Wentworth bunker, Virginia Water, Surrey

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chinc

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Jul 14, 2010
Messages
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Location
Surrey
The estate was a golf course, and was requisitioned during WW2 to provide a site outside-but-quite-close-to central London location. The bunker is situtated near Virgina Water, Surrey. It was constructed in WW2 for the GHQ Home Forces with cast iron tubing from London Underground stock - see the LPTB (London Passenger Transportation Board) lettering on the tubes.

It consists of three paralell tunnels, a narrow central service tunnel with periodic air locks, and two larger tunnels at each side, partitioned into rooms, accessed from the service tunnel by a hole in the cast iron tubing. In the central tunnel the flooring is concrete with some drainage channels, while in the side tunnels there would have been wooden floor boards mounted on brick supports.

The floorboards have been removed, although there are a few rotten remains. Thankfully there is relatively little grafitti, and much of the grafitti is old, going back to the 1980s. The bunker is very dry and the cast iron tubing is in excellent condition. There is a concrete blast slab above the bunker, and presumably the tarmac car park above helps to ensure water is taken away.

There are two entrances, consisting of additional tubing, which lead to the central tube, which is smaller in diameter than the ones on each side.

For more history see the Subbrit article here.

Looking down the Wentworth House entrance; this is what you would have seen had you come into the bunker from the house

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Note the LPTB (London Passenger Transport Board) lettering on the tubes.

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View down the central service tunnel - this is very long. Several air lock doors are in the distance.

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Looking from the central tunnel into the larger diamater side tunnel; note the bricks on the floor to support the floor boards and the brick partition wall.

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Main air intake and exhaust vents.

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A few of the side rooms are much longer, with a door way/opening to get past the partition wall. Presumably the hatch would have been used for communications.

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Exit from one of the side tunnels to the main access tunnel.

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A few remains of the floorboards that used to be on top of the bricks.

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Brick supports that the floorboards would have stood on.

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Viewing down the access tunnel.

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Cable feed input.

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Tap.

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Lots of buckets; through the opening is the sump and engine room.

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In the sump room, apparently an engine would have been mounted here.

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The sump. You can see that the water level is well below that of the bottom of the tunnels.

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Tunnel end.

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Mounting brackets on the ceiling.

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Presumably the telecoms input feed.

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1984 grafitti.

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Escape into Terribly Posh Surrey.

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I also had a look at the National Archives, the file mentioned in the Subbrit article can be found in its entirety here.

More, and larger, photos can be found in my gallery here.
 
Thanks very much for that. It's the first time I've seen the tunnels since about 1966/7. I used to live just up the road from Wentworth.

I don't know if it has been mentioned elsewhere but I am wondering if anyone has tried to find the tunnel which ran from the ruins in Virginia Water to Fort Belvedere. My old auntie told me about this tunnel when I was a kid. It's how Wallace Simpson got in and out of the Fort without going through the press pack at the front gate. My aunt was "In Service" to the Royal Household until the King finally left for the Bahamas.
 
great little place this is and u got the fountain shot lol, i was saying all the way there i was going to get a shot as the moon was out and it was a lush evening, but after spending 2 hours in the bunker we couldnt be bothered :)

nice one
 
Crackin' report on a top notch location,will have to get myself down here pretty soon !! PS Bloody good pics too !!!
great little place this is and u got the fountain shot lol, i was saying all the way there i was going to get a shot as the moon was out and it was a lush evening, but after spending 2 hours in the bunker we couldnt be bothered :)

nice one

Crackin'statement Tommo !!! Thats what makes Britain the country that it is today !!!!!:p
 
Lol it's was 3 in the morning we had been up since 5 am the day before and this was our 5 explore of the day, British or not we where knackerd ;) so I can live with not getting an arty farty shot of the lake
 
Thanks very much for that. It's the first time I've seen the tunnels since about 1966/7. I used to live just up the road from Wentworth.

You're welcome. Thanks a lot to everyone else for the kind comments.

I don't know if it has been mentioned elsewhere but I am wondering if anyone has tried to find the tunnel which ran from the ruins in Virginia Water to Fort Belvedere. My old auntie told me about this tunnel when I was a kid. It's how Wallace Simpson got in and out of the Fort without going through the press pack at the front gate. My aunt was "In Service" to the Royal Household until the King finally left for the Bahamas.

Looking at a map this would be a distance of some 4-5 miles. Do you have a link or any extra info?

t_o_m_m_o said:
great little place this is and u got the fountain shot lol, i was saying all the way there i was going to get a shot as the moon was out and it was a lush evening, but after spending 2 hours in the bunker we couldnt be bothered

Cheers. I must admit I was exactly the same. That's why it was badly taken hand held at ISO 12800, and not on a tripod at ISO 200 like the others :)
 
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