Across Devon's rolling hills, quiet coastline and market towns lie the marks of two great emergencies of the twentieth century: a war fought from the air and the sea, and a long, uneasy peace shadowed by the atom. Seven of these places have been gathered up by a local newspaper, each once a working part of that vast effort and now scattered across private fields, back gardens, car parks and common land. Some have been kept, some repurposed, some sold, and all raise the same quiet question about how a community remembers the structures that once guarded it.
Devon's Forgotten Cold War and Wartime Sites: Airfields, Bunkers and Radar Stations Hidden in Plain Sight
Hidden in plain sight, from blocked bunkers to a paintball venue
Mark
Why does a list like this matter? These are just old concrete boxes.
Mimi
Because they show how Devon was used. Dunkeswell was the only US Naval land base in Europe in the war, and Hartland Point linked to Bletchley Park's code-breaking.
Mark
And the Cold War sites?
Mimi
They show a shift. Plymouth's control bunker was reopened in 1954, and Hope Cove was rebuilt in 1952 under ROTOR to catch Soviet aircraft.
Luke
Careful with Torquay. The article says why that bunker was built is unclear. The staff-refuge idea is a likely explanation, not a documented one.
Mark
So what is actually known there?
Luke
The physical features: blast doors, two kitchens, heating, water. Those suggest long use. The purpose is inference.
Mimi
Poltimore is the firmer case. It is Grade II listed as one of only two surviving surface-type ROC group headquarters in England.
Luke
And the Exeter bunker's condition comes from reports in 2011. We don't know how it looks now.
Mark
What about the future of these places?
Luke
The article doesn't say. It gives sales, a paintball conversion and blocked entrances, but no preservation plans.
Mimi
So the open question is who looks after them.
El Pulso
- A former US Navy base on the Blackdown Hills, the only one of its kind in Europe during the war, now hosts privately based planes while its bunker entrances sit sealed.
- A 1956 warning bunker near Exeter Airport still holds its iron bunk beds and ladders, frozen in the form it had when it was built.
- A Grade II listed Royal Observer Corps headquarters in Poltimore Park, one of only two of its kind surviving in England, has been sold and turned into a paintball venue.
- A Cold War nuclear bunker lies beneath Torquay Magistrates Court, put up for sale in 2018 at £500,000 with its living quarters now used for storage.
- Heritage listing and public access remain unresolved, leaving many of these sites at risk of being lost to redevelopment or forgotten altogether.
Across Devon's rolling hills, quiet coastline and market towns lie the marks of two great emergencies of the twentieth century: a war fought from the air and the sea, and a long, uneasy peace shadowed by the atom. Seven of these places have been gathered up by a local newspaper, each once a working part of that vast effort and now scattered across private fields, back gardens, car parks and common land. Some have been kept, some repurposed, some sold, and all raise the same quiet question about how a community remembers the structures that once guarded it.
Dunkeswell Airfield sits high on the Blackdown Hills, inside an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and it is easy to pass by without knowing its story. Built between 1941 and 1943, it was the only US Naval land base in Europe during the Second World War, a strategic hub for the Battle of the Atlantic until 1945. Its operations block and control tower still stand, and today it is a private airfield with aircraft permanently based there. After the Americans left and the RAF returned, the military site closed in 1949.
Dunkeswell is one of seven sites Devon Live has singled out from the county's wartime and Cold War past. Some have been refurbished, some sit on private farmland, and a few are tucked away in people's back gardens. Near Exeter Airport stands a bunker built in 1956 to serve a new warning and monitoring system. Reports from 2011 describe it as still intact, with its iron bunk beds, ladder, wooden doors and cable runs largely original.
At Poltimore Park, a building completed in 1962 has survived with much of its original layout intact, including steel blast doors and a central operations room where observers once reported nuclear fallout to the government. Listed at Grade II, it is one of only two such surface-type Royal Observer Corps headquarters left in England. It was sold in 1999 and now serves as a paintball venue.
