Roger Hermiston
The entrance to Kelvedon Hatch nuclear bunker in Essex
- Credit: Roger Hermiston
On Monday morning, March 9, 1953, a Bedford coach carrying a small contingent of national servicemen from RAF North Weald turned off the Brentwood to Chipping Ongar road, lumbered half a mile down a long, winding farm track, then disappeared into a wooded copse studded with impressive silver birch, ash and rowan trees.
The vehicle pulled up in front of a chalet-style bungalow, which did its best to blend in with its surroundings, and to a passing walker – if any had been allowed – might just have seemed like a farm dwelling of the modern variety.