Who we are and what we do...

Formed in 1974, Subterranea Britannica is a society devoted the the study and investigation of man-made and man-used underground places. Cold War related material is covered separately within the Cold War Site Records. Subterranea Britannica brings together people with an interest in all types of underground space - from deneholes to dug-outs and from souterrains to subways - see the Subbrit sites pages.

Subterranea Britannica's cold war research group aims to study and record the UK's Cold War defence infrastructure: e.g. radar stations, secret bunkers, communications networks, civil defence plans and propaganda.

The project concentrates on the `home front' rather than the armed services, although some military installations in the UK will be included.

Likely areas of interest range from the Thor missile pads of Eastern England to the Protect and Survive films of the 1970s, and from the ROTOR radar network to the Civil Defence Corps. We hope to cover all these areas and many others too.

CLICK HERE FOR COLD WAR
SITES / BUNKERS...

The cold war research group was formed following a Subterranea Britannica lecture in October 1995, which seemed to interest a great many people.

The group meets a few times each year, typically at a bunker or other interesting installation.

The first meeting was held in July 1996 at the Kingsway telephone exchange deep under London. Since then the group has met at Hack Green, Kelvedon Hatch, RAF Fylingdales, Mistley and Drakelow.

We now meet each spring at Hack Green where there is a programme of cold war related speakers, buffet lunch and often an evening visit to another site.

In between meetings, members get together to visit `secret' sites that are not open to the public. Opportunities to do this turn up occasionally, usually at short notice. If possible, members aim to record sites, or at least photograph them, before they undergo change of use or demolition.

There is a public Usenet newsgroup, uk.rec.subterranea, which discusses tunnels, bunkers etc., underneath the UK.

For members only, there are mailing lists too.

We will not infringe knowingly any subject matter covered by the Official Secrets Act, nor will we in indulge in politics or wild conspiracy theories.

The cold war research group has now been incorporated into the main body of Subterranea Britannica

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Last updated 28th May 2006