look after so they'd turn on each other. Then the medical staff down there would to conduct a study, then there'd be a reoprt etc. Well you know how it would go.

EJI
The pictures are amazing it's like a film set. A great place to make a British 're-imagining' of the film Day of the Dead perhaps? Or like Malcom said a place for Daleks to glide around.

ron
it could be used as a prison

stephen
i've hesrd that rudlow manor may have had connections with black projects including ufology, i wonder if that's true, i would love to see the area for myself

colin
what the heck!!!!!!!!!!!

orion
There are various Underground Cities all around the globe some are inhabited and others are still vacant, the Empty Cities will be used to house the Millions displayed in Future Events. The Cities that are Occupied currently maintain military personal that are only there on a need to know basis, some also house Special Guest………………………. The Funding for these Basis where acquired by saying that this would be bomb shelter incase of Nuclear Fall out but this was just a lie to get the funding necessary. The reality is that if you are not one of the so called Elite then simply you shouldn’t wary because you wont be around to see it go down

JohnS
its fake...believe me

James
big government cities, all well and good, but what happens to us normal people when a nuke is dropped? it should be re-comissioned as somewhere for people to live, as a pose to building flats on parks.

Linda derby
I do so think this UnderGround city should actually be left alone. Perhaps if anyone wanted a look round then charging £'s perhaps would be quite positive both for revenue & education.

John white
I was stationed at RAF Rudlow Manor in the 1960s, it would make great museum. I would love to go back and have a look round for old times.

claire p swindon
it should definatley be a museum, both my children said they would be very interested, and so would i be !!!!!!

Alex Fryer
Tom: I think that those of you criticizing others for not spelling properly or punctuating correctly are missing the point slightly. This site allows people to discuss their views on the given subject, and I think the amateur English Language teachers among us should belt up. Its a good thing that people are interested enough to post comments. People who are spelling incorrectly, may be dyslexic or simply a little younger or whatever, its not important really. Personally, I find these sites fascinating, and think that if they could be opened to the public and generate a revenue, then why not do it?

dutchdave
Unbelievable sit indeed,love to go down and take some pics,oh yeah and hydrogrower is right,great for a few million plants or so,even though I'm smei-organig in set up....

bigDawg
We have one in the US called on the boarder of PA & MD. I used to work there a few years back pretty cool place to work.

rob
has anyone stopped to think that in the event of nuclear war we will all be dead. There will be nothing left. And who gets to survive the war? Yes the politicians who started it in the first place and we have been paying for the last 50 years so that they can save themselves. Its a sick world we live in and now we're being told what a wonderful piece of heritage it is. Personally I'd put all the politicians in there and brick it up then maybe we wouldn't have a war. And you can bet your life they have built another newer one to save themselves and that we can go on paying for it.

Richard Manly
If this ghost city is what we're allowed to know about, who knows what other secret underground retreats exist straight out of "Dr. No?"

Tom the tunnler
iv been there and searched the place extensivley... very interesting

Greebs
I could well imagine the present labour Government living underground. They are likened to a bunch of ‘troglodytes’. Their heads are constantly in a dark, warm, temperature regulated passage (that sounds like the 7th planet from the sun). Maybe some brave soul could sneak down and weld the door with an oxyacetylene torch while Tony is giving a guitar concert. This could be a fitting, everlasting monument to all future Governments, Viva le Proletariat …

Ken
Well, hopefully the decision to decommission sites like this was well thought out and none of us, now that all possible threats of world war have passed, will never actually need to have a place like this in reserve again. Which is cheaper, rehabilitating an existing place, or simply building a new one? A little less than a decade ago I worked a construction site at a decommissioned military base. There was an underground facility there too, but very few of us were allowed in. Some one in environmental decided salvage was out because of PCBs and asbestos and cost. Instead we bored holes at pre determined points, and through those holes and down air vents we pumped concrete slurry. Hundreds of trucks of it. 24/7 for several weeks till the place was simply filled with concrete. Years later I learned of an old rumor that UFO technology had been stored there, but I am sure that part was BS. Just a secret command and control center, now lost forevermore.

slrd
What a great paint ball site. This could be The Place for a real Doom-like paint ball tournaments.

