Drakelow Tunnels

We spent a fascinating morning on an English Heritage Tour of these tunnels just outside Kidderminster.  They are privately owned and are available for all sorts of events including games and paranormal evenings!  What we were interested in was the history - they were created on the lead up to the second world war when it was realised that the country may need facilities for the production of components for aircraft engines and the Drakelow Tunnels became one of the Shadow Factories, in this case for Rover.  There are three and a half miles of tunnels including vehicle access tunnels, walkways, canteens, entertainment areas as well as production tunnels.  This was one of the access tunnels we were shown.  It was very dark down there!

In the 1980s a small area of the tunnels were transposed into a nuclear bunker for the regional government for the West Midlands to use in the event of a nuclear attack.  You can see one of the offices in extras.  They had hospital facilities, a BBC Broadcast room, offices, computers, dormitories, decontamination areas, blast proof doors, and all the other facilities associated with having to hide away for a period of time...

Now the owner is trying to get together enough money to get the complex connected to the Grid so that they can get the tunnels dried out enough to be able to present it as a museum which will have links of some sort with Bletchley.

A very interesting visit!

If you like David Hockney and Blipmeets, there is going to be a visit to Tate Britain on 10 March to visit the Hockney exhibition.  Details on the activity page tomorrow.