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A number of military citadels exist under central London, dating mostly from the Second World War and the Cold War. It is already well known that a large network of tunnels exists below London for a variety of communications, civil defence and military purposes (see, for instance, War Plan UK by Duncan Campbell or Beneath the City Streets by Peter Laurie). It is very much less clear how these tunnels, and the various facilities linked to them, fit together. Even the number and nature of these facilities is unclear; only a few have been officially admitted to. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ...
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Duncan Campbell is a freelance investigative journalist and television producer who has specialised in intelligence issues, was prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act in the ABC Trial in 1978 and made the controversial series Secret Society for the BBC in 1987 (see Zircon affair). ...
Admiralty Citadel
The Admiralty Citadel, London's most visible military citadel, is located just behind the Admiralty building on Horse Guards Parade. It was constructed in 1940-1941 as a bomb-proof operations centre for the Admiralty, with foundations nine metres deep and a concrete roof six metres thick. Not surprisingly, it was considered virtually bomb-proof. Admiralty Citadel, the mall, London. ...
Admiralty Citadel, the mall, London. ...
Old Admiralty House, Whitehall, London, Thomas Ripley, architect, 1723-26, was not admired by his contemporaries and earned him some scathing couplets from Alexander Pope The Admiralty was historically the authority in the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. ...
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The building is not very visually appealing - Winston Churchill described it in his memoirs as a "vast monstrosity which weighs upon the Horse Guards Parade" - and ivy has been encouraged to cover it in an apparent attempt to soften its ugliness. Its brutal functionality hid a very practical purpose; in the event of a German invasion, it was intended that the building would become a fortress, with loopholed firing positions provided to fend off attackers.
The Admiralty Citadel is still used today by the Ministry of Defence. The Ministry of Defence building, Whitehall, Westminster, London The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and the headquarters of the UK military. ...
Cabinet War Rooms The only central London citadel currently open to the public is the Cabinet War Rooms, located in Horse Guards Road in the basement of what is now HM Treasury. This was not a purpose-built citadel but was instead a reinforced adaptation of an existing basement built many years before. The War Rooms were constructed in 1938 and were heavily used by Winston Churchill during World War II. However, the Cabinet War Rooms were vulnerable to a direct hit and were abandoned not long after the war. They were opened to the public in 1984 and are now maintained by the Imperial War Museum. Cabinet War Rooms, London. ...
Cabinet War Rooms, London. ...
The new eastern entrance to HM Treasury HM Treasury (Her/His Majestys Treasury) is the United Kingdom government department responsible for and putting into effect the UK Governments financial and economic policy. ...
Jump to: navigation, search 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...
Jump to: navigation, search The Right Honourable Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, FRS, PC (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was an English statesman, best known as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. ...
Jump to: navigation, search World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atom bomb. ...
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Imperial War Museum, Lambeth, London The original location of the Imperial War Museum was the Crystal Palace, located at the top of Sydenham Hill. ...
The section of the War Rooms open to the public is in fact only a portion of a much larger facility. They originally covered three acres (12,000 m²) and housed a staff of up to 528 people, with facilities including a canteen, hospital, shooting range and dormitories. The centrepiece of the War Rooms is the Cabinet Room itself, where Churchill's War Cabinet met. The Map Room is located nearby, from where the course of the war was directed. It is still in much the same condition as when it was abandoned, with the original maps still on the walls and telephones lining the desks. Churchill slept in a small bedroom nearby, with a telephone room next door that provided a direct line to the White House in Washington, DC. Jump to: navigation, search The southern side of the White House The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States. ...
Aerial photo (looking NW) of the Washington Monument and the White House in Washington, DC. Washington, D.C., officially the District of Columbia (also known as D.C.; Washington; the Nations Capital; the District; and, historically, the Federal City) is the capital city and administrative district of the United...
PINDAR The most important military citadel in central London - and arguably in Britain - is PINDAR, a bunker built beneath the Ministry of Defence on Whitehall. Its construction, which took ten years and reportedly cost £126.3 million, finally came to a conclusion in 1994, but PINDAR became operational two years earlier, in 1992. The high cost became the subject of some controversy in the early 1990s. Much of the cost overrun was related to the facility's computer equipment, which proved extremely difficult to install due to the very limited degree of physical access to the site. The Ministry of Defence building, Whitehall, Westminster, London The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and the headquarters of the UK military. ...
