Cold War Bunker

Would the team in the 13 rooms of this underground civil defence command post have been able to help the community outside?

Built in 1954, Gravesend's Cold War bunker was designed to be an underground command post from which Gravesend's rescue and emergency services were to be coordinated in the event of a nuclear attack. Its 13 rooms contained power and ventilation plant, communications areas for the command staff and dormitories.

Refurbished and re-equipped to look as it was in the 1950s, the bunker gives the visitor the chance to experience its atmosphere and glimpse into Cold War England. Exhibits include a domestic fallout room, communications room and a replica radiation monitoring post.

Visitors also have the opportunity to view a government film advising the population on how to protect against a nuclear attack.

The bunker is now the proud new home to a WE177 air dropped nuclear bomb, once part of Britain's nuclear arsenal against the threat posed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War.