Swindon Group
About the event
10.20am to 12pm, Saturday 05 July 2025
Join us on for a guided tour into one of the WWII bunkers at Coleshill.
Meet at the Welcome point in the Dutch barn in the main car park ready for a 10.30 start.
A Second World War Operational Bunker (OB), built by the Special Auxiliary Services and thought to be the prototype for other OB's constructed during the war.
During WWII Coleshill House was used for training of the Auxiliary Units whose role was to go to ground and undertake acts of sabotage in the event of a German invasion. Special underground bunkers were therefore built and one surviving bunker at Coleshill is located on the north edge of the park in the belt of woodland.
The base of the shaft leads to a small room on the north side of the bunker which served as a kitchen. A small niche leading off this served as the toilet. At the opposite (south) end of the bunker there is a narrow passage with a smaller room leading off serving as a magazine and store. Most of the passage has collapsed but originally it served as a means of escape with a small hatch door opening within the construction of the ha ha wall.
The bunker was cleared of debris and partially restored by the Coleshill warden, Keith Blaxall, in the early 1990s.
NB Entry into the bunker is via a vertical brick-lined shaft with an iron ladder secured against the north wall of the shaft.
Blakes Kitchen cafe is on site where breakfast /lunch is available. The cafe is busy and it is advised to pre order your food directly with them. The Radnor Arms is the village pub too.
BOOKING AND PREPAYMENT REQUIRED VIA THE EVENTBRITE LINK AVAILABLE FROM THE SWINDON GROUP.
£7.50 pp
Coleshill Village , Coleshill, Nr Swindon, Oxfordshire, SN6 7PT. (Meet at the Welcome point in the Dutch barn in the main car park)
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