Shelter from the storm

In the final moments before humanity’s self-imposed nuclear destruction, a select few volunteers were prepared to sacrifice their last breath recording the zones of impact.

Some might say that the Cold War never ended, although we all know when it began.

Following the major nuclear arms race after World War II, work was started in Britain and Northern Ireland to design and build small bunkers with the purpose of assessing the devastation of nuclear armageddon in local areas.

From the 1950s until the 1990s governments in the west, alongside bolstering their arsenal for retaliations, prepared to react and record in the event of total destruction.

In Tyrone, there were at least 11 of these secret bunkers dotted inside or outside towns and villages. Castlederg, Kilskeery, Omagh, Pomeroy, Strabane, Beragh, Clogher, Cookstown, Drumquin, Dungannon and Newtownstewart all housed underground monitoring stations.

You may be thinking, “Why on earth would we have needed these?” What exactly would the Reds have wanted with the cattle-filled fields of Tyrone?

But maps uncovered from the Soviets showed that at least eight areas in the North, including Omagh, were selected as targets.

Thus the need for assessing the potential fallout seemed justified.

PREPPING

The newly-built bunkers were entered via a hatch and a 15-foot ladder, a descent which terminated in a room no bigger than 15 by seven feet.

In the early years each of these bunkers cost £1,000 to build. However, as time went on and more sophisticated equipment was needed, these prices rose as high as £8,000.

Inside their fortified burrows the covert operators ate, slept and worked. They were fitted with bunk beds, chemical toilets (in a separate room) and most essentially, equipment and maps, devices used to fulfil their role. Ultimately, the operator’s purpose was to record how many warheads fell in any specific area; the power of each bomb; the radius and centre point of where it detonated; and how much radiation was released in the blast.

Additionally each operator was given a dosimeter, which recorded the amount of radiation absorbed by the person.

In theory, if all blasts were accurately recorded, HQ could estimate the death toll and spread of the subsequent fallout.

ROC

The bunkers were manned by volunteers of the Royal Observer’ Corps (ROC) with at most ten personnel attached to each site.

These men and women signed up, knowing that if and when the time came they would leave their families and operate the bunker in – potentially – their last living moments.

Throughout the ‘50s and ‘60s the posts were on full alert, waiting for the first strike from the Red menace.

However in 1968 the ROC had a major reorganisation. This resulted in the total number of bunkers being halved, alongside a reduction in personnel, which was cut from 25,000 to 12,500.

Locally, the bunkers decommissioned included Castlederg, Kilskeery, Omagh, Pomeroy and Strabane – leaving just six across the rest of the county.

These abandoned sites were handed back to the landowners, however they were not decommissioned in the fullest sense; some still contained beds and furniture belonging to the ROC.

In subsequent years the abandoned bunkers fell victim to flooding, vandalism and structural damage, and in some cases they were demolished or filled in.

Meanwhile, the retained sites remained operational until the ‘90s, when the cold war, as historians dictate, ended.

In December of 1991 the Communist Bloc fell and the west no longer seen the Red Army as a major nuclear threat.

Yet this had already been anticipated by the Ministry of Defence, who ordered that the ROC wrap up operations in the bunkers by September of the same year.

The last six bunkers in Beragh, Clogher, Cookstown, Drumquin, Dungannon and Newtownstewart ceased operations and were also abandoned.

Unlike the reorganisation in 1968, the remaining bunkers were put up for public auction.

However in Tyrone the six posts were left derelict or were completely demolished without a trace.

The bunker in Newtownstewart had its ladder cut, to prevent curious children from exploring the derelict site, and it was filled in with two foot of rubbish.

Whilst these military outposts had operated in secrecy across the county, the civilian population rejected proposals for their own protection against atomic fire.

In 1985 Nationalist councillors opposed plans to build a nuclear shelter at the Arvalee site in Omagh as they announced the town as a nuclear-free area.

The Civil Defence had planned to build an underground bunker in 1998 for up to 110 officials, including health and agriculture officers, such persons who would aid in local recovery following any attack.

However following years of debate within council chambers the application was refused following a vote of 9-7.

Now as we approach the 80th anniversary of the first atomic bomb being used, fears are mounting about whether we will see them ever being used again.

As tensions rise between NATO and Russia over the ongoing war in Ukraine, you have to wonder, did the Cold War really end? And should we have preserved those secret bunkers?