Ian
There's another "secret" nuclear bunker in Kelvedon, near Brentwood in Essex. It isn't as big as this, but it's fascinating. Well worth a look round on a rainy sunday afternoon.

Katie
who do you call to get photo access?

LifeTime Gamer
WOW!. I'm sure there are other countries that have built the same kind of facilities that we just haven't heard about yet.

Bill Wright
Make it a museum. There is one of these thats 4 stories deep just outside of Ottawa Canada. As a museum it brings in enough to support itself and the local library. I've been there a few times. Very cool and educational.

wontonookie
So that where the WMDs are.

Kevin
Wow, great article, Would enjoy finding any books on this subject.

Kelsey
I don't mean to sound ignorant, but what exactly is "lotto money"? I think the Canadian/American definition is different from the English one, judging by the context in which it's been used in previous posts. Anyone care to explain?

Voidling
What about the people who built this thing where are they and could they keep a secret? I doubt it was a big secret I had heard of this 25 years ago.

Ernie Oporto
How people will wail when a man-made disaster strikes and this facility is unable to perform the duty it was built to perform.

Chris - Swindon
I never knew about this until i saw it on the web. i would be very interested in having a look around...

Michael Tanner Aged 13 Byfleet,Surrey
I found this article very iteresting so do many of my teacher i researched it after a friendof mines grandad was sworn 2 secresy.

dale
cool

Sub
wonder if you could get squatters rights ?

Rick
I find this very interesting, I think it would make a very good museum for historical purposes.

jack
wwwwooooowwwwww dude

Mikee Teevee
Who would I need to speak to to film some footage in there?

Richard
Put it on e bay

tony
i would love to go look round that place it looks so cool

201067
This site should stay decommissioned and not used for anything else. I grew up in Corsham and what was a lovely town is now being destroyed by the amount of houses and influx of people currently happening. It certainly doesn't need more people ruining the area by visiting - it's easy an option for those who don't live there to suggest that.

Mandeep
Can you drive down there?

mr e
who owns the site now and what is itused for at the moment....

An Anglosized Yank
Just as it is government's duty to ensure a nation's survival in time of war, so too is it responsible in preserving England’s Cold War symbols of an indomitable spirit to survive. These spaces represent a vital part of England’s heritage. Only saving such vital spaces does the nation ensure that generations yet unborn not only do not forget the past, but more importantly understand and appreciate it.

Bill Oddie
Visited recently. Fantastic place, very interesting...a bit spooky mind - but as many have said, it would be great to see it opened up for guided tours. Some amazing artifacts down there.

Lindi St.Clair - Miss Whiplash
I knew about this place back in the early 1970's when I went there many times to service one of my regular political clients. It was fascinating. I had to pretend that I was an office worker in order to bypass security. Now the place is decomissioned I think it should be used as a tourist attraction to make money for the state. If Buck House can open to the public, then why not the underground city?

Jess
Shopping centre are you out off your tiny mind!!!! and i live here :) ahahahahaha

sam
this place is cool i would love to live here.

nikki
i heard a about this place years ago but never believed it existed until now, how very cunning of the government to keep it secret.

some1
it owuld cost to much to change it it would proberly cost them more than what its worth

Paul
This needs to be converted into the next biggest Shopping Centre / Nature Reserve. It must have cost us Tax Payers an unbelievable amount of money, especially for something we couldn't have used. So time to reclaim that money back and encourage more Tourism... Great Article :o)

Rich Ellis
I used to drive past this place on the way to university in Bath every day. A colleague told me about the sub-terreanean maze underneath but I always doubted whether it was true! I would love to look around!

Hydrogrower
What a great growroom!

