Wiltshire's underground city

BBC Learning EnglishWeekenderWiltshire's underground city
Callum: Hello, I'm Callum Robertson and this is Weekender.
　　To the west of London about 90 minutes drive on a good dayis the county ofWiltshire. It's one of those typically English countieswith rolling hills and green fields, with small countryvillages with their thatched roofed houses. At least that'show I think of it as my grandparents lived in one of thoseidyllic little villages and I spent many happy holidaysthere as a child.
　　As well as being typically English Wiltshire is also astrange and mysterious county. It's home to Stonehenge, thecircle of huge stones constructed about4000 years ago and also the village of Avebury which issituated within a much larger ring of stones thanStonehenge.
　　Nobody really knows why these rings were built and theyhold many mysteries. But there is another stone structureunder the ground of Wiltshire which islarger still, much more modern but which untilcomparatively recently was TopSecret. Top Secret, only a few people knew of itsexistence.
　　40 metres below the town of Corsham lies a huge structure.
　　It's an underground city which was built out of an oldstone quarry 1 - a place where rock was cut to be used forhouses in the nearby city of Bath. The underground city hasa hospital, library, telephone exchange, enormous kitchens,a bbc studio. There are offices and accommodation for 4,000people with fuel and water suppliesfor 3 months. There's even a pub!
　　The site which is more than a kilometre long and has nearly100 kilometres ofroads was codenamed, BurlingtonSo what was Burlington? Well there's a bit of clue in thephrase that it was'codenamed' Burlington – a codename is a secret name givento something which usually has a connection to the militaryor government. Also the fact that knowledge of itsexistence was Top Secret is another clue.
　　Burlington was built at the height of the Cold War. TheCold War, the period of high political and military tensionbetween the then Soviet 2 Union and the West. From the late1950's until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 the fearof nuclear war hung over much of the world. Burlington wasbuilt as a place where the Prime Minister, the Governmentand thousands of civil servants could go to escape from andsurvive a nuclear attack. The country would then have beenrun from the bunker.
　　Historian 3 Professor Peter Hennessy describes the entranceto Burlington which is on a military communications base onthe surface, at ground level.
　　Professor Peter HennessyOn the surface it looks like any standard militaryinstallation, it's a mixture of brickwork and green paintedcement but when you go through that little green doorthere's a lift, two lifts in fact to the end of the world.
　　There's just two letters inside the lift. G for Ground andQ for quarry.
　　Callum: At ground level you can't tell that Burlingtonexists. It looks like a normal military building. But thereis a lift which Professor Hennessy says goes 'to the end ofthe world'. By this he means that if ever it were used forreal it would mean there was a nuclear war in progress. Theend of the world.
　　Professor Peter HennessyOn the surface it looks like any standard militaryinstallation, it's a mixture of brickwork and green paintedcement but when you go through that little green doorthere's a lift, two lifts in fact to the end of the world.
　　There's just two letters inside the lift. G for Ground andQ for quarry.
　　Callum: Fortunately the prospect 4 of nuclear war was neverso close that Burlington was used, in fact many of theitems stored there were not even unpacked 5 but it was stillbeing prepared for use as late as 1989 when the telephonesystem was upgraded 6. Not too long after it wasdecommissioned, which means that itwould never be used for its original purpose.
　　Andy Quinn2nd March 92 system switched off, we have records thatprove in 1992 the system was actually switched offCallum: That was Andy Quinn, the manger of the quarry inwhich Burlington was built reading an entry from theofficial log book, the official diary of Burlington. Thesystem was switched off on March 2nd, 1992.
　　Andy Quinn2nd March 92 system switched off, we have records thatprove in 1992 the system was actually switched offNow Burlington stands empty and declassified 7 which meansthat it is no longer top secret. There are plans to use itas a storage area or maybe as huge wine cellar 8 but it isunlikely it will become a tourist attraction.
　　Does this mean that the threat of nuclear war is goneforever? Or maybe itmeans that somewhere else, deep underground in the Englishcountryside is another more modern city waiting for a daywhen the government comes to stay?
