Whilst browsing online I came across an article from the Hexham Courant which reported on the discovery of a 1980s Nuclear Bunker. Living in the North East and holding an interest in subterranean bunkers and the Cold War then I set about hoping to learn more. Up here we have a phrase ‘shy bairns get nowt’. I took the step of contacting the Hexham Local History Society who in turn put me in contact with the local Councillor and they very kindly put in place arrangements for a tour of not just the bunker but Hexham House itself.
Hexham House was originally built in the 18th century though contains some later 19th century additions. It is Grade II listed and was originally the home of Rev. Thomas Andrews who was a lecturer at nearby Hexham Abbey. It has since been used as a Boarding School, a library and the offices for the now abolished Tynedale District Council. Today it features a Registry Office with rooms for ceremonies and includes on-site accommodation which can be rented. The building itself is rather lovely and you are free to wander the grounds which include a bowls lawn and bubbling burn (where the remains of a 13th century bridge can even be found if you look in the right place!).
The civil defence bunker itself came about in the 1980s when all county and district councils were required to have preparations for the event of a nuclear war. Initially plans were to have the bunker at the Old Jaol but it was later decided to excavate the basement of Hexham House and use the same for the purpose of the bunker. Construction took place in 1986.
Hexham had a larger Regional Seat of Government complex as part of the national civil defence plan. This reused a 1950s cold store and converted it into a bunker in the 1980s that became RGHQ 2.2 though there are no remains of this after it was demolished in the 1990s. Today that site includes a Travelodge, McDonald’s and car park.
The civil defence bunker at Hexham House, however, does remain, a monument to the Cold War era.
It would be easy to walk past the entrance to the bunker/basement. We were taken in the entrance to the on-site rental accommodation and more or less immediately through a door in the entrance corridor. The first thing that greets you is a huge metal door which would have been closed up in the event of nuclear attack.
Heading down the stairs a shower remains, presumably as some form of decontamination shower. There would not have been much privacy! The whole bunker/basement is like a warren with various rooms and spaces of different sizes. Some had curved ceilings and there was even another thick metal door.
We were shown to the kitchen and canteen area. It’s a small space and looks dated now. The plastic seating whilst no doubt functional would certainly not have been comfortable, but then who would be comfortable in the event of a nuclear attack?
These days the space is given over in part of ventilation and also as storage / archive space.
Notably there was criticism of the Hexham House’s nuclear bunker, a former UK Atomic Energy Authority research fellow and university lecturer suggested that a stone built structure like Hexham House would simply collapse and entomb the occupants of the bunker if a nuclear attack was made in the North East. Thankfully this was never tested.
Another report explains how a group called Northumbrians for Peace protested the bunker on Christmas Day in 1986 affixing a banner on Hexham House which read ‘BUNKERS ARE BONKERS’. In addition, two protesters stood on the excavated soil with paper bags on their heads which read ‘nuclear fall-out shelter’. They were arguing that the bunker was as useful as the bags on their heads!
The Hexham House nuclear bunker is a memorial to Hexham’s cold war history and is a reflection of the fears of the period, fears which arguably never truly went away. Whilst wedding ceremonies are conducted above, how many people know the history of what lurks below their feet?
