West Lulworth ROC, Lulworth, Dorset
Part of a three-day camping trip in Dorset & Devon we visited the West Lulworth ROC.
The Royal Observer Corps were set up in 1925 as part of the RAF. They provided visual detection and identification of aircraft over Great Britain. As the years after the war passed, they also became nuclear fallout monitoring posts if the cold war ever materialised in to Nuclear War.
The bunkers are small, rectangular rooms with just enough room for 2 people to fit in, comfortably. Three of us with tripods & camera gear was a little cramped.
West Lulworth ROC was lost to weeds and overgrown trees for over 10 years and believed to be locked until we spent a Winter afternoon in December 2008 cutting it all back to reveal the ROC hatch.
Hoping we’d found “a minter” we soon found that the door at the bottom of the hatch had been previously kicked in and anything of any interest that was there, gone.
There’s still some interesting bits & bobs littering the post and so we dropped in and took some photos.
Share
Comments
Important, noteworthy & interesting comments are highlighted below
Leave a comment
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
I used to be a ROC volunteer based at Lulworth from 1989 to 91. We did exercises inside and outside of the bunker.
A beautiful location overlooking Weymouth Bay, our brief in the event of a nuclear attack on the nearby Portland Naval Base was to assess if it was a air, land or sea explosion, estimate the size of the bomb, then after to monitor radioactivity in the area. The bunker had sufficient rations and decontamination water for a long period. On our last exercise we distributed the rations amongst the volunteers. A very interesting time in my life.
Hi, my names Holly and I’m 15. I’m doing GCSE photography at school and I really want to pass with the highest grade possible. By doing this I have chosen to explore places that are abandoned but still hold history, story’s and treasures from the past.
Since I was little my Grandad and Dad used to take me everybody summer to old forts from the wars or old castles and it has always fascinated me. I always stand there and think that once upon a time people lived here or people worked here and it’s a wonderful feeling I get.
I travelled around the whole of London with a group of friends last summer and we couldn’t find any abandoned buildings or houses which hadn’t been boarded up or majorly graffitied on! It was a shame!
I could really do with peoples help. If any one knows where I could find places like old houses, mansions, things to do with war or any asylums or orphanages please, please let me know! You can contact me through email hmurs@icloud.com – Thanks everyone for your help
I’m from the United States and am trying to plan a trip out to the UK to do some urban exploring. Would you be interested in meeting up and exploring together? I’m 100% sure you know the area better than I do lol
Liam
Hi, me and my girlfriend live in the area and would love to experience Lulworth ROC. Will you please provide us with coordinates?
Many Thanks,
Elvis & Lisanna
Everything you need to know about ROC posts and their whereabouts is here: http://www.subbrit.org.uk/category/nuclear-monitoring-posts