A Nuclear Bunker In The Sussex Downs? (I Kid You Not)

The_Discordian

The_Discordian

Mmm... crunchy!
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An example of how paranoid people can get down here in the provinces, found in the letters page of the Lancing Herald, cover dated July 31, 2003:

"I know you would not normally publish letters sent to you anonymously, but I have long held suspicions that a new Regional Seat of Government (RSG) has been quietly built into the Downs with its entrances disguised by the many innocuously labelled steel doors lining the A27 tunnel under Southwick Hill. The article in the Daily Telegraph dated July 25, page 20, graphically illustrates the sinister fate of whistle-blowers such as Clive Ponting and Sarah Tisdall.

Your readers will recall that the tunnel's opening was delayed for six months and that it was closed on the night of September 11 and on frequent subsequent occasions for "maintenance" during the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts, although I have never seen so much as a single malfunctioning light bulb. Any nuclear blast would pass right throught the tunnel, leaving the steel doors undamaged. The bunkers deep inside the chalk hillside could be secretly prepared and maintained, unbeknown to local inhabitants because neither exit can be observed once their approaches have been closed.

Infuriated by the regular night closures, I have often been tempted to investigate on foot, but have been deterred by the TV cameras at both ends and the warning "No Pedestrians" signs, promising prosecution for even taking a look. The authorities will doubtless have plausible explanations, but it seems too coincidental that there is a water reservoir at one end, Tesco at the other (for essential food supplies?) and Shoreham Airport not three minutes away.

If the authorities wish to allay our suspicions, perhaps they can limit tunnel closures from midnight to four in the morning and say just how many light bulbs they have changed in that time?"

=================================================

This idea just seems ridiculously full of holes to me, but I leave it open to the rest of you for dissection.
 
Actually in the BBC Show Spooks (Monday 9:00pm BBC1) the alternative seat of power is located in the Downs. I wonder if they might have got it from actually hard fact?
 
Into FOAF territory, I fear...

But SFAIK the UK has been littered with government-built nuclear shelters for decades.

The late father of a mate of mine was a bank manager, and was involved in some capacity with the Civil Defence program (whatever the official title of it was). Allegedly there was some big war game (this was prob. in the late 70s) that he had to retire to some big bunker in Ayrshire for the duration of: told my mate that he'd probably be gone a couple of days. Came back barely an hour later explaining to her that there'd been a direct hit on the US base in the Holy Loch, and as a result the whole Clyde valley was now a cluster of smoking, radioactive craters and most of the Central Belt's population were either already dead or wishing they were. The bunker he'd been in -and a big chunk of northern Ayrshire along with it- had been tagged 'destroyed' by Hunterston Power Station going critical as a consequence of damage from the Holy Loch, so the guys running the excercise told him just to go home. Nice of them. :D
 
all of Uk is riddled with bunkers... every new town hall has one under it.... whitehall had at least as much space uner it as above..
 
Mama_Kitty said:
The bunker in Sussex is at Kingstanding. I know because the Police use it for practices and stuff. I don't know if it's much of a secret, but if I stop posting, come find me!
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It's not a secret - the decommissioned nuclear bunker and surrounding buildings are used for public order training etc.

The site was originally built for the Aspidistra transmitter in 1942 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspidistra_(transmitter)
 
Mama_Kitty said:
The bunker in Sussex is at Kingstanding. I know because the Police use it for practices and stuff. I don't know if it's much of a secret, but if I stop posting, come find me!
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Mama? Where are you?
 
Paul_Exeter said:
:bump:

This tunnel was mentioned on another thread so I 'drove' through it on Google maps expecting to see huge blast doors to keep the radiation and zombies population out but all I could see where fire fighting equipment cupboards, so I think not.
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I live near to the Southwick Tunnel. It's along the A27 between Brighton and Shoreham.

I went through that tunnel yesterday and there are a couple of 6 or 7ft high steel doors which could hardly be classed as 'blast doors'. They look more like access doors.

What is odd about the tunnel is the amount of times the tunnel is shut between 9pm and 6am usually Mon to Fri for maintenance. I can't work out what could need to be maintained that often on a regular basis.

The other odd thing is the number of accidents that happen either in or next to the tunnel entrance or exit. I've a travel alert app on my phone set to a 10 mile radius from where I live and if there's an accident along the A27, the amount of times Southwick Tunnel is mentioned is far above what would be expected.
 
kesavaross said:
I live near to the Southwick Tunnel. It's along the A27 between Brighton and Shoreham.

I went through that tunnel yesterday and there are a couple of 6 or 7ft high steel doors which could hardly be classed as 'blast doors'. They look more like access doors.

What is odd about the tunnel is the amount of times the tunnel is shut between 9pm and 6am usually Mon to Fri for maintenance. I can't work out what could need to be maintained that often on a regular basis.