David zastrow
I would never change anything. If anything i would try my best to restore it to its orginal fashsion if posible. and if anyone reads this if they could post more info on this and other ground cities of cold war period.

HI
If they change anything there it would be a crying shame, I would pay to see it as it was left.

Cliff
I want it - How much?

Wright
When I go over to England, would I be able to actually visit this place? (i'm a writer and my book is set in an immense unused bunker)

darren helman
can i live in there?

Interesting story - 10 Sep 06
I visited Burlington shortly after it was de-classified. Prior to that even military personnel serving at Corsham were only shown the Armament depots, Equipment rooms and Station before that. It is truely fascinating and I'm kicking myself that I never took my camera. The Telex shown in the picture above still has all the connectors wrapped in brown paper as are the chairs and tables stacked in the store-rooms just outside the dining area. The MoD still has an important responsibilty down there; the care of a local Bat population. The have installed appropriate heating arrangements to keep the Bats that reside there comfortable (as required by law). A few corrections: nathan - you do not realise how big this place really is if you think there are many like this. RM - Skynet is the name for the UK's military satellites. Owned and run by Paradigm Services Ltd. Paradigm are a major employer in Corsham and own a building on ... Skynet Drive.

Karen
I dont think anyone gas read this properly, if there was a nuclear war do you really think 3 months would be enough to survive?? Everybody knows it taes a lot longer than that for the air to clear. Also, why a BBC broadcasting centre, he couldnt broadcast to anyone. we would be all dead. Great minds running the country ay!

pixie princess
ron- maybe michael is a bit concerned that as taxpayers we technically should get something back when at retiring age- not the pittance we will all be due when our time comes. Has anyone else heard of the tunnels that are under Salisbury and surrounding areas? I believe there are some that run parallel to the ley- lines but haven't found alot of information on them .

Elmo
I've been in similar instilations around the country but have never seen something this extensive.

could this not be used
could this not be used what with riseing prison levals or may be an alternative to the massive demand for houseing?

Steve Higgins
The entrance to Burlington is in RAF Rudloe in Westwells/Rudloe. Burlington is a secured, sectioned off area of Spring Quarry, a WW2 underground aircraft factory. Burlington was never designed to be a hide away for the Queen though, her and the rest of the Royals would have been flown out of the country. Burlington was just to be a hideaway for the cabinet and PM.

Michael J Pearce
For many years I worked underground for the MOD and wonder if this one of the major quarries used by them for may years (Hartham, Monks Park or Spring Quarry). I knew that there was a Queens accomodation somewhere but thought the entrance was through RAF Rudloe in Westwells/Hawthorn Is this Burlington Site a different quarry altogether, if so where was it located.

Bryn Dando
typical isn't it, the ones that will have started the war will be nice and safe.

RD
Looks like a great place to house the burgeoning population of Chav's many of whom have made some fairly predictable comments. Great article though.

Jon Scott
Well, I think we've found the next Big Brother House!

Olly
well i live in chippenham just outside corsham if anyones interested in this look up box freestone mines, i go down ther alot, its 90km of passages so dont go down without a map, ive been to the 'secret' queens entrance next to box tunnel its got a huge iron door, inside it is blocked off after about thirty metres, also farleigh down ammo dump is a good one its a mile long going up the hill underground then its blocked off, ill have to look but there was a council planning notice to destroy it so you may not be able to go there now, anyway talk currently is that it probably wont be opened to civies due to one reason its under an raf base, this being open would be an open invite to any terrorists or extremist groups. in conclusion with all these entrances blocked off and the site decommissioned it means one thing there's another much newer burlington somewhere which has rendered this one obselete

Malcolm Saffin
Great Place for a forthcoming series of Doctor Who and the Daleks ???

Chris Harwood
Daz, "it should be for all who live near ?orsham not other people who dont live round there"?? It's the countries history! Should stonehenge just be for people who live near there?

