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HACK GREEN SECRET NUCLEAR BUNKER
Cold War Lives Underground in Cheshire Countryside
The
Americans and Russians have proposed another reduction in nuclear warheads,
Berlin
is celebrating 20 years of the fall of the wall, but the cold war is
not so long past. For 50 years global nuclear attack was a very real
possibility. As atomic
arsenals grew, countries on both sides of the nuclear equation planned
for the worst. In the United Kingdom it was estimated that during a nuclear
war the UK might expect 200 megatons of thermonuclear bombs delivered
to 80 prime and secondary targets. Having lived through the German Blitz
of London in WWII in bomb shelters Great Britain made 
plans for a decentralized
government during the Cold War. Atomic Bunkers were constructed in strategic
outlying regions to survive nuclear attack. In the midst of a green farm
field in the Cheshire countryside, about 30 minutes south from Chester,
outside the quaint market town of Nantwich
a non-descript block of concrete hid the secret nuclear war bunker of
Hack Green. Behind a massive blast door and two stories underground,
through a labyrinth of corridors and reinforced rooms filled with survival,
surveillance and communications equipment, the western England regional
government was meant to carry on.
The
Hack Green Nuclear Bunker, top secret since the 1940s was declassified
in
1993 and since
opened as a tourist attraction where the chilling specter
of the Cold War can be experienced. The facility with 35,000 square feet
was rebuilt in the 1980s at the zenith of nuclear build-up, providing
the opportunity to see what was kept from public eyes. Communication
center, ballistic missile tracking and operations command station, BBC
broadcast station, decontamination facilities, raddiation infirmary,
state ministry offices, 
and living quarters fill the cool underground
spaces.
You
can watch original
broadcasts meant to be shown on the nation’s television in case
of an attack and previously classified films show the sobering horrific
expectations of the casualties atomic war would bring to England. In
addition to the original equipment, the bunker also displays a modest
military vehicle collection,
real decommissioned nuclear warheads and weapons,
radar museum, a recreation of a Soviet nuclear missile launch control
room, British and Soviet uniforms. Younger children can play secret agents
following
a special Soviet Spy Mouse Trail. And since the bunker is underground,
it doesn’t matter what the weather is outside, underground, encased
in concrete, it is always 60 degrees.
The Hack Green Secret
Nuclear Bunker is located just off the A530 Whitchurch Road, from Junction
16 on the M6 toward Nantwich follow the Secret Bunker
signs. You’ll see the radio tower rising above the fence. The bunker
is open every day from the 20th of March to the 31st of October from
10:30 to 5:30, on weekends in winter 11 to 4:30 except December. Evening
curator tours to behind the scenes still operational areas can be reserved
in advance all year. © Bargain
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Hack Green Secret Bunker
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See Also:
NARROWBOAT CANAL CRUISING - NANTWICH CHESIRE
CHURCHILL MUSEUM AND CABINET WAR ROOMS LONDON
YORKSHIRE
AIR MUSEUM
DUXFORD AIR
MUSEUM - CAMBRIDGESHIRE
LLANDUDNO WWII HOME FRONT MUSEUM
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