The other odd thing is the number of accidents that happen either in or next to the tunnel entrance or exit. I've a travel alert app on my phone set to a 10 mile radius from where I live and if there's an accident along the A27, the amount of times Southwick Tunnel is mentioned is far above what would be expected.
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I suppose the actual blast doors could be hidden behind those unassuming access panels/doors. I just remembered how many passengers travelled through Box tunnel and never noticed the rail entrance to:

"Beneath the pretty cotswolds countryside between Box and Corsham lies a secret city. 37 metres below ground, this vast 35 acre complex is more than a kilometre in length and boasts 60 miles of roads. Blast-proof and completely self-sufficient, with the ability to house up to 4,000 people in complete isolation from the outside world for up to three months, the site was designed to be the operational headquarters for the British Government, in the event of a nuclear war or conflict with the Soviet Union."

https://www.lornehousebox.co.uk/2020/04/27/a-secret-underground-city/

and:

https://www.francisfrith.com/corsham/secret-factory-at-box-tunnel-corsham_783324766
 
Paul_Exeter said:
I suppose the actual blast doors could be hidden behind those unassuming access panels/doors. I just remembered how many passengers travelled through Box tunnel and never noticed the rail entrance to:

"Beneath the pretty cotswolds countryside between Box and Corsham lies a secret city. 37 metres below ground, this vast 35 acre complex is more than a kilometre in length and boasts 60 miles of roads. Blast-proof and completely self-sufficient, with the ability to house up to 4,000 people in complete isolation from the outside world for up to three months, the site was designed to be the operational headquarters for the British Government, in the event of a nuclear war or conflict with the Soviet Union."

https://www.lornehousebox.co.uk/2020/04/27/a-secret-underground-city/

and:

https://www.francisfrith.com/corsham/secret-factory-at-box-tunnel-corsham_783324766
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The entrance to the nuclear bunker between Box and Corsham is quite sizeable and large enough, and with a train line, to remove the huge quantities of spoil that would be produce during construction. Whereas with the Southwick Tunnel even if there was housed a small incident type bunker getting the spoil out of normal sized doors? It is possible that some type of bunker was excavated when the tunnel was constructed.

Apparently there is one large steel door which must have been in the tunnel going the other way to my direction of travel. I didn't see it on my return journey but there again I wasn't looking for it. I'll have a look out for it next time I'm going that way.

I also know factually there are security guards actually on the hill over the tunnel when the tunnel is closed for maintenance work. One evening years ago I was walking back from Steyning to Southwick along footpaths and bridlepaths when I was told by security guards I would have to detour. They weren't heavy duty security guards 6ft tall and over built like brick hit houses, they were normal sized and polite.

Another odd thing about Southwick Tunnel is the mobile phone signal instantly vanishes and doesn't slowly fade as one would expect.
 
kesavaross said:
The entrance to the nuclear bunker between Box and Corsham is quite sizeable and large enough, and with a train line, to remove the huge quantities of spoil that would be produce during construction. Whereas with the Southwick Tunnel even if there was housed a small incident type bunker getting the spoil out of normal sized doors? It is possible that some type of bunker was excavated when the tunnel was constructed.

Apparently there is one large steel door which must have been in the tunnel going the other way to my direction of travel. I didn't see it on my return journey but there again I wasn't looking for it. I'll have a look out for it next time I'm going that way.

I also know factually there are security guards actually on the hill over the tunnel when the tunnel is closed for maintenance work. One evening years ago I was walking back from Steyning to Southwick along footpaths and bridlepaths when I was told by security guards I would have to detour. They weren't heavy duty security guards 6ft tall and over built like brick hit houses, they were normal sized and polite.

Another odd thing about Southwick Tunnel is the mobile phone signal instantly vanishes and doesn't slowly fade as one would expect.
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That is very odd about the security guards, does the tunnel have any vents? That is the only reason I could think of, that they were working on the vents.

Had a look on google maps and can't see any. Some serious power lines, have you ever noticed any going into the ground or a building?

Also this:

Hill thing.jpg


?

Also a small obelisk with the words "Corporation Waterworks" that seems to indicate either water pipes or a reservoir

So electricity, water,, security... hmmm
 
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RaM said:
A lot of people thought that was were the so called Steam Reserve of mothballed steam
locos were kept for use if the crap really hit the fan.
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When I worked on the railways there were many rumours like that.

I always volunteered to work Christmas Day and Boxing Day even though no trains were running. Each depot had to have train crew at work in case of a 'national emergency'. Quite what that emergency would be or what a few train crew at each depot could do to help with that emergency, no one seemed to know.

Two 12 hour shifts at double pay and 4 days off in lieu, and watching tv, sounded a good deal to me.
 
Paul_Exeter said:
That is very odd about the security guards, does the tunnel have any vents? That is the only reason I could think of, that they were working on the vents
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There's no vents.

The security guards were, I assume, to stop anyone curious about what maintenance could be taking place from taking a look. The official reason given is to stop anyone who is curious getting to close the top of the tunnel via the hillside possibly falling as it is one hell of a height.
 
Paul_Exeter said:
That is very odd about the security guards, does the tunnel have any vents? That is the only reason I could think of, that they were working on the vents.

Had a look on google maps and can't see any. Some serious power lines, have you ever noticed any going into the ground or a building?

Also this:

Also a small obelisk with the words "Corporation Waterworks" that seems to indicate either water pipes or a reservoir

So electricity, water,, security... hmmm
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Apologies. I somehow didn't see the rest of your posting.

I've only been that way once and that was maybe 15 or more years ago. I was out for an evening's walking and I wasn't on the lookout for such.

Come summer, I'm going to go and have a look.
 
hill 2.jpg


What is this? There are several spots you can click on to see the a photo taken on the hill and in two of these this appears
 
There was some kind of nuclear bunker at the top of the hill in the village where I grew up. It was in a field overlooking the Fens. Never walked that way myself. So I would agree that the country was pocked with bunkers in unexpected places.
 
This area to the right of the left hand pylon (as you look at the screen) looks digitally manipulated as I can see straight lines in a square:

square.png


Seems to correspond with where those strange black shapes were. But it might just be the overlay of images or whatever
 
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Cheers. I should be able to find that easy enough. I'll also have a good look round along the route of the tunnel underneath.
 
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