Description:The Royal Observatory Corps (ROC) were a group of volunteers intended to provide the Home Office with information during a nuclear attack; such as position and magnitude of any nuclear bombs dropped on British soil, in order to figure out the distribution and strength of a radioactive fallout. Bunkers like this one were roughly 25 metres underground and only big enough for two or three observers, some monitoring equipment and a chemical toilet. It would have been a cold and cramped workspace.
These bunkers were part of a widespread secret response to the possibility of nuclear attack, built up between 1958 and 1968. Local councils were expected to maintain their own bunkers, keep them well-stocked with food and bedding and service the emergency generators. Many of the bunkers were under council buildings, for example Newcastle-under-Lyme's was under the Civic Offices and Staffordshire's main centre was under the County Buildings in Stafford. None of these facilities were ever used and the ROC was shut down in 1995.