Cold War nuclear monitoring post, Goldsands Road (EHER 19428)

A Royal Observer Corps monitoring post. The site is located (with the surface features intact) in a compound on the East side of Goldsands Road. At the time of the Defence of Britain survey (1995-2002) the site was found to remain in a poor condition. The site was opened during October 1959 and closed in October 1968.

During the 1950s/1960s a national network of 870 monitoring posts were set up to provide information in the event of a nuclear attack. Each post was manned by two or three members of the Royal Observer Corps operating from an underground room, often in remote rural areas. Above ground, three devices provided the required information – the Bomb Power Indicator, the Ground Zero Indicator and the Field Survey Meter. These gave the strength of the bomb, its direction and the level of radiation. Below ground, down a 20 ft steel-runged ladder, there was a single room and a toilet cubicle. The spartan living accommodation consisted of a double bunk, a desk, chair and a cupboard. Collectively, a group of thirty Monitoring Posts would report by telephone to a Group Control Station. <1> 1990-1999. Field survey by N. Catford. A private report, compiled in 1999, lists 42 Monitoring Posts in Essex. Each had been visited by the author, apparently during the 1990s, and 23 were found to be extant. <2> September 2001. Site visit. The Monitoring Post at Southminster is located in the corner of the meadow on the East side of Goldsands Road. Externally, the access shaft is fully intact and in reasonable condition but the ventilation shaft and other features have been badly damaged. Below ground, the room has been stripped, the walls have been daubed with black paint and there are signs of fire. Nevertheless, the walls, ceiling and floor are all intact. The remains of one of the original bunks is still extant. Ten photos of site. <3> <4> 1995-2002. Defence of Britain survey. A Royal Observer Corps monitoring post. The site is located (with the surface features intact) in a compound on the East side of Goldsands Road. At the time of the Defence of Britain survey the site was found to remain in a poor condition. <5> <6> 1998-2007. Subterranea Britannica survey. Open. Externally in poor condition all surface features are in place but the air shaft is badly damaged. Internally it is stripped apart from one bunk and the monitoring room door which is leaning against the wall. There is some fire damage. The site was opened during October 1959 and closed in October 1968. Two photos. Revisited in 2010, three photos. <7> Site Assessment: At the present time, there is much interest in the remains of Britain’s cold-war sites and a project to provide more base information is currently being undertaken by English Heritage. At a county level, it is not known whether the survival or condition of the Monitoring Post at Southminster is typical of those still extant or whether it is in any way exceptional or unusual. In either case, it is clear that not too many of them still survive. Until such time as a comprehensive study of the county’s Cold War sites can be conducted, by which time statutory protection through MPP may be clarified, it is recommended that all Essex sites which come under threat should be protected through the planning. <4> Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import.