Ivor Stone
We worked around this area in the 60s fitting Electric Pylons. I can remember having to run power to certain transformers which was very strange. None of this work was on the normal list of jobs and was given to a select few of us on overtime only. The transformers we connected to were also housed in very strong buildings far different to the normal transformer housing systems.

nathan
This isn't unique, there are a few dotted around the home counties although this is quite a big one. If you want to visit one, I believe Kelvedon Hatch is still open although it has been 9 years since I went. http://www.aboutbritain.com/KelvedonHatchSecretBunker.htm

Jack Ducker
this is totaly wack if i was the pm i wudnt have 4000 people down there ill just go down myself and live for ever playin my super nintendo yeah man peace out

TS
Watch the virtual tour.... the setting of an awsome scary film!

Richard Fagan
This place sounds grate, fair play to them for keeping it quiet, all that right under corsham and no one knew about it. It should be opened up to the public to see. I dont thinks it's fair they are able to choose who and who's allowed in!

Mohammed Jihad
What was the purpose of the BBC studio? To allow the PM to reassure and comfort the nation that (s)he was safe and sound, while everybody else was being vaporized or dying an agonizing fallout-related death?

Daz
it should be for all who live near corsham not other people who dont live round there

jake meech
we should go in there in war aswell not just the royal family and the prime inister

bradley bull
we should go under there not the royal family and the prime minister

Emily-George Ward School
I Dont Think That It Is Fair That The Royal Family Should Be Only Aloud To Live Down There! Its Not Fair If There Is A NucuLar War Then We Will All Die And Then The Royal Family With Have No One To Rule!

Geoff Amos
I've lived in wiltshire most of my life and can honestly say that i've never heard of this place until today. A fabulous insight into Cold War politics which must be preserved as part of our national heritage and opened up to the public.

stuart francis
Lets open it up as a museum and allow us to see our history it could make a lot of money for someone and would allow us to teach our children what really happend and the threat s that were posed against us. make it a museum and i gaurantee it will do well.

Nik
Great place, they could put the proposed "Stonehenge Visitor Centre" in there.

Ron
Say, michael, why is it up to the government to provide you with a pension? Don't you save any money from your salary? Doesn't your company have an investment or pension plan?

ROB
DID SOME TRAINING IN THIS PLACE AS A FIREMAN SOME YEARS AGO. HORRIBLE PLACE,WOULD RATHER TAKE MY CHANCES ABOVE GROUND THAN BE BURIED ALIVE. IT WOULD MAKE A GREAT PRISON.

Tim Hastings
Thank you for a great look around this base. Without question, the best resource I've found. You really feel the creepy atmosphere! Well done!

Peter Rodwell
I've lived in Wiltshire all my life, and I only recently found out about this, it just goes to show you the hidden treasures our area has!

Karen Talha
A Fantastic place which should be saved as part of our historical heritage. The government spent our money building it so they should ensure it is saved and give us (the british public) the rights to see what the money was spent on. I would love to visit. A wonderful insight into government secrecy.

Michael
A good example of political deceit and double standards still exercised today with totally "buried costs" which is probably why this and succesive governments cannot afford to pay us all a fair pension

Mickthe mole
Yes, As GPO Lad. I was sent there to install Microwave wave kit so it lock into a system which I think was part of "BACKBONE" what was an update to"CITADEL". If I rembber correctly, Big towers were built on top of hills, to bring "colour T.V." to them wot did Have colour T.Vs. NOT MANY, I did have to a few days ,"IN THE HOLE", polishing the contacts on the rusty relys, replacing to fuses, and I glad to say, seeking relief at the pub down the road. I like many others, can only start to tell this, as the 50 year has now expire. DO I get me Bus Pass????

Reed
What a nice mushroom farm this would make. A bit of insulation, some reinforcement, a lighting policy based on somebody actually being in a particular room... and it would be cheaper to keep running. Part farm, part museum. Perhaps part CD facility. Why not? The smug gloating and hand wringing of pusillanimous limeys regarding the deterioration of their defensive infrastructure is mind boggling.

