Nuclear Bunker in Leeds Coal Mine ?!?

Loiner in Cyprus · Post by **Loiner in Cyprus** » Tue 22 Feb, 2011 5:36 am

Considering the location ......... why choose a colliery in the last years of its life, riddled with old workings, realtively close to the surface with multiple openings?Take your choice of alternatives ......... custom built repositories, the former lead and flourspar mines of the Dales, Gypsum mines in Nottinghamshire & Staffordshire, Anhydrite mines in Cleveland, Limestone mines in the Dales & Peaks, flagstone workings in the Elland/Halifax/Bradford area, redundant railway tunnels etc etc Sceptically yoursGHi Grumptramp,I share your scepticism even though I have seen a part of it. If a nuke was dropped close by it would no doubt flatten the pit head gear, ventillation plant etc. The questions I raised at the time was how would you get out if the pit head gear was blown away? Without adequate ventillation there would be a biuld up of gas. The face closest to the drift, North East 2 I think, had a problem with gas and did have a gas pump installed in the middle gate to elevate the problem. Having said all that, I also worked at Lofthouse colliery and visited Shawcross colliery when doing my underground training and never saw anything like it.

jonleeds · Post by **jonleeds** » Tue 22 Feb, 2011 11:29 am

Hi Folks!Grumpytramp, I havent read all of Mr Jack Gale's website so I am not aware of his 'politics'as you say, although I can imagine what you are probably referring to! Anyway thats by the by here, I too dont really buy into this 'Atomic Refuge' idea. It seems a bizarre choice of place to situate a shelter from the atomic / thermonuclear bomb, as myself and Loiner have mentioned, if the bombs did drop and the winding gear etc was all flattened - as it no doubt would be - then you would not only be the victim of nuclear attack - blast / heat / radiation etc but you would have the double whammy of been also trapped down a mine! The only logical thing I can think is that maybe it was some kind of mine refuge for accidents down the pit? Although with Robin Hood / Middleton been old pits due to close why go to the expense of building it here? I dunno, maybe it was some kind of prototype they were testing? I really wish that RikJ etc could somehow get down there and let Phil D loose with his camera (c'mon lads I am still waiting for a response from you on this!). I would love to see what is down there, maybe there are a few dozen council members that were sent there under secret orders that an atomic attack was imminent and they are still there waiting for the fallout levels on the surface to become survivable? Who knows?! Woooohoooooooo!!!!!

anthonydna · Post by **anthonydna** » Tue 22 Feb, 2011 12:13 pm

Perhaps it where they planned to keep the plans for the Supertram ?

jonleeds · Post by **jonleeds** » Tue 22 Feb, 2011 5:45 pm

yer, maybe it was the supertram terminus? sounds about right, buried for good.

jonleeds · Post by **jonleeds** » Tue 19 Apr, 2011 1:11 am

Has anyone found anything else out about this 'Atomic Refuge'? I have posted some pictures a while ago on FLickr of the Governments Cold War Nuclear Bunker at Lawnswood, I couldnt get inside, but I remember there used to be some pics of the place on Sub Brittanica website but they seem to have been removed. I would love to get inside that place. I cant believe its still there. Has anyone else got any pics of the place?

PJ · Post by PJ » Tue 19 Apr, 2011 4:05 pm

Do you mean this one?http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/sites/l/l ... index.html

jonleeds · Post by **jonleeds** » Wed 20 Apr, 2011 4:01 am

Hi PJ, yep thats the one, I have forgotton how to post a link to my flicr photo pages but if you do a google search for 'leeds nuclear bunker' you will find them, my pics are from about 3-4 years ago and they are from the outside and on the roof of the place. You cant access the place as its on a secure site which has security on the gate virtually all the time now with patrols any other time. Its sinister name is now the 'Lawnswood Government Buildings', although its really just a low level civil service department which houses departments of the DWP etc, the cold war stuff is long gone now, i hope...

