Exploring The Secrets Of A Forgotten Cold War Nuclear Bunker: Uncovering Hidden History
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- Опубликовано: 26 апр 2020
- Beneath St Boniface Down, lays a cold war nuclear bunker, this secret underground structure has remained undisturbed and buried for many years. All traces of the site above ground have been long demolished or removed and the secret underground structure was thought to have been sealed permanently… Until now.
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28dayslater written report by "B3N" can be read here: www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads...
(It's well worth a read!)
This has been a huge project and something that I have been putting together for a number of years.
The video covers a comprehensive history of the site and also includes a detailed walk-through of the secret bunker for the first time in video.
It wouldn't have been possible to pull all the research together for this project without the Ventnor Radar website:
www.ventnorradar.co.uk/
The website isn't affiliated with this project but I'd highly recommend checking out this fantastic resource.
RAF Ventnor was one of the original 20 Chain Home radar stations commissioned in 1938 Chain Home was the code name for network of early warning radar systems and it comprised of a series of linked coastal radio stations that extended the entire length of the country.
RAF Ventnor played a crucial role during the war and played a pivotal role is repelling enemy aircraft during the battle of Britain
Following the war Ventnor was drafted into a new country wide air defence plan called the Rehabilitation Of The Old Radars Program (ROTOR). A large underground operations room constructed and the entrance for this new underground bunker was hidden beneath a guardhouse disguised as a bungalow.
Hi folks, I'm Don Adams and I spent five months in 1957 as a radar fitter working at the Ventnor site. For me it is so sad seeing the state of the place now. In my mind I see it as a brightly lit (apart from the operations room), smartly painted and polished floor working place for young men cheerfully getting on with what we thought was a worthwhile job. You may laugh, but you see, we really did think that nuclear war could break out at any time. This is an excellently constructed video and a good educational source for anybody interested in the history of those dark days.
wow Don, its great to finally get some insight from someone who worked down there
Hi Don, many thanks for your work archiving the bunker. Your site is incredibly interesting. I've posted this, which you may also like to see www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/raf-ventnor-rotor-bunker-isle-of-wight-1992-2016.122819/
Hi Don
I don't supposed you ever worked with John "Bert" Farrow did you? I believe he worked there sometime in the 1950s!
Cheers
"You may laugh, but you see, we really did think that nuclear war could break out at any time.". Not surprising really, considering how insane the nuclear nations were. "A Time-Lapse Map of Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945 - by Isao Hashimoto", ruclips.net/video/LLCF7vPanrY/видео.html
Quote, "Japanese artist Isao Hashimoto has created a beautiful, undeniably scary time-lapse map of the 2053 nuclear explosions which have taken place between 1945 and 1998, beginning with the Manhattan Project's "Trinity" test near Los Alamos and concluding with Pakistan's nuclear tests in May of 1998. This leaves out North Korea's two alleged nuclear tests in this past decade (the legitimacy of both of which is not 100% clear).
Each nation gets a blip and a flashing dot on the map whenever they detonate a nuclear weapon, with a running tally kept on the top and bottom bars of the screen. Hashimoto, who began the project in 2003, says that he created it with the goal of showing"the fear and folly of nuclear weapons." It starts really slow - if you want to see real action, skip ahead to 1962 or so - but the buildup becomes overwhelming.
It now been concrete in sadly
Man you need to come back! This was my favourite channel a few years ago. Hope you’re all good
Great video. Like a few others, I was lucky enough to visit this site in the 80's before it was sealed off. I suspect this visit started my fascination with bunkers and underground structures. I'm now the lucky owner of a former MOD RGHQ nuclear bunker in Scotland, which I get to spend time slowly bringing back into a usable state.
wow have you got any footage of your renovation of the bunker?
I visited too, they had an open day before the council handed it back to the CAA.
Nice, i always wanted my own bunker.
It's so awesome that you were able to record this record. I feel this kind of thing should be done so That it's not lost in history.
My wife and I have spent many hours on Boniface Down, either walking our dog in the past, or just relaxing with a flask of tea and a chocolate biscuit. We knew there was a radar station, as that is obvious to most folk, but we never dreamt that there was a nuclear bunker beneath the cottage. We have lived on the Island for 43 years and you can still learn a thing or two about it.
