Lancashire At War.co.uk
Exploring the hidden history of War sites in Lancashire
ROC Burscough
Hidden in the deserted expanses of HMS Ringtail, the Navy Second World War airfield at Burscough, near Ormskirk is a Cold War remnant. A Royal Observer Corps monitoring station.
A secret monitoring station to record the nuclear blast and fallout in the event of a nuclear war! Three men would have lived six feet underground in a small room and recorded what was going on above ground in the event of a nuclear strike. They would also regularly go down there and monitor and record as part of the ROC's role. There were sites like this all over the country.
See bottom of the page for links with more details about this site and others similar.
Right: the main shaft is the most obvious part of the above ground structure. This is the entrance into the world of the ROC monitors. In the background you can see some of the hangars of the Navy World War Two airbase HMS Ringtail.
Lathom & Burscough Military Heritage Society have a more in depth story of this site and further photos.
You can find it here: http://lbmhs.co.uk/roc_history or LBMHS HERE
The other excellent reference is Subterranea Britannica, a fascinating site.
Here is the direct link to this site: Subterranea Britannica ROC Burscough
Left & Right: the entrance to the monitoring post as seen August 2014. Someone has forced it open. We did our best to close it to, in order to protect the site from further damage.
Below Left: the ladder down the main shaft. By all accounts there are no original features left.
Below Right: The lid closing mechanism. An interesting piece of engineering - but enough to protect you from fallout?!
Due to the long grass there is not much more visible above ground. Below Left and Below Right, the air ventilator is just about vivible with some of the airfield vivible in the distance.
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