# Wartling ROTOR bunker April 2010



## Newage (Apr 8, 2010)

Hi All

Well on Saturday 3rd of April Subbrit arranged a day long visit to the now derelict cold war radar bunker at Wartling in east Sussex.
The bunker was home to the ROTOR radar program being built in 1953 when the system became out of date the bunker was sold off by
the MOD in 1976 the bunker was sealed but the entrance bungalow was turned in to a private house. But the bunker remained unused 
and derelict below and filling up with water (one hell of a lot of water).

In 2004 Subbrit and it's members raised the money to have the now flooded bunker pumped out and opened back up.

The bunker is so big that with even 40 plus members of Subbrit and KURG down there no one got in anybodys way.

As usual Fluffy was there with me and we meet up with Godzilla73 so enough of this ramble and on with the pictures.

First off is the emergency exit shaft, this is now the only way in as all the others have be sealed.







Subbrit did install some lights in the bunker but on the day thought it would add more atmos if they were left OFF, so in to total darknes in we went.

OMG is this place big, no not just big it's ******g massive. some areas on the bottom floor are still under water, now you can wade in to this as
it was "Only 3 feet deep" so Mr Catford said but you don't know what else lurks below.

Looking down the top floor passage way






First off a few room and fetures on the upper floor.On the left is the WRAF rest room and on the right is the RAF rest room.









Next up (Left) is the GPO power room and (Right) The Track telling room looking towards the new ops room
The feature in the distance is the Kelvin Hughes projector well









The KH projector would of been in the round well, the shot on the right is looking back towards the "Tracking room" 









OK sports fans its time to go down in to the lower level of the bunker, there are 2 stair wells one at each end of the bunker but this is the main one, which has no upper railings so
it's a straight drop to the floor below. The shot on the right is from the bottom and you can see where the water level in the bunker came too before it was pumped out in 2004.









This shot is about half way along the bottom floor passage way looking towards the second set of stairs with rooms off the the left and right, all these rooms are now flooded again.






But there are ways round this problem, if you like climing through cable runs and walking over air ducting. which I do and I think Godzilla has a few pictures to prove it.

The shot on the Left is in the Radar machine room and yes all the cable runns are full of water, the shot on the right is of the plant room as you can see water comes half way up
the door ways.









Round the back of the plant room is the chiller room where all the air chillers for the bunker are, this was reached by climing through an open air vent in the radar machine room wall
then climing over a fan unit and then along the side of one of the chiller units.

YIP-EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE DRY FEET









Ok now on to the star of the show, the main Ops room some of the shots are from the lower floor then
I moved back up to the top floor to get the last few shots.

















Looking down in to the flooded Ops room from the top floor.









The next shot was taken from the far side of the Ops room looking back across to the intercept room (Left) and the Chief controllers room (right) 






The picture on the left are the blast doors which protect the bunker along the main entrance way (now blocked) and
right next to the blast doors are these wire frame doors leading in to the former transformer room.









Well thats about it for the Wartling ROTOR bunker, very well done if you made it down this far.
Thanks must go to the land owners and the hard work from all the guys and girls from Subbrit if you want to know a
lot more about the history of the Wartling site you sould go to the Subbrit site.

http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/sites/w/wartling/index.html

And as usual if you want to see more of my pictures go to my FlickR page at 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/newage2/sets/72157623642292035/

Any and all comments are most welcome.

Cheers Newage


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## night crawler (Apr 8, 2010)

Ahh spotted this on Flickr earlyer and was impressed then. Think I may have to joing Subrit.Excilent report that even if Fluffy's bag was not shown.


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## chris (Apr 8, 2010)

Some nice pictures there - realise I missed one or two bits (or at least didn't get photos) on Saturday. 

Weren't you tempted to go wading? (it was pretty nasty imagining what one was walking on)


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## godzilla73 (Apr 8, 2010)

As Newage says it was dirty, wet and the floor kept disappearing. It was frakkin' great!!!! Here are few of my pics from the day - though not as good as Newage's there are a few other bits that are worth pointing out.

Firstly, there are holes in the floor everywhere and they are mostly full of water and other gunk. Fluff nearly had Newage climb down this one, until I suggested we throw something down it to see what was at the bottom. We then heard a very loud splash!!





As Newage says there are places where you can get quite good views of the ops room but you have to walk through the air ducts and across the timber joists as the floors have pretty much disappeared. This is a pic of Newage doing this and yes that is a 40 foot drop between his feet (Dont try this at home kids!)





