Introduction
This is one of the few more significant sites I knew about when I first started exploring regularly. It was extremely easy at the time, but this is one I never managed to get round to doing. I never thought I would be able to see it until I saw that earlier this year people were getting in again. I tried Bawburgh back in 2018 as I thought it would be good to do at least one bunker like this, but that was a fail. In hindsight, I should have just spent that day doing Bawdsey instea,d as I’m pretty sure Bawdsey was still open back in 2018, and in better condition than it is now.
Information & History
Bawdsey Manor was selected as a site for the new ROTOR project. The ROTOR project was a large-scale effort to modernise and enhance Britain’s air defence system with a focus on its radar capabilities. ROTOR was introduced to respond to the growing threat of Soviet nuclear bombing.
In total, 54 ROTOR sites were constructed across the UK. Many of these were identical but there were different types. R3 and R8 types were the most common. Bawdsey was built as an R3. The R3 sites were a double-level standard design structure and were used as operations rooms for the radar stations. They weren’t built underground for secrecy, but more for protection in case the sites were bombed.
An operator’s training school opened in 1945 at Bawdsey to train radio mechanics and operators, and work on the R3 underground control centre commenced in 1950 and was ready to use by 1954. The site was later downgraded to a Master Radar Station in 1974 and closed a year later. The radar towers were subsequently demolished.
Bunker Plan
Every R3 bunker was built the same (there may have been some minor differences). The main entrance features a large set of stairs which go down to the upper level, which is slightly larger in size than the lower level. The main operations room is the largest area of the bunker and is across two floors.
Source
The Explore
I had a fantastic day out with @JakeV50, @Wastelandr and his friend Chris who isn’t on the forum. We spent far too long at a nearby site before getting caught and we then fuelled up with some food and got here early evening. Me and Jake were both feeling a bit rough by this point and Jake decided not to join us at Bawdsey, but me and the others still gave it a shot.
Entry onto the site was a bit awkward but we didn’t spend any time finding a better way in. Entry into the bunker itself was slightly challenging but was quite enjoyable in a way. We masked up as the air in there, although quite damp, didn’t seem great and there were various particles floating around. We probably spent around an hour and a half or so getting photos and having a good look round, and it worked out quite well.
Photos
I started with the tripod and my torch which worked rather well for the first 15 minutes or so. Until my torch died but Wastelandr kindly lent me his panel light which was effective. After I have taken a few shots I gave up with the tripod but decided to tackle potato ISO instead, I have such a bad habit of doing this now I have upgraded to a full-frame, as that combined with denoise in Lightroom you can just about get away with it, but really it’s just an excuse to be lazy.
Starting with the main stairs leading down to the upper level:
Before leading into the main corridor, there was this little room with some machinery. These look like some sort of compressor units and were used for sewage ejection:
Then I looked down and saw that there was a hatch and a ladder leading further down into a pump room, it was pretty grotty down there but there was a pump so I had to do it:
Moving on to the main corridor:
On the right of the above photo, there was an area featuring some huge fans for the ventilation system. Below is a photo of this and a few other shots of the ventilation system around the bunker:
Inside the main operations room is this large fire detection system
Some of the floor had been stripped in here which make it difficult using a tripod for certain angles
The radar machine room had an impressive number of gauges. The concrete plinths would have housed radar frequency generators:
A little hatch in the wall in this room revealed a nice pulley system with what looks to be an electric motor:
CONTINUED...
This is one of the few more significant sites I knew about when I first started exploring regularly. It was extremely easy at the time, but this is one I never managed to get round to doing. I never thought I would be able to see it until I saw that earlier this year people were getting in again. I tried Bawburgh back in 2018 as I thought it would be good to do at least one bunker like this, but that was a fail. In hindsight, I should have just spent that day doing Bawdsey instea,d as I’m pretty sure Bawdsey was still open back in 2018, and in better condition than it is now.
Information & History
Bawdsey Manor was selected as a site for the new ROTOR project. The ROTOR project was a large-scale effort to modernise and enhance Britain’s air defence system with a focus on its radar capabilities. ROTOR was introduced to respond to the growing threat of Soviet nuclear bombing.
In total, 54 ROTOR sites were constructed across the UK. Many of these were identical but there were different types. R3 and R8 types were the most common. Bawdsey was built as an R3. The R3 sites were a double-level standard design structure and were used as operations rooms for the radar stations. They weren’t built underground for secrecy, but more for protection in case the sites were bombed.
An operator’s training school opened in 1945 at Bawdsey to train radio mechanics and operators, and work on the R3 underground control centre commenced in 1950 and was ready to use by 1954. The site was later downgraded to a Master Radar Station in 1974 and closed a year later. The radar towers were subsequently demolished.
Bunker Plan
Every R3 bunker was built the same (there may have been some minor differences). The main entrance features a large set of stairs which go down to the upper level, which is slightly larger in size than the lower level. The main operations room is the largest area of the bunker and is across two floors.
Source
The Explore
I had a fantastic day out with @JakeV50, @Wastelandr and his friend Chris who isn’t on the forum. We spent far too long at a nearby site before getting caught and we then fuelled up with some food and got here early evening. Me and Jake were both feeling a bit rough by this point and Jake decided not to join us at Bawdsey, but me and the others still gave it a shot.
Entry onto the site was a bit awkward but we didn’t spend any time finding a better way in. Entry into the bunker itself was slightly challenging but was quite enjoyable in a way. We masked up as the air in there, although quite damp, didn’t seem great and there were various particles floating around. We probably spent around an hour and a half or so getting photos and having a good look round, and it worked out quite well.
Photos
I started with the tripod and my torch which worked rather well for the first 15 minutes or so. Until my torch died but Wastelandr kindly lent me his panel light which was effective. After I have taken a few shots I gave up with the tripod but decided to tackle potato ISO instead, I have such a bad habit of doing this now I have upgraded to a full-frame, as that combined with denoise in Lightroom you can just about get away with it, but really it’s just an excuse to be lazy.
Starting with the main stairs leading down to the upper level:
Before leading into the main corridor, there was this little room with some machinery. These look like some sort of compressor units and were used for sewage ejection:
Then I looked down and saw that there was a hatch and a ladder leading further down into a pump room, it was pretty grotty down there but there was a pump so I had to do it:
Moving on to the main corridor:
On the right of the above photo, there was an area featuring some huge fans for the ventilation system. Below is a photo of this and a few other shots of the ventilation system around the bunker:
Inside the main operations room is this large fire detection system
Some of the floor had been stripped in here which make it difficult using a tripod for certain angles
The radar machine room had an impressive number of gauges. The concrete plinths would have housed radar frequency generators:
A little hatch in the wall in this room revealed a nice pulley system with what looks to be an electric motor:
CONTINUED...
in fact there's a few rooms I didn't even notice in here myself. I was surprised how good it was, makes me want to do more bunkers.
