A former nuclear bunker has been sold at auction for £20,000 to an anonymous buyer.

The bunker, which is situated on freehold land at the Roding Valley Nature Reserve in Chigwell, was sold by Clive Emson Auctioneers on Monday (May 11) at the Channel Golf Club in Chelmsford to a telephone buyer who topped the leading bid by £2,000.

The 13ft by 9ft bunker, which was built between the late 1950s and early 1960s as part of a network of 1,500 Cold War monitoring stations, is likely to be transformed into a study centre, the auctioneers said.

The United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisations and the Royal Observer Corps (ROC) built the underground chamber for the purpose of reporting nuclear attacks and monitoring subsequent fall-out.

It was decommissioned in 1981.

Epping Forest Guardian:

The Chigwell bunker was decommissioned in 1981.

Paul Bridgeman, auctioneer and president of the National Association of Auctioneers and Valuers, said: “The bunker was sold to a telephone bidder who, I understand, may turn it into a study centre.

“We achieved an excellent price - beating a previous one in Kent that sold for £18,000 – thanks in part to its stunning location in the nature reserve.”