Some other bits....
I loved the radar machine room, especially some of the cable runs on the floor and the original fuse cupboards and other stuff









It was huge - beautiful spaces for uninterrupted corridor shots and the like even with 40 plus of us down there.....

































Of course no visit would be complete without a visit to the two most important places in any bunker, namely the kitchen and the bogs....













But for me it was the small details (and the excellent company of course!) that made the visit so amazing..

















All in all, a top day out. Thanks to Newage and the Fluffster and anyone else we talked to for contributing to it. You can see more of my photos at
http://s336.photobucket.com/albums/n353/mechagodzilla73/Wartling%20ROTOR%20bunker/

Cheers
GDZ


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## godzilla73 (Apr 9, 2010)

Oh yeah and I meant to say "Hmmm....full of postwar radar goodness"
GDZ


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## Goldie87 (Apr 10, 2010)

Great stuff guys, its interesting to see whats left. I really must get to a ROTOR bunker this year.


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## hydealfred (Apr 10, 2010)

Excellent report and explore well done.


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## Newage (Apr 10, 2010)

Thanks guys

The place is fantastic, I was very tempted to go in to the water as I did have a set of waders with me
but they were top side in the explore wagon and I was having too much fun poking around.
Also you just don`t know what is lurking in the water well if you can call it water.

Newage


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## fluffy5518 (Apr 10, 2010)

Really cant tell you just how good an explore this really was !!! It was dark,dank,messy,damp,smelly and very crunchy under foot and this was only the journey in Newages exploremobil !!! When we arrived at the bunker it was even better !!Must confess tho this place really is a death trap - definately my kind of explore.!!Very social too was really great to meet up with our new mucka Godzilla73-or Godzy as he's now abrieviated-and he's just as bonkers as we are !!
PS It is well worth joining Sub Brit its less than £20 and these sorts of FREE trips are being organized more and more !! TOODLEPIP !!! OH NICE SHOTS LADS,by the way !!


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## fluffy5518 (Apr 10, 2010)

Feeling a tad bored so thought i'd show you yet more piccies of this place !! PAY ATTENTION AT THE BACK !!!
First off is the passageway leading to the former main entrance,this sums up the condition of this place.Apparantly the floorboards were teak (does anyone know why ?) so they were either sold off or stolen after the bunker was closed.The result is a kind of balancing act espescially when trying to set up a tripod !!




As far as i can remember the only room in which you can actually see the floorboards is this former VHF room which i presume was under water when the rest disappeared.




Of course,i suppose that the floorboards could still exist in the flooded sections but being as i didn't bring me scuba gear with me i had no intention of finding out.Some poor soul found out,however,when he inadvertantly stepped on a shiney bit but i forgot to ask him..Anyway this is looking across to the new ops room with the supports for the Kelvin Hughes projector visible on the LHS.




A couple more of the flooded lower section including an information blackboard in one of the Interceptor cabins.








The weird and wonderful RAF mess room with the serving hatch from the kitchen area and the snail like extractor ducting !!




A room on the upper floor showing the missing floorboards and the void beneath.




Upper corridor




and finally the remains of part of a transformer unit (i think) still with its amp gauge in place.




Whilst on the journey back this rather strange Type 26 pillbox was spotted on the originally proposed site for the Rotor bunker(abandoned,ironically,due to the likely hood of flooding !!) It is one of four or five on this site all with loopholes of a strange design in one corner !!S0008274 is the DOB number !!


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## Foxylady (Apr 10, 2010)

fluffy5518 said:


> Apparantly the floorboards were teak (does anyone know why ?)



Teak being a hardwood springs to mind, but I just googled for more info. Here ya go...

From Wiki.
"It is used in the manufacture of outdoor furniture, boat decks, and other articles where weather resistance is desired. It is also used for indoor flooring and as a veneer for indoor furnishings.
Teak, though easily worked, can cause severe blunting on edged tools because of the presence of silica in the wood. Teak's natural oils make it useful in exposed locations, and also termite and pest resistant. Teak is durable even when not treated with oil or varnish." 

Looks like you had a great day guys. Enjoyed your pics very much. Cheers. 
Godzy! Lol


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## godzilla73 (Apr 10, 2010)

Those corridor shots came out well Fluff. Well worth all that "Oi, mate don't walk down the corridor for a bit" stuff. And that detail shot of the Amp meter (or whatever it is) much better than mine which was complete pony

Me? Bonkers? Never!
Godzy (apparently)


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