　　BBC Learning EnglishWeekenderWiltshire's underground cityCallum: Hello, I'm Callum Robertson and this is Weekender.
　　To the west of London about 90 minutes drive on a good dayis the county ofWiltshire. It's one of those typically English countieswith rolling hills and green fields, with small countryvillages with their thatched roofed houses. At least that'show I think of it as my grandparents lived in one of thoseidyllic little villages and I spent many happy holidaysthere as a child.
　　As well as being typically English Wiltshire is also astrange and mysterious county. It's home to Stonehenge, thecircle of huge stones constructed about4000 years ago and also the village of Avebury which issituated within a much larger ring of stones thanStonehenge.
　　Nobody really knows why these rings were built and theyhold many mysteries. But there is another stone structureunder the ground of Wiltshire which islarger still, much more modern but which untilcomparatively recently was top secret. Top secret, only afew people knew of its existence.
　　40 metres below the town of Corsham lies a huge structure.
　　It's an underground city which was built out of an oldstone quarry - a place where rock was cut to be used forhouses in the nearby city of Bath. The underground city hasa hospital, library, telephone exchange, enormous kitchens,a bbc studio. There are offices and accommodation for 4,000people with fuel and water suppliesfor 3 months. There's even a pub!
　　Weekender  ? BBC Learning EnglishPage 1 of 4bbclearningenglish.comThe site which is more than a kilometre long and has nearly100 kilometres ofroads was codenamed, BurlingtonSo what was Burlington? Well there's a bit of clue in thephrase that it was'codenamed' Burlington – a codename is a secret name givento something which usually has a connection to the militaryor government. Also the fact that knowledge of itsexistence was top secret is another clue.
　　Burlington was built at the height of the Cold War. TheCold War, the period of high political and military tensionbetween the then Soviet Union and the West. From the late1950's until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 the fearof nuclear war hung over much of the world. Burlington wasbuilt as a place where the Prime Minister, the Governmentand thousands of civil servants could go to escape from andsurvive a nuclear attack. The country would then have beenrun from the bunker.
　　Historian Professor Peter Hennessy describes the entranceto Burlington which is on a military communications base onthe surface, at ground level.
　　Professor Peter HennessyOn the surface it looks like any standard militaryinstallation, it's a mixture of brickwork and green paintedcement but when you go through that little green doorthere's a lift, two lifts in fact to the end of the world.
　　There's just two letters inside the lift. G for Ground andQ for quarry.
　　Callum: At ground level you can't tell that Burlingtonexists. It looks like a normal military building. But thereis a lift which Professor Hennessy says goes 'to the end ofthe world'. By this he means that if ever it were used forreal it would mean there was a nuclear war in progress. Theend of the world.
　　Professor Peter HennessyOn the surface it looks like any standard militaryinstallation, it's a mixture of brickwork and green paintedcement but when you go through that little green doorthere's a lift, two lifts in fact to the end of the world.
　　There's just two letters inside the lift. G for Ground andQ for quarry.
　　Callum: Fortunately the prospect of nuclear war was neverso close that Burlington was used, in fact many of theitems stored there were not even unpacked but it was stillbeing prepared for use as late as 1989 when the telephonesystem was upgraded. Not too long after it wasdecommissioned, which means that itwould never be used for its original purpose.
　　Andy Quinn2nd March 92 system switched off, we have records thatprove in 1992 the system was actually switched offCallum: That was Andy Quinn, the manger of the quarry inwhich Burlington was built reading an entry from theofficial log book, the official diary of Burlington. Thesystem was switched off on March 2nd, 1992.
　　Andy Quinn2nd March 92 system switched off, we have records thatprove in 1992 the system was actually switched offNow Burlington stands empty and declassified which meansthat it is no longer top secret. There are plans to use itas a storage area or maybe as huge wine cellar but it isunlikely it will become a tourist attraction.
　　Does this mean that the threat of nuclear war is goneforever? Or maybe itmeans that somewhere else, deep underground in the Englishcountryside is another more modern city waiting for a daywhen the government comes to stay?