A unique piece of Cold War history, designed to withstand a nuclear blast, is set to go under the hammer. This subterranean dwelling, perfect for a doomsday prepper, carries a low starting bid of just £20,000.
Its entrance, discreetly located amidst blackberry brambles on a hillside in the village of Hallen, overlooks farm fields and the River Severn estuary. However, the underground chamber itself offers no external view.
This bunker is one of approximately 1,500 shelters built across the UK for the Royal Observer Corps, a civil defence organisation. Their purpose was to safely monitor blast waves and fallout from nuclear attacks that, thankfully, never came. Most now sit empty, though they occasionally come up for resale since being decommissioned and sold to the public in the 1990s.
Last year, a bunker listed for a minimum of £15,000 sold at auction for £48,000 in Yorkshire Dales National Park in northern England. The buyers later submitted plans to turn it into a tourist attraction.
From the outside, the relics are more eyesore than architectural wonder — just a couple steps and a block of concrete with a chain securing the entrance. On the inside, there’s also not much to look at.
The writers of the promotional materials had to dig deep to put some polish on the drab, cramped and isolated quarters.
“Ideal for those with a unique taste for historical relics and rare investment opportunities,” says the listing by David Plaister Ltd. Auctions.
A floor plan shows Room One — the only room — and describes it as a “discreetly integrated underground room, perfect as a private wine cellar, safe room, or secure utility area.”
It’s a spartan space of 128 square feet (11.8 square meters) with peeling paint, a stained floor, some shelving, a small desk-like surface against the wall, two plastic chairs and a single metal bed frame with no mattress.
There’s a tiny hallway where a ladder descends from the hatch above and a tiny space marked as a water closet that photos reveal to contain a crude chemical toilet.
The property last sold in 1995 for 95,000 pounds, but that included the land where the owner lives, said Sophie Thorne who is coordinating the Sept. 25 auction.
The bunker is being divided from the larger property and will be sold separately. The owner, who is staying put, has never had to hunker down in the bunker.
“It’s just kind of part of the property that she bought,” Thorne said. “She had no particular need for it, which is good.”
