Cold War Underground Monitoring Station

Reasons for Designation

The UKWMO underground monitoring post at Brassington is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Architectural Interest: An example of a standard design, which is an architectural representation of the changing threats to national security.
* Historical interest: The juxtaposition of the UKWMO monitoring station with the adjacent WWII ROC post reflects the continuity and change in the role of the ROC, and changes in the types, and levels, of potential threat on a national and international scale.
* Intactness and Alteration: The building survives structurally intact with the rare survival of internal fittings.
* Group Value: The significance is considerably enhanced by association with the WWII ROC post.

Details

BRASSINGTON

74/0/10003 Cold War Underground Monitoring Station 18-OCT-10

GV II UKWMO underground monitoring post, which opened in 1964.

MATERIALS, PLAN, EXTERIOR AND INTERIOR: The subterranean building is constructed entirely of concrete. The ROC post is visible on the surface as a grassy mound with a concrete ventilation shaft with two louvered vents at each end. That to the southern end is adjacent to an entrance shaft. A vertical pipe extending above ground between the two ventilation shafts would have been the base plate for a Bomb Power Indicator, an instrument introduced to these monitoring posts around 1958 when inadequacies of the earlier monitoring instruments were identified.

The monitoring posts were built to a standard design. The single entrance shaft is approximately 4.5m deep and gives access to two rooms, one containing a chemical toilet and the larger operations room which measures approximately 4.5m by 2.25m. In 2001 it was recorded that within the Brassington UKWMO post a number of items survive including; beds, mattresses, shelving, an instrument table, a WB1401 carrier receiver, WB1410 filter unit, BT connection boxes and wiring, posters, and original folding canvas chair. Telephones and other mechanical equipment had been removed.

HISTORY: Following the end of World War II, the ROC had a brief period of stand-down before it was reactivated in 1947 in response to the increased tension with the Eastern Block. By the 1950s the threat of nuclear attack persuaded the Government to set up the United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation (UKWMO). The Royal Observer Corps was given the job of collecting information on the locations of nuclear bombs, information on weapon sizes, fallout information, and basic weather information. In 1968 nearly 700 posts were closed.

The UKWMO underground post at Brassington came into use in 1965 when the main role of the ROC became nuclear reporting. The monitoring station was decommissioned in 1991 when the ROC was finally stood down.

SOURCES: Cocroft, W 'Cold War Monuments:an assessment by the Monuments Protection Programme' (English Heritage 2001) Military Buildings Selection Guide. (English Heritage 2007) 12-13 www.subterranea brittanica.org.uk (accessed April 2010).

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION: The UKWMO underground monitoring post at Brassington is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons;

* Architectural Interest: An example of a standard functional design which is an architectural representation of the changing threats to national security. * Historical interest: The juxtaposition of the UKWMO monitoring station with the adjacent WWII ROC post reflects the continuity and change in the role of the ROC, and changes in the types, and levels, of potential threat on a national and international scale. * Intactness and Alteration: The building survives structurally intact with the rare survival of internal fittings. * Group Value: The significance is enhanced by association with the WWII ROC post.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

508494

Legacy System:

LBS

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