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It stands high above the Cotswolds and from the top you can look out across Gloucestershire. Inside it features designs by William Morris, who was inspired by the view.
But underneath the Broadway Tower is a piece of history that is far less romantic. And you wouldn’t know it was there unless you were inside it.
Lying somewhere between 15 and 20 feet underground lies the nuclear bunker that was once part of the Royal Observer Corps (ROC) network. It was there where vital information that might prevent the annihilation of the population in the event of a nuclear attack on Britain was charted.
READ MORE: Underground UK city just over an hour from Gloucester built to survive nuclear attack remains untouched to this day
There are about 20 ROC underground bunkers dotted about the county built in the 1950s and 60s when the threat of nuclear war was at its height. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 heralded the ending of the Cold War and with it the threat of nuclear attack was deemed to have diminished and so it was felt the ROC was no longer needed and most of the bunkers have been in a gradual state of decay since.
But not the one under Broadway Tower. It is now a museum attraction and people can pay to take part in a 45 minute tour of the facility that was part of the nerve centre of the UK civil defence in case the Cold War went hot.
As the Broadway Tower’s website says: “Manned by men and women of the Royal Observer Corps, they would be expected to spend three weeks below ground during a Nuclear exchange.
“Our nuclear bunker was closed in 1991 when the Royal Observer Corps stood down. It has now been fully restored to how it would have been in the 1980’s at the height of the Cold War.”
A guide opens the manhole cover and takes you down the 20 feet ladder into a dimly lit room about the size of a garage. There’s a desk with charts, a phone, gauges and instruments, a one up, one down bunk bed and a whole lot of history to go with it.
Tours are available from April to October on weekends and bank holidays. To book visit https://broadwaytower.co.uk/nuclear-bunker/
