Fort Widley is one of a number of Victorian era fortifications around Portsmouth situated on Portsdown Hill and was built between 1860 and 1868 to protect the city from an attack from the rear. In April of 2016 we got a chance to visit the fort that would include a tour of the cold war bunker buried beneath it so we jumped at the chance to take a look around. The bunker was accessed through a large door and down a long, metal staircase with a long tunnel then heading back to the war rooms.
Some of the maps and imagery as they related to nuclear fallout in the event of the cold war heating up were quite unnerving. I’m not entirely sure how effective a base the bunker would have been; its size didn’t seem to suggest it could be used for long periods. Nevertheless, the old military equipment and cold war feel from the place were excellent.