Jump to: navigation, search Whitehall, London, looking south towards the Houses of Parliament. ...
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Jump to: navigation, search // Events and trends The 1990s are generally classified as having moved slightly away from the more conservative 1980s, but otherwise retaining the same mindset. ...
PINDAR's main function is to serve as a crisis management and communications centre, principally between the MOD headquarters and the actual centre of military operations, the Permanent Joint Headquarters in Northwood. It is reported to be connected to Downing Street via tunnels under Whitehall. Although it has been rumoured that it connects to some secret underground transport system, this is not the case. Armed Forces Minister Jeremy Hanley told the House of Commons on 29 April 1994 that "the facility is not connected to any transport system." The Permanent Joint Headquarters is the British Tri Service Base in Northwood from where all overseas military operations are planned and controlled. ...
Northwood is a suburb of London in the London Borough of Hillingdon. ...
Downing Street Downing Street is the famous street in central London which contains the buildings that have been, for over two hundred years, the official residences of two of the most senior British cabinet ministers, the First Lord of the Treasury, an office held by the Prime Minister of the...
Jump to: navigation, search Whitehall, London, looking south towards the Houses of Parliament. ...
The Right Honourable Sir Jeremy James Hanley (born November 17, 1945) is a politician in the United Kingdom and a chartered accountant. ...
In some bicameral parliaments of a Westminster System, the House of Commons has historically been the name of the elected lower house. ...
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Although PINDAR is very definitely not open to the public, it has had some very limited public exposure. This came in the 2003 BBC documentary on the Iraq conflict, Fighting the War, in which BBC cameras were allowed into the facility to film a small part of a teleconference between ministers and military commanders. Jump to: navigation, search 2003 (MMIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Jump to: navigation, search Corporate logo of the British Broadcasting Corporation The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is the national broadcaster of the United Kingdom. ...
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Q-Whitehall Q-Whitehall is the (possibly unofficial) name given to a supposed secret communications facility under Whitehall.
The facility was built in a 12 ft diameter tunnel during World War II, and extends under Whitehall from Trafalgar Square to King Charles Street. The project was known as 'Post Office scheme 2845'. A detailed description, with photographs, was published just after the war in the January 1946 edition of the Post Office Electrical Engineers' Journal.
Sites equipped with unusual amounts of GPO/BT telecommunications plant are given a BT site engineering code. This site's code was QWHI, and this is presumably the origin of the name Q-Whitehall. A BT site engineering code is a group of letters assigned by BT, or its predecessor the General Post Office, to a physical location which is equipped by the company with unusual amounts or types of telecommunications. ...
The site provided protected accommodation for the lines and terminal equipment serving the most important government departments, civil and military, to ensure the command and control of the war could continue despite heavy bombing of London.
At the northern end, the tunnel connects to the BT deep level cable tunnels which were built under much of London during the Cold War. At the southern end, an 8 ft diameter extension (Scheme 2845B) was built to the Marsham Street Rotundas. Jump to: navigation, search For the generic term for a high-tension struggle between countries, see cold war (war). ...
Marsham Towers The Marsham Towers were three towers situated on the corner of Marsham Street and Great Peter Street in Westminster, London. ...
Access to the tunnel is gained via an 8 ft lateral tunnel and a lift shaft in the nearby Whitehall telephone exchange in Craig's Court.
Spur tunnels, 5 ft in diameter, were built to provide protected cable routes to the major service buildings either side of Whitehall.
The Whitehall tunnels appear to have been extended in the early 1950s. Files in the National Archives which may relate to this have been closed for 75 years and will not be opened until the 2020s. The National Archives is a British Governmental organisation created in April 2003. ...
The journalist Duncan Campbell managed to get into the BT deep level cable tunnels below London, and described his adventure in a New Statesman article in 1980. He found a (closed) entrance to Q-Whitehall below Trafalgar Square. He has since put some pictures of this trip on a web site. [1] Duncan Campbell is a freelance investigative journalist and television producer who has specialised in intelligence issues, was prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act in the ABC Trial in 1978 and made the controversial series Secret Society for the BBC in 1987 (see Zircon affair). ...
The New Statesman is a left-of-centre political weekly published in London. ...
Jump to: navigation, search Trafalgar Square is a square in central London that commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar (1805), a British naval victory of the Napoleonic Wars. ...
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