Dagenham Borough Control bunker was built in 1953 and reported to the North East Group Regional War Room at Wanstead Flats. It was a purpose built underground bunker built beneath a low grass covered mound to serve during the Cold War period. The bunker was decommissioned around 1968 and apart from a brief reactivation in the 1990's its only other main use was a social room for the Emergency Planning staff. It has featured in various films and documentaries including 'Adolf and Eva' when the welfare room was transformed into a bedroom and the communications room into a parlour. It served as another fuhrer bunker in 'Hitler's Fixer' a film about Martin Bormann, and again in 'Battle of the Atlantic' part of the Time Watch series.
I had high hopes for this being in excellent condition having read the blurb on Sub-Brit from 2001 describing it as 'largely unaltered since the 1960's, giving a good flavour of a borough control from that period', and of it being used as a film location multiple times with 'a quantity of 1930's wooden furniture..... brought in by one of the film companies'. Not to mention the slightly teasing photos making it look practically mint inside (http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/sites/d/dagenham_control/index.html). Well, that was eighteen years ago and time has not been kind unfortunately. Today the bunker is riddled with damp which has caused rot throughout the whole place. There are some redeeming features inside but overall it was sad to see a piece of London's Cold War history in such a state. Aside from that it was good to see inside and I quite enjoyed it despite the soggy fuckedness of it all. Visited with @Monkey, returned with @soylent green and @bigbadash. Cheers lads.
A plan of the layout from Sub Brit
The main access is this small concrete block behind the old civic centre, now leased by Coventry university
At the bottom of the stairs there is a right turn through an airlock consisting of two heavy wooden doors, which would have been locked with a gas seal
Messengers room. The windows were for passing messages through to next door
Some old switch gear still attached to the wall
The plant room is a bit cluttered with stuff but still in pretty good condition
Generator and ventilation plant
What would have originally been the 'message room', which would have had acoustic booths along one wall, has since been partitioned into two rooms; the 'voice procedure room' and the 'counter room' which have both been used mainly for storage.
We found a few interesting things underneath some soggy boxes of leaflets and decaying furniture. An electric typewriter and some empty film reel tins
A not so old but not exactly new phone
Files including the emergency plans for Dagenham and all the neighbouring boroughs. There were loads of these but sadly all in poor condition. A shame they haven't been preserved
More files and maps gathering mould
A map showing the contingency plan for tidal flooding
The female dormitory / switchboard room was full to the brim with furniture, and a commode, bizarrely. The toilet has an unopened toilet roll inside
Welfare room / kitchen with the controller’s room / male dormitory to the left.
The controller's room was extremely cluttered but this old public library lantern (?) caught my eye. There were two of these amongst some furniture
Liaison officer / Scientific intelligence officer’s room.
Mouldy files
Electoral register from 1987
Miraculously one of the maps has survived on the wall in here
The Barking & Dagenham street plan
I had high hopes for this being in excellent condition having read the blurb on Sub-Brit from 2001 describing it as 'largely unaltered since the 1960's, giving a good flavour of a borough control from that period', and of it being used as a film location multiple times with 'a quantity of 1930's wooden furniture..... brought in by one of the film companies'. Not to mention the slightly teasing photos making it look practically mint inside (http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/sites/d/dagenham_control/index.html). Well, that was eighteen years ago and time has not been kind unfortunately. Today the bunker is riddled with damp which has caused rot throughout the whole place. There are some redeeming features inside but overall it was sad to see a piece of London's Cold War history in such a state. Aside from that it was good to see inside and I quite enjoyed it despite the soggy fuckedness of it all. Visited with @Monkey, returned with @soylent green and @bigbadash. Cheers lads.
A plan of the layout from Sub Brit
The main access is this small concrete block behind the old civic centre, now leased by Coventry university
At the bottom of the stairs there is a right turn through an airlock consisting of two heavy wooden doors, which would have been locked with a gas seal
Messengers room. The windows were for passing messages through to next door
Some old switch gear still attached to the wall
The plant room is a bit cluttered with stuff but still in pretty good condition
Generator and ventilation plant
What would have originally been the 'message room', which would have had acoustic booths along one wall, has since been partitioned into two rooms; the 'voice procedure room' and the 'counter room' which have both been used mainly for storage.
We found a few interesting things underneath some soggy boxes of leaflets and decaying furniture. An electric typewriter and some empty film reel tins
A not so old but not exactly new phone
Files including the emergency plans for Dagenham and all the neighbouring boroughs. There were loads of these but sadly all in poor condition. A shame they haven't been preserved
More files and maps gathering mould
A map showing the contingency plan for tidal flooding
The female dormitory / switchboard room was full to the brim with furniture, and a commode, bizarrely. The toilet has an unopened toilet roll inside
Welfare room / kitchen with the controller’s room / male dormitory to the left.
The controller's room was extremely cluttered but this old public library lantern (?) caught my eye. There were two of these amongst some furniture
Liaison officer / Scientific intelligence officer’s room.
Mouldy files
Electoral register from 1987
Miraculously one of the maps has survived on the wall in here
The Barking & Dagenham street plan
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