JD Shaftesbury
I did some building works down there in the late '80s amasing maize.

JimC
I agree that this site should be preserved as it forms an important part of our recent history. If anyone is really interested is somehow trying to preserve this site in what ever form, email me at burlington.wilts@ntlworld.com and depending on the responses, lets see if there is anything we can do.

1123581321
I visited the site in 1990 whilst working for BT. BT maintained some of the telecoms 'switch' gear. It seemed pretty old fashioned then; the telecoms equipment was very basic (mechanical) but that was to withstand the transisitor killing electro magnetic blast from a nuclear bomb. Many of the countries major telecom exchanges also had bomb proof underground facilities connected to places such as these, so that the country could continue to 'function' after an attack. Food/fuel was replaced regularly, though to my knowledge, that stopped about 10 years ago. Rememeber the place smelling and feeling damp, but was amazed how big it seemed; we were accompanied by an armed guard and not allowed to anywhere other than the door marked PABX. I also visited Monkton Farleigh as a child. Some cousins lived nearby and like most locals, knew the way in. Pretty scary place with only a torch. I also visited it when it was opened to the public for a short time in the late 80's. Remember the tracks for the munition's trolleys and the overhead pulley system. Also the huge generator and fan systems. Although I agree that we shouldn't plough anymore public money into places like this, we've got to remember that the existence of these type of places and the security forces in our country have allowed and continue to allow us to live in the relative safety that we take for granted. A great article. ps The UFO's are kept at Fairford....

tony blair
DONT WORRY i will put this to good use

Steve
I work at the Security place at monkton farleigh, very interesting history with it being an old MOD ammo dump and is bloomin massive! 1 million square foot of storage at mo but in total size of monkton I am not sure but its big, i've had a wander around it a few times myself. But this one is a monster! 35 acre! This one is bigger than monkton! P.S. Monkton is very well protected nowadays, the walls have been re-inforced alot!

Steve Higgins
Timne1 - Monkton Farleigh does not connect to the Corsham compex however there is a mile long tunnel which runs from Monkton Farleigh to rail sidings at Ashley - this tunnel is bricked up at the Monkton Farleigh end. Darren - the underground railway station was part of the ammunition depot and not part of the cold war hide away but both were part of the same massive complex under Box Hill as well as a WW2 air craft factory.

Jerry Hails (Ex SAC 2533201)
I served about 20 months of my two years National Service from Feb 1952 to Sep 1953 at RAF Box,Rudloe Manor being the Station HQ. I was by trade a fighter plotter but spent most of my time mis-employed,as the phrase was, as Station Armourer.I worked undergound in the main plotting site,on my own in the Armoury,but had plenty of work preparing and cleaning rifles.Brens and Stens for the GST (Ground Service Training)exercises and Range Practice.I could go on for hours,as I kept a Diary of my time there.Jerry.

Tom
To Mike Perry - Where is your punctuation mark in your first 'cant'.

Darren G
I served at RAF Rudloe Manor during the mid 90's. I was one of the few that actually worked above ground but did get the chance to go below to the CDCN on varous occasions. I did once have a tour by the then OC GD, who took us around an old WW2 aircraft factory, munitions store and living accomodation. We were shown the entrance to the Burlington site, but unfortunatley we were not allowed in. The WW2 underground facility is very interesting in itself as it has a railway station with 2 platforms,in a hugh cavern, with an exit/entry leading to Box tunnel. Massive munitions storage areas and of course living accomodation for the serving personnel also are to be found at this site. I haven't found a Web-site covering the history of Corsham during WW2 yet, so if anyone has any knowledge of such a site, please place on this message system. Surely an underground railway staion built within a Wiltshire Hill must be of interest to some one out there. I again think their is little known about this facility as it was, and probably still is, under the control of the MOD.

Alex Wood
It is important to preserve such a thing, if people in the past had taken this attitude, we wouldnt have to dig to find remains from previous generations.

