York Cold War Bunker

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York Cold War Bunker Designed as a nerve-centre to monitor fall-out in the event of a nuclear attack, York Cold War Bunker uncovers the secret history of Britain's Cold War.

18/10/2026

Busy doing our favourite thing on sunny Sunday morning!

Ahhh! A ghost! In the bunker! Okay, so we're not actually haunted. But in 2017, eight writers wrote ghost stories about ...
12/10/2026

Ahhh! A ghost! In the bunker!

Okay, so we're not actually haunted. But in 2017, eight writers wrote ghost stories about English Heritage and Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, chose York Cold War Bunker, and we held the premiere for the book on site! 👻

What are the nearest ROC bunkers to York? At the end of the Cold War, there were roughly 40 smaller 3-person bunkers dot...
11/10/2026

What are the nearest ROC bunkers to York?

At the end of the Cold War, there were roughly 40 smaller 3-person bunkers dotted around North Yorkshire, but which are closest to us?

Post numbers 36, 47 and 38 are closest to us. These were the ROC bunkers at Tockwith, Strensall, and Fulford. The Fulford bunker changed location, as the original site was demolished in 1973 to make way for the A64 around York.

10/10/2026

Nowhere we'd rather be!

08/10/2026

It's ! This is what the bunker looked like at standdown in 1991. We've not changed much since then!

Do you have any pictures of Royal Observer Corps bunkers?

04/10/2026

It's always "you should organise the girl's trip!" but never "I learnt so much about Britain's response to the Cold War, thank you!"

The temperatures outside may be dropping, but inside we're the same temperature as ever (16⁰C!) 🌡During nuclear war, how...
03/10/2026

The temperatures outside may be dropping, but inside we're the same temperature as ever (16⁰C!) 🌡

During nuclear war, however, the temperature inside the bunker would be very high. This is because when a nuclear bomb detonates, it heats up the air to unbearable temperatures, and there was not enough water on site to keep the bunker at a low temperature. The air inside the bunker would be safe to breathe, but not pleasant. The plant room, seen here, would be one of the hottest rooms of the site, due to all the machinery.

We had the privilege of hosting Civil Defence Living History Group this week in the bunker! It was incredible talking t...
27/09/2026

We had the privilege of hosting Civil Defence Living History Group this week in the bunker! It was incredible talking to them about the Royal Observer Corps and Civil Defence, and seeing their uniforms!

Cold War Bunker? Or fairy grove? Now that autumn has arrived, the roof of the bunker is covered in mushrooms and apples ...
26/09/2026

Cold War Bunker? Or fairy grove?

Now that autumn has arrived, the roof of the bunker is covered in mushrooms and apples falling from the apple trees at the back of the bunker! This is a great reminder that this space wasn't always a bunker- it used to be an orchard. 🍄

We had our salvage training last week, and got to build a wind tunnel (complete with not very cold war artefacts taken f...
24/09/2026

We had our salvage training last week, and got to build a wind tunnel (complete with not very cold war artefacts taken from our bags! 😂). We're trained to handle disasters so we can save the artefacts from the bunker!

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Monument Close
York
YO244HT

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