BURIED under a sleepy, suburban street in north London lies one
of Britain’s best-kept World War II secrets: a bunker built as an
emergency refuge for prime minister Winston Churchill.
Codenamed ”Paddock”, the bomb-proof complex was a backup
headquarters for the premier and his cabinet if German bombers
forced them to abandon Whitehall, the seat of government in the
centre of the capital.
Unknown or forgotten by all but a handful of historians for over
half a century, the bunker was opened this week for the first time
to a curious public.
Located in the suburb of Neasden, a 40-minute drive from central
London, Paddock was so secret that even King George VI, the British
king during the 1939-45 war, was not told its exact location.
It is buried 12 metres below ground and covered with
steel-reinforced concrete three-and-a-half feet thick, designed to
protect government ministers and 200 staff against a direct bomb
hit.
A tiny entrance next to a row of unassuming homes leads down
into a labyrinthine complex of 59 rooms on three levels.
Cold droplets drip off the ceilings, splashing into dark puddles
on the floor. A blanket of white fungus creeps across the walls,
from which dangle ancient electrical cables.
In one dank chamber stands a huge generator, next to it a
cast-iron 1930s-style control panel with an array of dials and
switches.
Paddock, equipped with gas-proof doors, had its own power
supply, ventilation, telephone exchange and small canteen.
”In the event of an attack the bunker had to be sealed and to be
totally self-sufficient,” said Nick Catford, from Subterranea
Britannica, a society which studies man-made underground spaces, as
he showed journalists around the complex.
As it was built in 1939-40, tons of rubble were removed, often
under cover of darkness, so local people would not know what was
going on.
Government officials ”stuck a few army huts above ground so
locals thought it was just an (army) camp to ensure secrecy,” said
Robbin Williams, the building surveyor now in charge of the site.
Churchill is believed to have slept in room 13, where a rotting
bed was found in one corner.
The prime minister chaired a meeting of the full cabinet here on
October 1940, at the height of the war, in a trial run to see if
Paddock was capable of fulfilling its role as an alternative centre
of government.
If German attacks on Britain intensified and the government
faced an emergency, a boat was stationed on a nearby
reservoir to whisk the prime minister to safety.
Such a crisis never arose. While the famous Cabinet war rooms in
central London were preserved as a museum, Paddock lay largely
forgotten after the war.
The site was bought by Network Housing Group, which was given
permission four years ago to build social housing on the land above
— on condition that it opened up the bunker to the public on at
least two days a year.
”I’ve lived here for 45 years and I never knew it was here. I
was very surprised,” said Harry Alder (73) who was eager to take a
look.
Ray Powell (76) who lives around the corner from the bunker, said: ”I would never have imagined this would have been the
centre of the British government.
”We were all very surprised to find out. Imagine Winston
Churchill with his big cigar coming right here in the middle of the
war.”
Churchill, however, was said to hate Paddock, despite its
importance.
”He described it as ‘far from the light of day’. He certainly
didn’t like it down here,” said Catford.
”It is still damp, dirty, with mould growing up the walls,
partition walls with holes in them and water dripping everywhere.
”But it has been made safe. All the visitors have been impressed
and, perhaps, surprised at what has been underneath their feet with
no one knowing about it.” – Sapa-AFP