This is such as shame to see amazing piece of history just left to rot. Amazing educational video 👏👏
A shame maybe, but if you consider the enormous quantity of bunker, blockhaus, fort in the world its understandable.
Just for an example, i live in Strasbourg, east of France. Only around my city we have 7 huge fortress with kilometers of gallery. Inside the city we have about a hundred air raid shelter and bunkers hidden and forgotten. Around the city its even more, we have hundreds of bunkers from any size, from the shooting position to the artillery position. We even have underground hospital, underground railway station. How could we possibly maintain all of them. There is just so much ot those construction that from time to time we see construction workers found by accident a flak bunker.... so its paradise for history lover but also decay lovers cause just everything will remain in decay.
I remember my mother telling me about this when she worked at county hall. I didn’t realise that it was linked to the WW2 radar site. Thanks so much for making this video.
Absolutely love the effort which has gone into the production of this video :)) great stuff; always wanted to look inside there hahah
Thank you and I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Excellent video well narrated. An amazing insight of the ‘cold war’ past that the general public were completely un aware of. Thanks for the producing this and showing the detail before it deteriorates beyond recognition and lost for ever.
Excellent stuff indeed. Well produced and very informative. Have explored the surface remains on numerous occasions but to see the R1 bunker itself is fascinating. Many thanks.
Lol
This filled in some blanks for me. My great aunt worked for a company with offices in Westminster lane in Newport. When I was a kid in the late 70's she told me there was a secret bunker under St Boniface. Her company had been employed to ship concrete out to the site years before. I always remembered the story and wondered where the bunker was. Now I know. :-)
It was never secret!
Brilliant video, great narration and well put together. Thanks very much, people like yourself are so important in keeping things like this alive, such an important historical site, such a shame to see it all blocked off and forgotten. Awesome work :)
Absolutely brilliant video. Currently training to be a soldier in the British army, lived on the island my whole life and I have a fascination with both war history and abandoned exploration. Thank you for this upload man
This is incredible to see again! In 1993 I was 17 and still at school and volunteered to work for a charity effort that provided aid to those caught up in the Bosnian conflict. Within this bunker there were thousands of packs of blankets stored and we all helped to carry them up to the surface to be transported to Bosnia. The bunker was pristine at this point and I remember reading some incredible literature down there about how to treat radiation burns etc. What wasn’t so much fun was being plunged into complete darkness down there when the power failed!
I was lucky enough to have had a tour in the mid nineties before it was sealed up. Documents, maps everywhere. The emergency exit was still viable and came out to the north and those stairs look like they are as I remember. The main entrance was a remarkable sloping tunnel that was wide enough (we were told) to allow three soldiers to walk /march in parallel.
Wow, very fortunate!
I have a friend who managed to acquire a set of pictures taken just before they sealed it up but I would have loved to have seen what it looked like in person.
Wow, that's amazing. I lived in Ventnor for 18 years and spent many glorious walk's up on the Down's with my dog Harry. It's such a beautiful place to Live and so historic. I came across your video by chance and was amazed to see your film of the underground tunnels. Incredible. I was fascinated by the radar Station but it was alway's locked at the gates. Now
Just to say Thanks for brilliant video of the tunnels. Amazing 🤩🤩🤩
Hello from New Zealand what a fascinating video thankyou so much for taking the time to create it much appreciated 👍
The amount of times I've been sat up there,I suspected but never knew of the bunker. Great video.
Incredible! Thank you for the tour of this historical Cold War site. All the best.
Thank you for your time and effort filming and putting together this video, and your graffics are very good, again cheers.
As a child I spent many hours pondering what might be inside (and now I realise underneath) the innocuous looking bungalow on top of St Boniface!! Looking forward to watching this video.
Fascinating stuff. Really well put together too.
Fascinating and well put together video. My mother was a WAAF radar operator in WWll and I remember seeing the towers shortly before they were dismantled. Thankyou for this.
this is excellent buddy looks so professional!
Watched again, and get goose bumps everytime I watch. You really have done this location and explore justice
Cheers Adie, none of this would have been possible with out the hard work of the "A & T" expert digging crew 😎
I was lucky enough to have been in the bunker many times in late 80s then it was fully operational. I was operated by the emergency planning department of the iow Council under Colonel Appleton I think or a similar name. It had a working switchboard in there that was completely wired, where you had to pull the cable up and plug in, just like the switchboards in the early days that the telephone operators used. This was because, in the event of a nuclear attack, the EMP destroys all electronics. It was an amazing place
Thanks for sharing your memories of the site Mark, I really hope you enjoy the video!
