UK Cold War: A history of coldwar sites around the UK

It may sound strand at first but the bunker is accessed through the green house on the left, the stairs down into the bunker are against the brick wall. The bunker was purpose built for Maldon District Council in 1982, the bunker is small and was only designed to house a maximum of six to eight staff. The building to the right of the photo is the office for the maintenance Dept.

Attached to the brick building are a number of aerials from the period when the bunker was active, the cables still run down into the bunker and I suppose could still be used if required.

This is the only one entrance into and out of the bunker, there is no emergency exist for the bunker. Once you go through blast door which is of the usual concrete and steel design, you turn right and you are into the bunker itself.

Having come into the bunker you are standing in the reception/control room, turn left you come to the plant room (through the blue door), the generator and heating equipment is still in place and both work though the generator is no longer used. The generator is quite small but would supply ample power for the bunker.

Just two shots of the generator and the heating system, the filtration equipment is in the room which holds the communications equipment, which seems a bit strange is it may have contaminate the room when the filters were changed.

Back in the main reception/control room with the blast door behind you, turn right and you walk into the last two rooms, I'm not sure what the first one would have been used for, but the second one contains quite a lot of equipment from the days when the bunker was active and as I said the filtration equipment.

The filtration equipment is quite small and can be operate both manually and electrically, this is all still in place and even has a new filter unit fitted,

In this room are a number of maps, both of the local area and the county, as well as an ROC cluster map which has now been removed for preservation and a copy returned in its place.

Also in place are a number of teleprinters from the 60's and 70's plus some more up to date equipment, including part of the ECN equipment, though non of it is now connected.

The bunkers life was a short one, it was only used for three years until 1985, when the new emergency centre was built at the council offices in Maldon Town centre. The emergency planning officer wants to restore the comms room and intends to keep all the equipment in place. Because the heating system is still used by the maintenance dept and some of the bunker itself there is no dampness or water in the bunker.