York Road Lad · Post by **York Road Lad** » Thu 18 Aug, 2011 2:15 am

I went inside this bunker in the mid 1980's. I was a member of the Council's 'Peace and Emergency Planning Committee' that had a legal responsibility to maintain a bunker - and sent an annual cheque to the government to hire this bunker. However, we were 'unwelcome tenants' and the cheques had not been cashed for several years. The council administration at the time was against civil defence planning for a nuclear war as it believed that it created an illusion that a nuclear war was survivable. However, the bunker had not been maintained for many years - under either Labour or Tory control. The idea that the bunker would provide any kind of refuge in a nuclear war was laughable. For a start, part of it was above ground and not strong enough to withstand a powerful fart - let alone a nuclear blast. To get in, you had to climb an iron ladder to the roof and go in through a rooftop entrance. Inside, there was extensive flooding to a depth of 2 or 3 centimetres with floor tiles floating on the surface. Very little equipment was in there, and the equipment that was present was from, I would guess, the 1950's. It was badly rusted and certainly not functional. There were no supplies to sustain any staff, no fallout protection and no air filtering system. A complete waste of money in other words!

jonleeds · Post by **jonleeds** » Sun 09 Oct, 2011 1:30 am

Greetings York Road LadThats very intriging to hear that York Road Lad, I do remember from my childhood that on the outskirts of Morley were signs that said 'You Are Now Entering Kirklees - A Nuclear Free Zone' which I since found out amounts to what you are saying. I know the labour government in particular, and this was at the height of the 'loony-left' were keen to distance themselves from nuclear weapons and ally themselves with organisations like CND and Greenpeace. Its interesting that Leeds City Councillor Bryan North produced and published the booklet entitled 'Leeds and the Bomb' which described in graphic detail the effects of a 1 megatonne ICBM being detonated over Leeds Town Hall and the resulting devastation this would have on the Leeds Metropolitan district. Are you sure that the bunker you inspected was the Robin Hood pit bunker and not the Lawnswood Goverment Buildings bunker? I know that this bunker - which is still standing, is partly above ground with a furthur two subterranean levels, although this does have two ground level entrances. Apparently this was the official regional seat of government as far as I am aware and apparently it was still operational and under care and maintenance until 1991 when the cold war 'ended'. Can you remember where the entrance to this structure you are describing was? The only place I know of that could have been what you are decribing was just off Sharpe Lane at Robin Hood, on the left near the junction of Wakefield Road. Google Map shows there are the original structures of an above ground single storey building, but the google street view which must have been taken a few years later shows there has been extensive development including the construction of a new house, but the 'bunker' still remains. Incidentally on the original BBC 'Hidden Leeds' piece which predated the establishment of the 'Secret Leeds' forums there was a mention of this same structure being used as a Cold War control room for the electricity and telephone exchange. This seems to be in contradiction however to the existence of the important National Wartime Grid Control Centre built at Becca Hall near to Leeds so perhaps the Sharp Lane buildings are connected to the old Robin Hood Pit 'Atomic Refuge' as the proximity to the old colliery and the Sharp Lane site make them virtual neighbours. I would be very interested to hear more about this if you can remember anything else.thanks!Johnny

Post by **mhoulden** » Sun 09 Oct, 2011 5:23 am

It would certainly be a bold move putting a nuclear control centre right underneath one of the biggest targets in Yorkshire. I still remember the scene in Threads where the nuclear bunker is under the egg box town hall extension and they get trapped. I found a scan of Leeds and The Bomb at http://mattpovey.wordpress.com/2009/02/ ... b-part-ii/ where I see someone with the username jonleeds has commented on it. Also some interesting comments from Bryan North (as holbeckman) and others there. It's interesting to read, not just because of its main subject matter, but also how it describes the infrastructure of Leeds in the early 80s. I'm just inside the outer ring road at Horsforth and pretty high up so I'd definitely be screwed if the balloon went up.