My Father did work for Colonel Appleton. He & his wife took our family out on their boat. They lived in Gurnard. He said he worked or ran it.
Superb - well filmed, edited and altogether fascinating... from someone who played up on these downs as a kid and still lives nearby, often enjoying walking along the footpaths in the late afternoon light... occasionally wondering what these bunkers I've heard about, but never seen actually look like inside.
Excellent video - thanks for spending the time to put this together. Subscribed!
Thanks for the sub!
Drove past yesterday on my way to the rocket site, this answered everything I wanted to know. Instant sub.
Thank you so much for putting it together to show our Island's underground heritage. Wish I could have seen it ...
Awesome! Very good explanation, I’ve watched a few videos on ROTOR bunkers but never fully understood what I was looking at until now.
Thank you Steph!
This is a well produced, intelligently executed video with a great voice over. Well done, it's one of the best exploration films I've seen (from a film maker).
Thanks Robin!
Amazing level of production once more. Very impressive. Not to mention being able to see sites that we wouldn't otherwise be able to! Thanks again.
Thank you I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Ok
Really interesting video (: love the intro and the bee 🐝! Keep up the good work guys
Brilliant video glad I found your channel
Does anyone know why this channel hasn’t uploaded in so long
Quality stuff Nick, these videos are getting better and better 👍
Thank you Dan, I'm glad you liked the video
What an fascinating film love this kinda thing such a shame so much of our WWII history is being lost
Great work
Great walk around, great video presentation, thanks for sharing
A fascinating view of a part of history that has almos.t been lost. Thank you for this excellent production and narration
Very professionally done, I enjoyed it.
Brilliant suff keep them coming peace and love
Been around those gate but never went in, thats amazing inside. Thanks for the video.
How absolutely fascinating and how absolutely tragic that an important piece of our history has been left to just rot!
Truly excellent, what a well crafted story. Love the graphics and illustrations added and back story. It's an absolute shame its abandoned.
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Amazing. Really enjoyed this!
Worked up the bunker doing maintenance for some years during the 80s ,it was heated and lit 24/7 ,the equipment was rather archaic but a really interesting place to work .
Saddened to see it such a bad state.
Another brillianty made and informative production.
Great video, fascinating. Could have been an interesting tourist attraction. I have been to Scotland Secret Bunker and it was very eerie...
This is a fantastic video. Nice job
Please keep it up these urban explorations are a joy to watch .
These 2 together? No gray lines?
Great video. Really interesting, I've always wandered what it was like down there. Also the animation was great.
Ralph still around? These are all smiths
I know this Ventnor radar station quite well as I was born in Bonchurch in 1945, and as kids we used to got up there and explore a bit, and apparently some kid at our school (Upper Ventnor Secondary School) found a .45 semi auto pistol with a full magazine. This ended up (without any ammo) in a glass topped case in I think the science room.
The ground around the station still have bomb craters, but now all covered in gorse and some brambles.
From Bonchurch shore looking up we could see the three wooden towers which I believe were about 200-300 feet high.
My Dad (ex Wellington bomber pilot) got a job up there with Decca radar in the 50's, and told me he would take me on a visit there to see the 'mekon' (cavity magnetron) as he called it, but never went up there.
I remember the guard house, but didn't know it's secret, as in 1952 I was only 6 yrs old.
But back in the 50's my mate had a 'Triton' motor bike (mix of a Triumph and Norton bike), and he took me along the tarmac road along side the station, and it was my first 'ton up' on a bike when I was about 13/14 yrs.....:)
I also remember the radar station on the coast at St. Lawrence, and went there often as my parents knew the farmer and family, and stayed in the farm house with his son, and spent some days having a look at the radar station.
A barrage balloon flew there in the 50's before the station was shut.
Also back then in the woods near the farm, there were many Nissan huts with refugees living there having been bombed out in London I think.
I found it rather scary being a young nipper walking past the strangers there...but everyone was friendly when I passed by, and there was no need to be worried.
All the Nissan huts of course are long gone now.
Nothing much left of it now, apart from the bases for the towers, and some bunkers. Some sealed off and some used for keeping pigs and chickens I think, as I have not been down there for some years..
