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A secret bunker used by Winston Churchill during the Second World War was disguised as a decorative garden, new research has revealed.
Archaeological work at the site in Uxbridge, west London, has established it had numerous defences against both aerial and ground attack.
The bunker, built 86 years ago some 60 feet below ground, included an underground operations room which was fundamental to Britain’s war effort.
From there, the country’s response to direct attacks from the Luftwaffe was coordinated by RAF Fighter Command 11 Group. And it was here, on a visit in August 1940, that Churchill first uttered the famous words: ‘Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.’
The survey has revealed that deep levels of earth and concrete were piled up to protect the bunker from aerial attack. Defences such as gun pits and barbed wire were also introduced to counter a potential ground invasion from German parachutists.
Studies of historic aerial images suggest the area was camouflaged as an ornamental garden to match the landscape of nearby Hillingdon House.
‘The discovery of the multiple and layered defences employed to keep this secret nerve-centre safe tells us something of the fear of the bunker being compromised, which could have spelled disaster for the country,’ said Sandy Kidd, archaeologist with Historic England.
Archaeologists from the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA), who worked with Historic England on the dig, also found a large Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament symbol scratched on a pillbox. It is unknown when this piece of graffiti was created.
The bunker itself is now a popular tourist attraction, with visitors able to see the operations room, containing a large map table and squadron display boards, exactly as it would have looked when Churchill visited in 1940.
