Relays
From the telephone exchange distribution board.
Inside Paddock, the alternative Cabinet War Rooms, Dollis Hill.
PADDOCK was built at the start of the 2nd World War on the site of the Post Office Research and Development Station in Dollis Hill. Its purpose was to act as an alternative underground control and command centre for Central Government should a devastating air attack on Whitehall force Government to evacuate central London. PADDOCK would provide protected accommodation for the War Cabinet and the Chief of Staff of the air, naval and land forces, acting as a stand-by to the Cabinet War Room...
As early as 1937 plans were drawn up to move Central Government out of London to the North West suburbs and if that became unusable a further withdrawal should be made to protected accommodation in the western counties.
...On 14th October 1938 the final plans were drawn up for the construction of the bombproof war headquarters deep underground at the Dollis Hill research station. The same team was employed on the plans as had been responsible for the adaptation of the Storeys Gate War Room. CWR2 as it became known would duplicate the facilities of CWR1 (Storeys Gate), the two major rooms being the map room with a usable wall surface of 1000 square feet and a cabinet room with seating for 30 people. All these would be located in a sub-basement 40 feet below ground.
The sub-basement would be protected by a roof of concrete five feet thick (probably in two layers with an intervening layer of gravel as a shock-absorber) while over it would be a first basement considerably larger in area, protected by another reinforced concrete roof
three and a half feet thick with similar protection on the sides. The entrance to this citadel would be concealed within a new three-storey building already planned by the Post Office to meet its own peace-time needs; only one storey was eventually built. The cost of the war HQ was put at nearly £250,000.
As built, the citadel was oblong in shape, running parallel with Brook Road under the north-east corner of the research station grounds. The two basements were longer and wider than the surface building with the first basement extending under the pavement of Brook Road.
Excavation started at the beginning of 1939 without attracting much attention although it involved earth-shifting on a massive scale. Construction work and fitting out were finished by June 1940 in line with the original 1938 plan and CWR2 was ready for use by the War Cabinet.
...The War Cabinet met at PADDOCK at 11.30 a.m. on 3rd October 1940. The meeting was attended by Churchill, twelve other Ministers and the three Chiefs of Staff. Churchill was not impressed by PADDOCK, in a minute to the Cabinet Secretary on October 22nd he wrote "The accommodation at PADDOCK is quite unsuited to the conditions which have arisen" and he told one of his chief war advisors Sir Edward Bridges, "The War Cabinet cannot live and work there for weeks on end .... PADDOCK should be treated as a last resort"
... In October 1940, shortly after the first War Cabinet meeting at Dollis Hill, a descriptive note was written about daily life at PADDOCK. "Government now occupied not only the 19 rooms of the basement and the 18 rooms of the subbasement but also the ground floor with its 22 rooms and lavatories. These rooms were used predominantly for work while other workrooms were available in the main Post Office building. Staff could use the Post Office canteen for meals and had living and sleeping accommodation in Neville's Court, where about thirty NCOs and men were quartered so as to allow a 24-hour guard over the whole complex to be maintained."
...After the war the upper basement and above ground building were used by the post office as extra laboratory space and some rooms were used for recreational activities; the staff drama group also used the bunker as a changing room after performances. The research station closed 1974 when the Post Office moved out to Martlesham Heath in Suffolk. The Post Office finally vacated the site in September 1976.
For a few years Cadbury Schweppes occupied the building as offices but in the early 1980's whole site became the Dollis Hill Industrial Estate. It would appear that the bunker was not used during this period.
In 1981 Paddock was suggested as a replacement for the North London Group War Room at Partingdale Lane, Mill Hill at a cost of £300,000. The plan was rejected by the GLC because of water seepage. At that time there was an inch of standing water in the sub-basement. Part of the site was acquired by Network Housing Association in May 1997....as part of the sale Brent Council required Network Housing to make the bunker safe and open it on at least two days a year to the general public...Today PADDOCK remains very damp with water ingress on both levels but the pumps ensure that the water doesn't build up to an unacceptable level in the sub-basement.
