HACK GREEN SECRET NUCLEAR BUNKER
Cold War Lives Underground in Cheshire Countryside
The Americans and Russians have proposed another reduction in nuclear warheads, Berlin has celebrated 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 bomb shelters during WWII, 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 peaceful green farm field in the Cheshire countryside, about 30 minutes south from Chester, outside the quaint market town of Nantwich, a nondescript 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 first hand. The facility of 35,000 square feet was rebuilt in the 1980's 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, radiation 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, while 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,and British and Soviet military uniforms. Younger children can play secret agents, following a special Soviet Spy Mouse Trail. And since the bunker is underground, it does’t matter what the weather is outside,, encased in concrete below the surface, 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’All 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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