Timne1
Ive managed to enter part of the tunnel system under monkton farleigh. Now A Security Company,Theres a wall under there that stops you heading back towards box it must be 15 feet thick. Still Searchin

CB
I worked in CDCN for a few years as a codebreaker. People have got it wrong. Yes, there are many many cubed kilometers Kms undergroud but please do not connect it with UFO's. CB

Mike Perry
To paul oksure - "why cant many of you spell". Why can't you use capital letters and punctuation marks?

Mort
If this palce is no longer used then where's the new one and how big and deep is it!?

James Brown
wow underground city are you sure this isnt the next series of lost?

paul oksure
typical....dont you all realise how much money was thrown at this thing...and now you want to throw lotto money at it too....why dont you all sell your homes and donate the money you make to its conservation...lotto money should not be spent on the preserving the past but creating a better future for us all... ps ...why cant many of you spell

Geoff Mathews
I agree with Liz Clark, give it back to the people and allow everyone to see it for what it was all those years ago.

COLIN P
Don't let this wonderful piece of modern history vanish. It would make a superb tourist attraction and could be self financing if an injection of lottery money could prevent it being destroyed by property developers.

Suzie Francis
I remember my Nan telling me of this place, as a youngester, when I was visiting her in Corsham.... I thought she was mad! An underground city for the government.... as if! Ooops! If she was still with us, I'd owe her an apology!

KG
What an amazing piece of National Heritage, how can we keep it for our future generations to see?

DOWNAHOLEVOLE
Alan it is called Site 3 because it is was part of the sites that the RAF ran, Site 1 and Site 2 were RAF Rudloe Manor, site 1 does not exist anymore Site 2 is part of JSUC and when the RAF took on the U/G it was called Site 3 prior to this it was called New works and was run by the DOE which was privatised in the early 1990's when Margaret thatcher was PM thus making the workforce of about 40 redundant, no workforce no maintenance. A lot of money has been spent on the place since it was built mainly on the upkeep on the fabric of the place and not on technology. It is not for sale but part of a PFI package, i doubt if the general public will see it that is why the BBC were allowed to make this site, if you want to see some equipment from Site 3 take a trip to RAF Holmpton as some of it has gone there for display. Its Skynet Drive not lane. I,ll be back

Lt Col (Ret) James A. Wadell
Most interesting! This is very much like a site that was built in West Virginia in the US for much the same reason - continuation of government operations while under nuclear attack. The site in the US was also top secret, and its existance unknown to the general public until only recently. I hope the UK site is preserved and maintained. It is a wonderful artifact of some very dangerous and difficult times.

Chris Harwood
Skynet Lane isn't part of the cold war bunker complex it's the road the the CDCN (Command Defence Communications Network) is based.

RM
One of the roads leading up to the site is called 'Skynet Lane', which is a bit disconcerting. Wasn't Skynet the computer that started the war in the Terminator films ?

ali wade
I grew up in Corsham. As children we used to sneak around the 'sensitive' places, avoiding the 'mod plods'. Corsham, Rudloe and Springfield are curious places. The landscape is punctuated by air shafts, pill boxes and bomb shelters. The other end of Box Tunnel is worth finding at Potley. It is a far more impressive sight than it's counter part. Watch out for the mod plods!

CRS
There are still a huge amount of sensitive secret sites in the immediate locality which are currently being upgraded for the future. With a little amateur detective work on the internet you can find all sorts of interesting evidence of new construction. Burlington is just the tip of the iceberg.

donz
Hi , if you are inerested my hubby found a great website with loads of these places mentioned , we found one where we live and never knew it existed ,the national heritage have it and it is open to the public too here's the homepage http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/roc/index2.shtml

kat
surely they WILL open it to the public?

