Going Underground

Welcome to the secret world of underground bunkers. Once solid impenetrable subterranean fortresses, these relics are now abandoned rusting tombs of history. 

Some of these bunkers that are beneath central London are powered by mercury generators still to this day. Mercury generators were discontinued in the 1970s due to concerns of seepage and polluting of soil. Many of these bunkers would remain unknown if it weren’t for urban explorers, people like Dr Bradley Garrett who published his book Subterranean London detailing the many layers of the city.  

A lot of these bunkers were built during World War 2, making use of the underground tube system, branching off existing tunnels and developing a huge network of bunkers some of which are still in use today.  

After the Second World War finished the world moved quickly into the Cold War, and the development of nuclear blast proof bunkers started. These bunkers were kitted out with everything the government and elite classes would need to rebuild civilisation, from fully stocked libraries with every classic book ever written to manuals on farming, and engineering. The bunkers would also include many luxuries like pubs, and bowling alleys and have hospitals capable of being able to perform surgery for sick or injured people. long corridors of bunk beds and private living quarters, and if you ever stepped out of line there were even prison cells. 

Even though these bunkers are empty the mercury generators still keep the lights on and are kept company by the eerie rumbling sounds of the tube rattling above. These subterranean cities aren’t just found in London, you can also find them in places like Birmingham and Manchester, but why are they maintained? What and who are they maintained for? I suppose we the ordinary working people will never know, but as close as we can legally get would be Aldwych tube station that was closed in 1994 but is now used by fire and police services for training and also appears in tv and film as it has a fully working tube train permanently parked up on the platform.  

Birmingham had its own bunker system which was built as a telephone exchange with its main purpose of keeping communications going in the event of a Hiroshima style atomic bomb being dropped on the city. The Anchor which took its name from the Birmingham assay office which is above the telephone exchange, started its construction in 1953 under the guise of constructing of a new underground tube system, work continued till 1957 costing around 4 million pound which would be around 83 million in today’s money. Soon after its construction it became redundant due to the shift from atomic bombs to nuclear warheads which were far more powerful. 

So its safe to assume that as you walk through any major city there’s potentially a network of underground bunkers, that were commissioned some time ago when the threat of nuclear annihilation was at its peak. Today some might say that threat is still a possibility, so where are the underground bunkers that will save the rich and powerful? 

Would the bunkers of old offer any protection to us pheasants should there be a time when we might need it? Well who knows?  

Another interesting book that goes hand in hand with Dr Bradley Garrett’s books about bunkers is Annie Jacobsen’s 2024 book Nuclear War: A Scenario, where she describes a scene where North Korea fires a intercontinental ballistic missile at the east coast of America (that’s where Washington DC is for the geographically challenged) and the missile taking a short time of thirty three minutes from launch to detonation. So the question is, even with a last minute warning could you get to a bunker and reach safety in half an hour?  

Sleep tight.

About Chris

I'm a late comer to higher education, I'm studying Psychology and Criminology and making up for a mis-spent youth and bad decisions. I'm interested in urban exploration and history amongst other things and wanted to share the exciting things I've learnt and hope to bring the same joy to others. All my successes in writing and education are dedicated to my dad Richard.

Image credit: B, "Inside Aldwych Station" (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0)