Rosedale ROC Post – Rosedale
History
Over 1,500 of these small bunkers were built at various points around the country during the Cold War. They were designed to house three members of the Royal Observer Corps, whose job it would be to use supplied equipment to gauge the bomb power and ground zero of a nuclear blast and report back to a group H.Q. The posts were built to a similar design, with a single monitoring room 15ft below ground, which was accessed by a ladder with a hatch on the surface.
Internally, the furniture, bunk beds, communications and monitoring equipment remained standard. The posts began closing in the late 1960s with the last few remaining operational until 1992. Many of the posts have now been destroyed or are in poor condition due to vandalism, most of the remaining ones are on the edges of fields or areas of unused scrub land at the side of roads or foot paths. Fortunately, some people have begun recognising the importance of these pieces of history and some posts have been painstakingly restored.
Rosedale ROC Post opened in February 1962 and closed in October 1968.
My Visit
Not really a Sunday stroll, more of a Saturday saunter. Was staying local to the area we were searching for a suitable watering hole and just happened to pass the unmistakable vents of the ROC Post. It would have been rude not to stop and have a look.
First impressions were that the access hatch was welded shut, but a quick tweak with the car key lifted the hatch only to find it flooded to 5ft of the top.
As I didn’t have my wellies that’s as far as I got, know it’s a poor excuse but it was time for some ‘froth on the tash’.
Close by was the Bank Top Ironstone kilns, from 1855 until 1926 Rosedale rang with the sound of the Victorian industrial age. The valley was transformed with the opening of the ironstone mines, not least by the building of giant roasting kilns, where the miners roasted (or 'calcined') the iron ore to reduce its weight for transportation and remove impurities. Vast quantities of ore were tipped into the kilns from the railway line above, mixed with coal and then set alight.
Although pleasant enough for a saunter around, that’s about all there was, I’m sure if you went further afield you could find some more abandoned buildings, remains of the railway line or possibly some ironstone mines.
Heading back to the car we passed a few grouse getting ready for the glorious 12th, probably not that glorious for them!
Well that’s Rosedale ROC Post, time for a well-earned safety pint
.
Cheers,
TLR.
History
Over 1,500 of these small bunkers were built at various points around the country during the Cold War. They were designed to house three members of the Royal Observer Corps, whose job it would be to use supplied equipment to gauge the bomb power and ground zero of a nuclear blast and report back to a group H.Q. The posts were built to a similar design, with a single monitoring room 15ft below ground, which was accessed by a ladder with a hatch on the surface.
Internally, the furniture, bunk beds, communications and monitoring equipment remained standard. The posts began closing in the late 1960s with the last few remaining operational until 1992. Many of the posts have now been destroyed or are in poor condition due to vandalism, most of the remaining ones are on the edges of fields or areas of unused scrub land at the side of roads or foot paths. Fortunately, some people have begun recognising the importance of these pieces of history and some posts have been painstakingly restored.
Rosedale ROC Post opened in February 1962 and closed in October 1968.
My Visit
Not really a Sunday stroll, more of a Saturday saunter. Was staying local to the area we were searching for a suitable watering hole and just happened to pass the unmistakable vents of the ROC Post. It would have been rude not to stop and have a look.
First impressions were that the access hatch was welded shut, but a quick tweak with the car key lifted the hatch only to find it flooded to 5ft of the top.
As I didn’t have my wellies that’s as far as I got, know it’s a poor excuse but it was time for some ‘froth on the tash’.
Close by was the Bank Top Ironstone kilns, from 1855 until 1926 Rosedale rang with the sound of the Victorian industrial age. The valley was transformed with the opening of the ironstone mines, not least by the building of giant roasting kilns, where the miners roasted (or 'calcined') the iron ore to reduce its weight for transportation and remove impurities. Vast quantities of ore were tipped into the kilns from the railway line above, mixed with coal and then set alight.
Although pleasant enough for a saunter around, that’s about all there was, I’m sure if you went further afield you could find some more abandoned buildings, remains of the railway line or possibly some ironstone mines.
Heading back to the car we passed a few grouse getting ready for the glorious 12th, probably not that glorious for them!
Well that’s Rosedale ROC Post, time for a well-earned safety pint
.Cheers,
TLR.