JT
Much has been lost to posterity. Like the battersea power station. The building is only half the story. It had tiled floor turbine house. Art deco machinery. The only thing left now is empty building. Machinery sold for scrap metal. Like the whitebay power station in Sydney. Massive boilers gone, massive empty turbine house. Many others layed bear for the scrap yard merchants pocket. Many others leveled for the developers apartment blocks. Not one left intact with equipment still in place. Yes there are a number of undergorund bunkers left intact with original equipment still there untouched, abeat unusable through decay. Most have been striped or vandelised. There is an undergound bunker in East Germany open to the public. The machinery still operational and maintained. It would be good to see this site in operational order again and open to fee paying public.

WOW
i never even knew it existed, PLEASE OPEN IT TO THE PUBLIC.... Id love to see it all up and running and actually lived in!

Bob Wright
I one visited a de-commissioned fall-out shelter in the heart of China. It had been turned over to the public with all sorts of stalls inside such as a circus freak show, an archery range, and many shops. All along the walls going deep down into it they had painted what was claimed to be the world's longest mural. Lets hope something of use is done with Burlington too.

Ginge
What a magnificant place! I could almost imagine it all up and running, would like to see some pics of it in it's hey-day thou! Please open to public soooon!!

Tracy Mason
I have seen this place in the late 80s when i was just a teenager.Mt step dad was in the airforce at cdcn at rudlow in corsham.i am so lucky to have seen some of it as i was familey.i did not no it was going to close.I will let my step dad no.he has retirerd now.i would like to see it again and show my children what a wonderfull place.i have shown them the picters on the site my son thought it was great he wants to see it now.i do hape i see it again.from Tracy Mason

GD Cleethorpes.
The mind boggles just whats out there! I'd love a tour, lets use some lottery money to fund public viewing.

MG, Salisbury
So, even the ultimate last bastion is now obsolete. Makes you realise just how vulnerable we all are, and how important the AVOIDANCE of war is as an active survival device!

Alan Torr
Wow! What a great bunker! I wonder how many more there are lurking around the UK as big as this? After all this is 'Site 3' of ??? Would be great if the public was able to go on tours soon. Maybe lotto money could be used to buy it from the MOD and to restore parts that need attention. It's a shame we weren't able to see the entrance from outside though. I'm sure the UK Gov has more Emergency shelters dotted around the country though. Rumour has it there's a massive one being built near Rainham, Essex.

Charlie Mac
What a place, it just has to be preserved, there can be few like it (or are there!?)

J C Nash
Is the BBCs tour of the Burlington bunker available on videotape?

Jon
This is a part of our history and should be opened for the public

DJ
Just as we have castles from our older history, we have these sites that represent part of our more recent history. It would indeed be a pity to loose such an important and vast site like this, as its a symbol of a possible future we could of had and of the efforts of the unsung personnel who were involved in secretly building or working in such sites (not forgetting the ammount of taxpayers money invested) -it is a pity the site cannot be visited or opened to the public even on a limited basis.

Pete
This has to be preserved. As a folly of the cold war?!

chris passmore
i would love to see it a fter all its our history

Rob Willshire
Visited once back in the 80's. Amasing this was released to the public.

Guy Bettley-Cooke
Well done the Beeb! Fantastic site. Good to have a look around the famous Hawthorn-Burlington-Turnstile bunker. Shocking to see just how LITTLE money was spent on the facility, unlike similar ones in the U.S. But that pretty much sums up U.K. Civil Defence policy at the end of the Cold War. Perhaps somebody, high up, actually realised it was all a waste of time and money - that if the balloon HAD gone up, there would have been little left of anything to govern at all? 'Burlington' would no doubt have had a post-Soviet missile launch life of around 30 minutes, before being wiped off the map. Chilling, but historically fascinating, all the same!

Paul Duddle
I served @ H.M.S Royal Arthur (Corsham)in the 70's.I knew about this place,but never got to visit it.It would be nice to finally have a chance to visit the site.

Steve Higgins
It would make a great tourist attraction, it's such a shame that it will never be open to the public - I wish I had a few million to bu it.

Liz Clark
Can we (wiltshire residents) have it please, what a tourist attraction this would make!!!!