St Ives ROC Post, Cambridgeshire

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Rubex

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Between 1956 and 1965 the government ordered for 1,563 monitoring posts to be built about 15 miles apart and for 31 larger HQ and control centres to also be built. These posts were intended for ROC volunteers to measure nuclear blast waves and radioactive fallout. All sites were closed down in 1991 when the Cold War came to an end with the disintegration of the Soviet Union. The ROC volunteers trained for duties that were to be carried out during the launch of a nuclear attack and were to continue to operate as the missiles fell and exploded. The personnel were also expected to carry on with their duties for up to 3 weeks after an attack.

St Ives ROC Post opened in May 1959 and closed in September 1991. Inside there are still some items left behind from when it was used including a year planner from 1991.



































Of note was the presence of an N-type connector coming from the wall at the far end of the room. The connector would have attached to a VHF radio. These radios were present in the “master posts” within their group. All posts were fitted with a “Tele-Talk” phone but it was believed in the event of a nuclear explosion the telegraph poles required for the Tele-Talk would collapse and the master posts would be able to communicate over VHF using a pump-up mast attached to the outside of the post.













Thanks for looking,

Rubex
 
Nice to see some of the old stuff still in there,its intresting how they all seem to use the same basic design and have the same set up in each outpost.
Nice pictures
 
Nice set, thanks for sharing. There's one on canvey island that had all the items still inside but has been concerted over by the council. I've been in one on the A12 but it's empty n graffiti splashed.

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Some good items left in this one, almost a time capsule. !! I always find it strange (and sad) how certain posts get trashed yet others remain virtually untouched. Posts in remote locations don't always fare better than their closer to civilisation counterparts and aren't guaranteed not to be chavved - I suppose that it only takes one idiot to spot it one day and a post which has survived untouched for 25 yrs can be wrecked over night !!
Very informative thread !!
 
Thank God for that, for a moment I thought someone had found our St Ives post and me unable to get at it, Nicely Done Miss Rubex, I owe you one.
 
Very nice report and nice history too. Pretty cool they could pump the mast up to transmit in an emergency rather than have it standing at all times. Shame the xmtr is no longer there but I guess that would have got cleared out when they left. I noticed how thick the copper is for the grounding - they really wanted stuff earthed well in there! Brilliant photos too btw!
 
This Post used to be locked up tight and was in quite good nick inside (it's still not bad).
Looks like the hatch has been forced at some point. These posts do belong to people so why not just ask the local farmer for permission and if they say no, walk away. After all, they built 1500 of the things so there are plenty of them. Still, nice photos.
 
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This Post used to be locked up tight and was in quite good nick inside (it's still not bad).
Looks like the hatch has been forced at some point. These posts do belong to people so why not just ask the local farmer for permission and if they say no, walk away. After all, they built 1500 of the things so there are plenty of them. Still, nice photos.

Well it didn't look to me like anyone had forced entry recently. As far as I'm aware it's been open since 2012. Oh and they actually built 1,563 of the things and a lot have been demolished. Thanks.
 
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Well it didn't look to me like anyone had forced entry recently. As far as I'm aware it's been open since 2012. Oh and they actually built 1,563 of the things and a lot have been demolished. Thanks.

NO worries, wasnt implying you forced it, but pictures show that hatch is detached etc
 

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