IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
INNERLEITHEN, EH44 6PT

With plantations of Tweeddale on the hills beyond.

An 'Orlit' (pre-cast concrete) 'A' aircraft observation building. This is a rectangular building 10' by 6'8". The building was split into two sections, the entrance door led into the smaller roofed section which was used as a shelter and store with a sliding door into the open section which housed the post instrument and chart on top of a wooden mounting. The compound in the background houses Traquair ROC Post.

Opened in 1962 and closed in 1991, this is one of over 300 Royal Observer Corps (ROC) posts across Scotland. In the Cold War era the job of the ROC was to report the positions of the nuclear bomb strikes and monitor resulting fallout areas and relay these back to Group Headquarters.

Milestone by the B709, in parish of Traquair (Peebles District), Fingland Bridge, Traquair, in verge in front of fence, right hand side of gateway, North side of road. Inscription once read:- (Peebles) (8) Surveyed Milestone Society National ID: BD_ILTL02

One of almost 1560 underground observation posts spaced about 8 miles apart from 1956 to 1962 for monitoring the extent and location of nuclear weapon strikes during the Cold War years. Each bunker was designed to house four men 12 feet below ground with food and water supplies sufficient to sustain them ‘in a state of bearable discomfort for one week.’ In the event of a nuclear strike the observers were to use simple instruments to estimate the direction and size of the bomb blast and report results by telephone to one of 29 Group Headquarters. (Source: ‘Cold War Secret Nuclear Bunkers’ by Nick McCamley, Pen & Sword Military Classics, Barnsley 2007.)

Cold War observation bunker, I used to think they were waterboard properties although playground gossip did identify the locations of some "secret bunkers".

A silage store beside the bridge.

With Lee Pen in the background: it seems to pop up in half the photographs I take in this area.