Kelvedon Hatch

The Kelvedon Hatch bunker is now a Cold War museum meaning visiting is not really ‘urban exploring’ as such but I think it kind of fits this category best. It also means that unlike most explores it costs money, not just for entry but also for the privilege of taking photos. This wouldn’t have been so bad but after we’d explored the bunker and paid up, we went to get a closer look at the mast and above ground features and as we were in the field, we heard a man shouting at us from a 4X4, from the car park “have you paid?!” in a confrontational manner. I  responded with “yes, we paid entry and we paid to use our cameras!”

We were horrified that, as paying customers, we were shouted at from across a field as if we were naughty schoolboys or something, while other customers watched on from the car park. It was totally embarrassing.

My friend emailed and complained and they apologised, apparently two other people had left without paying around the same time as us.  The problem with using trust boxes is not everyone can be trusted.

Some history from wikepedia:-

The Kelvedon Hatch bunker was built in 1952–53 as part of ROTOR. ROTOR was a programme to improve and harden Britain’s air defence network. The bunker was a hardened ( three level ‘R4′) Sector Operations Center (SOC) for RAF Fighter Command. It was to provide command and control of the London Sector of Fighter Command. During the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and early into the 1990s, the UK government (Home Office) maintained the bunker as an (emergency) regional government defence site. Eventually in the early 1990s when nuclear threat was seen as diminished, the bunker was sold back to the family who had owned the land in the 1950s. It is now a Cold War museum and retains many of its original ROTOR and RSG/RGHQ features.

Some photos from our trip.


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