Colchester’s very own secret bunker?

On Thursday (8th August), contractors working in the grounds of Abbey House in Colchester had a big surprise – they discovered an underground corridor! On Friday (9th August), they discovered that the corridor led into an underground chamber. The other end of the corridor led to a bricked-in entrance in the cellar of the house. Trust archaeologist Don Shimmin, who is conducting a watching brief on the site, went along to investigate. Yesterday (12th August), he called Trust archaeologist Chris Lister in to have a look at it, as well. Chris has surveyed all the air-raid shelters and bunkers on the Trust’s archaeological sites on the old garrison and also undertakes all our historic building recording surveys.

Our two archaeologists had a good look round the chamber and took some measurements and photo.s. There may be a second entrance behind a large heap of rubble in one corner; this may also have been via a corridor, as there is a depression in the ground surface above.

Chris says: ‘… This is an interesting example of modern military architecture. It may date to the Cold War/nuclear crisis era after WW2, and have been used as a crisis command and control bunker for the garrison commanders …’ A similar bunker survives in Beverley Road in Colchester. It is unlikely to be a WW2 air-raid shelter, as these are usually narrower and include two long rows of seating. There is some faded graffiti on the walls, most of which appears to be in German.  Unfortunately there are  no surviving signs. Don says that going into the bunker was like entering Tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt in 1922 – but with slightly different results. However, the garrison’s secret bunker is extremely interesting! It is also not the first surprise on the site; a few weeks ago, a defunct historic well was discovered here.

Abbey House is the large, early 19th-century house on the junction of Flagstaff Road and St John’s Green, just within the boundary of the old garrison and on high ground overlooking the town centre. It was formerly the home of the garrison commander. It is being renovated and its grounds redeveloped with housing by Lexden Restoration and Development, who commissioned the watching brief.

The images show the corridor, after it was broken through, and the interior of the bunker, yesterday.

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