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Inverbervie Cold War Radar Station Bunker

Bervie Brow, Inverbervie, Aberdeenshire, (Kincardineshire).

Underground bunker.

A large (10,000 sq ft) underground bunker that was self-contained and intended to survive a nuclear blast. The arrangement and style is similar to the base at Troy Wood in Fife (now Scotland's Secret Bunker), although Inverbervie was much smaller. [Gazetteer for Scotland]

The Inverbervie CEW (Centimetric Early Warning) Radar Station was built in 1952 and consisted of a single storey bunker accessed from the standard design guardhouse/bungalow built of local stone. In the 1960's the site was taken over by the US Navy. During this period the bunker was substantially modified and converted into two levels. Despite the US modification the plant room remains in original condition and is the best surviving example of its type (CEW / R1). [Sub' Britannica]

Alternative Names: Bervie Brow Research Station, RAF Inverbervie

Notes: This site is now a private home with no visitor access.

The Station was built as a Royal Air Force technical site for secret signals intelligence, first becoming operational in 1953 as part of the UK's early-warning radar network against the threat of atomic attack. Later, the installation was repurposed as a listening station for US Naval cryptologists and latterly as an emergency communications centre for the British Army. It was closed and sold by the Ministry of Defence in 1999. [Harry Willis Fleming]