Paddock (war rooms)
Encyclopedia
Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms
The Churchill War Rooms is a museum in London and one of the five branches of the Imperial War Museum. The museum comprises the Cabinet War Rooms, a historic underground complex that housed a British government command centre throughout the Second World War, and the Churchill Museum, a biographical...
bunker
Bunker
A military bunker is a hardened shelter, often buried partly or fully underground, designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks...
for Winston Churchill's
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
government located in Dollis Hill
Dollis Hill
Dollis Hill is an area of north-west London. It lies close to Willesden, in the London Borough of Brent. As a result, Dollis Hill is sometimes referred as being part of Willesden, especially by the national press...
, North West London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
under the Post Office Research Station
Post Office Research Station
The Post Office Research Station at Dollis Hill, London, was first established in 1921 and opened by Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald in 1933.In 1943 the world's first programmable electronic computer, Colossus Mark 1 was built by Tommy Flowers and his team, followed in 1944 and 1945 by nine...
. It was constructed in 1939 but only rarely used during the war, with only two meetings of the War Cabinet
War Cabinet
A War Cabinet is a committee formed by a government in a time of war. It is usually a subset of the full executive cabinet of ministers. It is also quite common for a War Cabinet to have senior military officers and opposition politicians as members....
being held there. It was abandoned in 1944.
Paddock has had various, intermittent uses since (including a brief period where what is thought to be the map room was used as a Post Office
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
social club) but otherwise as of 2007, the site remains largely disused as it was when it was decommissioned at the end of World War II.
External links
- Subterranea Britannica: Comprehensive history and record of site visit
- Stadium Housing Association: Churchill's bunker - twice-yearly bunker open days, and a 'virtual tour'
- Location on Google Streetview: http://www.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Brook+Road+Neasden&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=20.403926,67.631836&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Brook+Rd,+London+NW2,+United+Kingdom&ll=51.562427,-0.237534&spn=0.00059,0.004128&t=h&z=19&layer=c&cbll=51.562427,-0.237535&panoid=PsrBKo10Wh2P4NW8m8GjgA&cbp=11,234.01,,0,8.96