Happy days.
Many thanks for this video (bringing back memories for me) and the interesting information, that I didn't know about, and was rather sad when everything was pulled down and blocked up.
Thank you very much for taking the time to share you're memories, I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
@@AbandonedIsleofWight
Thanks, I do tend to ramble on in my old years to anyone who will listen.....:)
Oh, in those days the 50's on a Sunday 11:00am, the 'air raid siren' went off for a few minutes, and then the 'all clear' was then sounded. Can't remember when that stopped though.
I will shut up now....:)
I honestly loving hearing peoples stories and connections to these historical sites, it's important to preserve them because one day they'll be no-one around to talk about them. Thanks again.
@@AbandonedIsleofWight
Thank you...again for taking the time to reply.
But I fear these days as the years go by many of us oldies will have karked it, and the younger generations will not care at all about historic war timebuildings. Even many today haven't a clue about D Day and what happened..........Errr...borin' dude....
How wonderful to read & hear your memories, thank you for sharing x
Absolutely love your videos. So interesting 👌👌
This is all very interesting to me. Partly because my Father ( Dr E V D Glazier ) will probably have been somewhat involved with the original radar system they used there.
He worked at the Post Office Research Establishment at Dollis Hill at the beginning of the war but then moved to SRDE at Christchurch where he became the Head of the Radar section. He later moved to RRE at Malvern first as Assistant Director but was soon promoted to Director.
I had my own interest in electronics but my Father never talked about his work, probably because it was all secret, but about 1970 he took me and my school friend Michael Hall to RRE and showed us their Type 80 Radar system.
It seems the NATS continued using the Type 80 on the IoW. It is disappointing to me that these places are allowed to fall into repair but I do understand the perceived cost of maintaining them. At Dollis Hill there is a second Churchill underground Bunker but that is not being well maintained and with a lot of water on the lowest floor in spite of some pumping. But it is somehow listed so that gives it a little protection.
I worked for BBC Transmission and some of the sites they operated had some facilities similar to this one on the IoW. One of my duties was the estate management of the Alexandra Palace facility. There were many people trying to get a Broadcasting Museum established there but that never came to anything.
Excellent video. Thank you.
Fantastic explore. Thank you for a great production as well as a welcome distraction from Corvid 19. Kind regards, Paul in Lower Boddington.
Excellent work, loved the way you have done this video.. 🇬🇧
Thank you! Cheers!
This video is great man keep it up!
Thanks, will do!
Outstanding vid!
I went to Ventor school for a couple of years and grew up in the area, spending many hours on St. Boniface Down and other surrounding hills as a teenager. The underground facility under the bungalow was a well known secret amongst locals, but I never saw much activity there, though it was obviously occupied. I guess that's what one should expect to see at an underground facility!
Great production 👍🏻
this videos production qaulity is incredible
Great video, very interesting
This is my favourite RUclips channel 👍👍👍
Another great video buddy well done 👍🏽
Thanks very much 👍
Great video, thank you :)
Fantastic video
A very impressive film - you put a lot of effort into making a really interesting and well presented film. I was generally surprised by the "good" state of the bunker bearing it had been sealed up for so many years. Good that you got to make this film. Urbex at its best :)
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!
Excellent Video. Very Professional.
Thank you very much!
Absolutely brilliant production quality.
👍
Love your videos
Top video mate! I have always wanted to have a mooch around there, such a shame shes been left to rot
Great video mate. Loved it :)
Cheers Ross 👍
My uncle lives on the Isle of Wight and I go on holiday there from Southampton, I was pretty surprised to see this video here
We go to the isle of white every year. It’s mad how many abandoned places their are. Ryde arena is one I always remember because we go their every year to watch a film so we always park at the arena. Wish it was still open and ice hockey was playing their. Would of been great to see
The lower levels were flooded in the mid nineties but I am sorry to see what a state its in now. The emergency exit was easily used at that time. Papers and maps were lying around as if the occupants had just popped out
I hope you post more videos this year.🙂
Excellent video! As well as the beautiful cinematics, the detailed history and 3D effort was great. It really puts everything someone who wants to learn about the bunker would want to know in front of them in a comprehensive format. Some of your best work here!
I worked hard to try and honour the site as much as possible, I really appreciate the kind words. Thank you!
Buzzing for this, love your work mate!
