Yahoo News The abandoned Cold-War era nuclear bunker on Cambridgeshire border destroyed by vandals
There are plenty of people who adhere to the countryside code of 'leave no trace', even when exploring abandoned buildings. And there are others who do not tread so lightly.
Sadly, one historical structure that has fallen prey to vandals in recent years is an underground nuclear bunker on the Cambridgeshire border. The bunker, built by the Royal Observer Corps (ROC) during the Cold War, is near the small village of Maxey at the northern-most edge of Cambridgeshire.
Confusingly, it is known as the Market Deeping ROC Post, despite the fact that the first ROC post in the area was demolished in Market Deeping and moved to Maxey. Like all ROC posts, it was built to a standard design with a shaft leading down to a small room where ROC volunteers could monitor nuclear radiation.
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It opened in 1960 and was closed in 1991. In 1998, visitors to the Market Deeping ROC Post found that it was locked, according to Subterranea Britannica.
At that time, the surface features seemed to be in good condition, other than some ventilation parts missing. The visitors were able to enter the ROC post despite it being locked, and found a treasure trove of photographs, maps, papers, signs, and furniture within, which still appeared to be in good order in November 2008.
By January 2022 however, the ROC post had been vandalised, with debris dropped down the shaft and some of the furniture missing. And by the end of that year, the hatch had been ripped off the top of the shaft, with fence posts thrown inside and the interior of the ROC post 'trashed'.
It's sad to think that what was once a tiny capsule of a time in recent history has now been destroyed. But with photographs from the ROC post before it was hit by vandals living on forever on the internet, anyone can get a view down the hatch of these long-abandoned nuclear bunkers.
