You might be mistaken for thinking that these photos are from a Cold War time capsule but they are in fact from a war room that was hidden by what is now one of Cardiff’s busiest roundabouts. In 1952 Coryton was chosen as the site of one of 13 regional war rooms across the UK which were designed and built in case a nuclear attack on Whitehall made central government impossible to continue. You can see more of the underground bunkers of south Wales that have been left to rot here.
The bunker remained operational until around 1958 when it became a training centre for Regional Seats of Government staff - the system that replaced the regional war rooms. It was then taken over by Cardiff’s Civil Defence Corps who used the building for training until 1968.
After the corps disbanded the building was once again used for training for the South Glamorgan Emergency Centre until the end of the Cold War in 1991 before the building's eventual demolition in 2003. The charity AWEN based at Whitchurch Library runs regular history talks and described the regional war room as being located behind Wales and the Marches Telecom Board HQ at Coryton, close to Junction 32 and the M4 motorway.
