Central Government War Headquarters


The Central Government War Headquarters is a complex built underground as the United Kingdom's emergency government war headquarters – the hub of the country's alternative seat of power outside London during a nuclear war or conflict with the Soviet Union. It is located in Corsham, Wiltshire, in a former Bath stone quarry known as Spring Quarry, under the present-day MoD Corsham. In 1940, during the Second World War, the site was acquired by the Minister of Aircraft Production and used as an underground engine factory.
The complex was known variously as "Stockwell", "Subterfuge", "Burlington", "Turnstile", "Chanticleer", "Peripheral", and "Site 3". It was also nicknamed "Hawthorn" by journalist Duncan Campbell, who first revealed its existence in his 1982 book War Plan UK. It was also mentioned by Peter Laurie in his 1979 revised edition of Beneath the City Streets.
It was commissioned in 1955, after approval by prime minister Anthony Eden. However it became outdated shortly after it was built, due to intercontinental ballistic missiles being able to target it, and the formulation of other plans. Nevertheless the complex continued to have a role in war plans and remained in operation for thirty years.

Features

Over in length, and with over of roads, the site was designed to accommodate not only the Prime Minister, but also the entire Cabinet Office, civil servants, and an army of domestic support staff.
Blast-proof and completely self-sufficient, the complex could accommodate up to 4,000 people in complete isolation from the outside world for up to three months. The underground city was equipped with all the facilities needed to survive, from hospitals, canteens, kitchens and laundries to storerooms for supplies, accommodation areas and offices. An underground lake and treatment plant could provide drinking water and twelve tanks could store the fuel required to keep the four generators in the underground power station running for up to three months. The air within the complex could be kept at a constant humidity and heated to around. It was also equipped with the second largest telephone exchange in Britain, a BBC studio from which the PM could address the nation, and an internal Lamson Tube system that could relay messages throughout the complex, using compressed air.
To maintain the secrecy of the site, even during a countdown to war, it was envisaged that 4,000 essential workers would assemble at an outlying destination known as Check Point. Warminster fulfilled this function, and from there a fleet of army lorries would have transported staff to the CGWHQ site. About 210 senior Whitehall officials and their staff, similarly unaware of their destination, were to assemble at Kensington station on the West London Line, before setting off by special train for Warminster, changing there for a short trip by bus to Warminster Infantry Training Centre. There they would be broken into small groups to conclude their journey with a lorry trip. The Prime Minister was to remain at Downing Street until the last moment, before being transported to Corsham by helicopter.
The facility was divided into 22 areas. Some areas were repurposed over the years, but the allocation of space in 1981 was as follows:
In addition there were water and fuel storage areas adjacent to the water treatment and power generation areas respectively, not officially numbered but sometimes referred to as Areas 23 and 24.
The "special accommodation" suites in Area 17 were much larger than all other accommodation, were finished to a much higher standard, and each had private bathroom facilities rather than the communal facilities elsewhere in the bunker. These suites are believed to have been intended for the Royal Family.

Scheduled monuments

In 2013 parts of CGWHQ were made scheduled monuments relating to Cold War history. Additionally a number of underground murals painted by Olga Lehmann are Grade II* listed. East to west, they are:
At the end of the Cold War, in 1991, the still-unused complex was taken over by the Ministry of Defence and kept on standby in case of future nuclear threats to the UK.
In December 2004, with the underground reservoir drained, emptied of fuel and supplies, and with a skeleton staff of just four, the site was decommissioned. In October 2005, it became public that the MoD was putting the site up for sale in a package deal that included the CGWHQ with the military base above it. Proposed uses include a "massive data store for City firms or the biggest wine cellar in Europe".
In October 2015 certain areas of the complex including the Telephone Exchange were put on the Historic England "At Risk" register due to their immediate threat of being lost or damaged beyond recognition.