Brilliant. Thanks.
very interesting, thank you.
Great video and knowledge presentation, the UK is missing a trick in not opening these sights up for organised visits and tourism, a vital part of our History.
This is very interesting, as I've known about Ventnor's roll in WW2 as a radar site, but never knew there was any Cold war activity going on at the site, it's a shame that it can't be partly restored or preserved as a museum, like the Hope cove bunker & others have been.
Just subscribed, as I an local, well sort of! (I live just across the Solent in Portsmouth).
Hi Richy, I'm glad you enjoyed the video and thank you for the sub! I'm aware of a group undertaking some research regarding the feasibility of putting forward a plan for the site, these are very early discussions and there are a number of factors that have resulted in previous proposals falling through that need to be worked through before putting anything formal forward. So fingers crossed for the future!
Such an incredible place, a time capsule I must say
Wow that is amazing, one of those things that if you had the money you've want to completely restore as am attraction, or something else, totally amazed by this
Amazing. I absolutely love cold war stuff. Still want to visit York cold war bunker near me which a museum.
Sweet bunker :) Can't believe they just get abandoned.
Please can you explore the old Seaview Flamingo park? It’s still there, just not open !
Awesome!
Very interesting video and history always wondered how extensive it was. Around the 90s hundreds of tin cans which had originally contained water turned up at a scrap yard at Cowes which allegedly came from there.
Very interesting
Wow this is amazing my friend would love this because he likes War stuff!👍😎😁😍😂🤪👋👌👉😉😗☺️😆😁😄🤣😂😃😀😅😊😇😍🥰🙂🙃😘
You should explore the chalk pit in pan estate
Terrific vid thank you - I’ve just booked 4 days in the IOW - your channel is a treasure trove of places I want tO visit. Regarding this vid, who is the person at 6..17 minute behind the glass window. A member of your filming crew, a CGI person...or a phantom radar operator?
fascinating stuff and a good insight into post ww2 history. obviously dangerous to enter now but it is a shame that these sites cannot be used to teach new generations the dangers of nuclear war
Incredible
This kind of thing makes me so angry. All the council had to do was open it as a tourist attraction. I'd imagine that everyone on the island would have gone, not to mention helping to develop the island's tourist trade.
I would like to echo Don Adams comments...... this is brilliant and so professionally put together and is a unique part of the aviation history of the Isle of Wight. I feel sure this video could be a welcome addition to the Wight Aviation Museum's exhibits at Sandown airport. We already have Ventnor Radar marked on a large map in the Museum and we tell the story of the Battle of Britain and the key role of the chain radar station in 1940. It would be good to see if it could be showed as part of this display. & the cold war link is little known.
Hi John, thanks for the kind words, if this is something that could be of use to the museum I'd be more than happy to allow it.
@@AbandonedIsleofWight Many thanks Nick we have a Media Director on our Board and I will suggest he contacts you
You’re work is really very very good, camera work, shots, angles, editing your choice of music is awfully moving for each video. I stumbled across your channel during this Covid 19 lock down malarkey and watched all your iow material so shocked at how run down everything is now, I’ve lots of memories of cricket tours and family holidays, real shame. 😞
Thank you for the kind words, I'm really glad you enjoyed the video.
Excellent film. As you say, so sad that it's falling into disrepair. These are an important part of the the history of this land and of value to current and future generations so that hopefully they don't become an important part of our future in the same context.
The Cold War was a big part of my childhood and I think this history is worth preserving as a warning from the past that sometimes freedom has to be fought for and defended. I fear that the country as it currently exists would fail miserably if, God forbid, similar times were to come about once more. Too many decades of this hard won freedom have lead us to undervalue what we have.
I agree Robin, unfortunately it does seem like the cold war era is somewhat neglected when it comes to the preservation of historical sites, out of the dozens of ROTOR bunkers commissioned only a handful are preserved. I'm sure as more time passes interest in the historical value of these sites will increase, however sadly for many sites they'll be beyond the point of being salvageable. Thanks for watching!
Hi i grew up on the island and in the early 80s we,d drive up to the site. there were at least two huge red and white rotating radar were still in use .we new they were still being used as these things would be constantly spinning and they would cause the radio in the car to be overrun with interference. Do you know what they were used for they were far bigger than the original 1950,s rotating radar.I cant seem to find any information or photos of them anywhere?