The Cold War…
To many, it’s already very much history – long gone, like the Romans, The Wars of the Roses or World War One. And I suppose it is!
However, having lived through nearly 30 years of it, seen the seemingly impregnable Berlin Wall fall live on TV in November 1989, and then watched as the once “Evil Empire” – as US President Reagan once memorably called the Soviet Union – appeared to simply crumble within just a couple of years, it maintains a strong fascination for me.
You might think that the Cold War was just a matter for politicians and the military – and now for historians and academics – but it couldn’t fail to have an impact on “ordinary” lives, too.
I remember during lessons at school in Leeds every so often the air raid siren would be tested – without warning! – and this was in the mid-1980s. That sound was enough to send a shiver down anyone’s spine and brought classes to a standstill for a few moments as that haunting sound began to wind up…and then down. It only lasted for a few seconds, but it was loud – and scary. And we all knew what it would mean if it ever sounded for real.
And just down the road from where I lived, we were aware there was a clearly not-so-secret bunker under the government offices. What it was for, we didn’t know – but it turns out it was one of the regional War Rooms where a cabinet minister would be sent to oversee matters if the Cold War went “hot”.
I seem to remember that it was eventually discovered to have a big crack in it, so I’m not sure how effective it would have been. And, ironically, it was located opposite one of the city’s biggest cemeteries. Make of that what you will..
Anyway, being brought up at a time when Thatcher and Reagan, Greenham and Gorbachev, SALT talks and CND, Mutually Assured Destruction, Polaris and Protect & Survive always seemed to be on the news and popular culture gave us such Cold War classics as Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Two Tribes and, er, Jethro Tull’s Fylingdale Flyer (two of my Cold War-themed faves, as it happens!) on the record player and The Day After and Threads on TV, it certainly made a bit of an impression on me…
In the second decade of the 21st Century, I find myself more fascinated than ever by that time which still seems so near and yet so far. So, I’ve found myself visiting some of the sites where the Cold War still seems close at hand.
Some of these places, such as Greenham Common and the various bunkers dotted around the country, were once Top Secret and behind many layers of barbed wire and surveillance. It’s hard to describe the frisson one can feel standing in places where it would once have been impossible to be as a civilian during the height of the Cold War without, frankly, being shot!
Others, such as the Castleton bunker in North Yorkshire and the sheer strangeness of Orford Ness in Suffolk are just the strangest of remnants in out-of-the-way places which reveal just how the Cold War found its way every nook and cranny of Britain during the four decades and more that this East-West confrontation lasted.
This blog is not an exhaustive summary of Cold War sites in Britain, nor is it supposed to be. Nor is it in any way academic or even intended to be photographically proficient. It’s just my own pictures and impressions of these places with a bit of blurb that I might remember from what I’ve read about the places I’ve visited or learned while there.
It’s just a hobby, for want of a better word, and should be approached as such. Don’t take my word for it and why not visit these places yourself if you feel the need to find out more!
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Cold War Britain 