[Subterranea Britannica website]
Relays
From the telephone exchange distribution board.
Inside Paddock, the alternative Cabinet War Rooms, Dollis Hill.
PADDOCK was built at the start of the 2nd World War on the site of the Post Office Research and Development Station in Dollis Hill. Its purpose was to act as an alternative underground control and command centre for Central Government should a devastating air attack on Whitehall force Government to evacuate central London. PADDOCK would provide protected accommodation for the War Cabinet and the Chief of Staff of the air, naval and land forces, acting as a stand-by to the Cabinet War Room...
As early as 1937 plans were drawn up to move Central Government out of London to the North West suburbs and if that became unusable a further withdrawal should be made to protected accommodation in the western counties.
...On 14th October 1938 the final plans were drawn up for the construction of the bombproof war headquarters deep underground at the Dollis Hill research station. The same team was employed on the plans as had been responsible for the adaptation of the Storeys Gate War Room. CWR2 as it became known would duplicate the facilities of CWR1 (Storeys Gate), the two major rooms being the map room with a usable wall surface of 1000 square feet and a cabinet room with seating for 30 people. All these would be located in a sub-basement 40 feet below ground.
The sub-basement would be protected by a roof of concrete five feet thick (probably in two layers with an intervening layer of gravel as a shock-absorber) while over it would be a first basement considerably larger in area, protected by another reinforced concrete roof
three and a half feet thick with similar protection on the sides. The entrance to this citadel would be concealed within a new three-storey building already planned by the Post Office to meet its own peace-time needs; only one storey was eventually built. The cost of the war HQ was put at nearly £250,000.
As built, the citadel was oblong in shape, running parallel with Brook Road under the north-east corner of the research station grounds. The two basements were longer and wider than the surface building with the first basement extending under the pavement of Brook Road.
Excavation started at the beginning of 1939 without attracting much attention although it involved earth-shifting on a massive scale. Construction work and fitting out were finished by June 1940 in line with the original 1938 plan and CWR2 was ready for use by the War Cabinet.
...The War Cabinet met at PADDOCK at 11.30 a.m. on 3rd October 1940. The meeting was attended by Churchill, twelve other Ministers and the three Chiefs of Staff. Churchill was not impressed by PADDOCK, in a minute to the Cabinet Secretary on October 22nd he wrote "The accommodation at PADDOCK is quite unsuited to the conditions which have arisen" and he told one of his chief war advisors Sir Edward Bridges, "The War Cabinet cannot live and work there for weeks on end .... PADDOCK should be treated as a last resort"
... In October 1940, shortly after the first War Cabinet meeting at Dollis Hill, a descriptive note was written about daily life at PADDOCK. "Government now occupied not only the 19 rooms of the basement and the 18 rooms of the subbasement but also the ground floor with its 22 rooms and lavatories. These rooms were used predominantly for work while other workrooms were available in the main Post Office building. Staff could use the Post Office canteen for meals and had living and sleeping accommodation in Neville's Court, where about thirty NCOs and men were quartered so as to allow a 24-hour guard over the whole complex to be maintained."
...After the war the upper basement and above ground building were used by the post office as extra laboratory space and some rooms were used for recreational activities; the staff drama group also used the bunker as a changing room after performances. The research station closed 1974 when the Post Office moved out to Martlesham Heath in Suffolk. The Post Office finally vacated the site in September 1976.
For a few years Cadbury Schweppes occupied the building as offices but in the early 1980's whole site became the Dollis Hill Industrial Estate. It would appear that the bunker was not used during this period.
In 1981 Paddock was suggested as a replacement for the North London Group War Room at Partingdale Lane, Mill Hill at a cost of £300,000. The plan was rejected by the GLC because of water seepage. At that time there was an inch of standing water in the sub-basement. Part of the site was acquired by Network Housing Association in May 1997....as part of the sale Brent Council required Network Housing to make the bunker safe and open it on at least two days a year to the general public...Today PADDOCK remains very damp with water ingress on both levels but the pumps ensure that the water doesn't build up to an unacceptable level in the sub-basement.
[Subterranea Britannica website]