The remaining sites carry their own layers of history. RAF Hartland Point began as a naval intercept station tied to Bletchley Park, became a radar station in 1942, and was reactivated in the 1950s; its buildings are gone, but traces remain on common land. Plymouth's Borough Control Bunker, opened in 1943, served as the city's main control centre until 1963. Beneath Torquay Magistrates Court lies a concrete nuclear bunker with its own kitchens and water system, its purpose still unclear. The Hope Cove bunker, once a radar station guarding South Devon's skies, now sits in a farmer's field near Salcombe.
These sites are in very different states, from listed to sealed to sold. What becomes of them next remains an open question.
Dunkeswell Airfield sits on the Blackdown Hills, in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and its history is easy to miss. Today it is a private airfield with planes permanently based there. It was built between 1941 and June 1943, and it was the only US Naval land base in Europe during the Second World War. The US Navy Fleet Air Wing operated from it as a strategic hub for the Battle of the Atlantic until 1945. The operations block and control tower still stand. So does a bunker on the airfield's edge, though its underground entrances are currently blocked. After the war the Americans left and the RAF returned, and the airfield closed as a military site in 1949.
Dunkeswell is one of seven sites Devon Live has singled out from the county's wartime and Cold War past. Some have been refurbished and others sit on private land, and the paper notes that some are tucked away in people's back gardens.
Near Exeter Airport, on private farmland to the north east of the airfield, lies a bunker built in 1956. It was meant to serve a new warning and monitoring system to replace the old air-raid warning arrangements. Reports from 2011 described it as still intact, with its original iron bunk beds, iron ladder, wooden doors, light fittings and cable runs. The defence officer's room is the largest, with hatchways leading to the messengers and runners' room and to the telephone exchange.
Poltimore Park, also near Exeter, holds a building completed in 1962 that is now Grade II listed. It is one of only two surface-type Royal Observer Corps Group Headquarters surviving in England; the other is in Shrewsbury. The Corps monitored and reported nuclear fallout, so the government could warn the public to take cover. The building was designed to protect its occupants from a nuclear attack and has had only limited renovation, so much of the original layout survives: the central operations room with its first-floor post plotters and tellers gallery, steel blast doors, a standby generator, filtration equipment, air conditioning plant and an external telescopic radio mast. The site was sold in September 1999 and is now a paintball venue.
On the north coast, RAF Hartland Point began in 1941 as a naval VHF intercept station linked to the Enigma code-breaking effort at Bletchley Park. In June 1942 it became part of a radar network covering the British coast against German air and naval threats. It was kept on care and maintenance after the war, then reactivated in the early 1950s under the ROTOR programme as a Ground Control Intercept radar station. All its buildings have been cleared, but traces remain on freely accessible common land.
Plymouth's Borough Control Bunker opened in 1943 as a single-storey structure beside Pounds House, a council-owned property behind Central Park, north west of the city centre. The wartime ARP control centre closed when the war ended, then reopened as the Borough Control in 1954. It served as Plymouth's main control until 1963, when the function moved to Abbottsfield Hall in Tavistock.
Beneath Torquay Magistrates Court is a concrete-lined nuclear bunker from the height of the Cold War, with heavy steel blast doors designed to absorb a nuclear shock wave. Why it was built is unclear. As a Ministry of Justice building, it was likely a refuge for staff under threat of attack. It has its own toilets, two kitchens, heating and a water system, which suggests long-term occupation. It was put up for sale in 2018 at £500,000, its living quarters then used for storage.
The last site, the Hope Cove bunker, began as a radar station in 1941 and was active until 1945, helping nearby RAF Bolt Head track and intercept hostile aircraft crossing South Devon overnight. It was redeveloped in 1952 under ROTOR as a radar station aimed at intercepting Soviet aircraft approaching the coast. It stands in a farmer's field of almost five acres near Salcombe and Bolt Head.
The sites are in very different conditions, from listed to sealed to sold, and what happens to them next remains open.
Citas Notables
Why the Torquay bunker was built is unclear, though it was likely a refuge for staff under threat of attack.— Devon Live
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