A NUCLEAR bunker "with a view to die for" is being auctioned over the internet following a Royal Observer Corps clear out, reports Karen Barden.

Hawkshead's answer to monitoring Armageddon is one of 13 being offered throughout the North West and is seen as the ultimate bunker buy.

Positioned on a hilltop, next to the village graveyard, the subterranean station was built in the 1950s at the height of the cold war to monitor the progress of a nuclear attack on the UK.

Rob Ward, of Lincoln-based chartered surveyors J.H. Walter, who are handling the sale, said while shelters in Flookburgh and Dent were also on offer, Hawkshead was the jewel.

Although the 15ft deep, 15ft by 8ft observation post and adjoining Elsan tin chemical lavatory space is spartan, to the point of being bleak, the patch of land above it is something else.

"This is a very special 300 square metres," explained Mr Ward. "You look over Hawkshead, the mountains and Esthwaite Water down below. They are views to die for and cover a whole 360 degrees."

Bidding started on eBay auction yesterday (Thursday) at 5.30pm and will run through to 5.30pm, on Sunday, June 1. Mr Ward expected plenty of interest over the ten days. All 13 bunkers are being offered at the same time.

J. H. Walter has already sold a similar site in Lincolnshire for £8,200. Hopes are high that Hawkshead's piece of history will make far more. Mr Ward said it would be "the perfect location for bunkhouse accommodation".

He said he understood a group of Morris Men had bought a bunker in another area.

They were designed to protect a three-man team from nuclear fallout and built under strict Royal Observer Corps guidelines. Hidden behind hedges and in the corners of fields on high ground, they all followed the same pattern.

Equipped with instruments to measure radioactive fallout and the force of a nuclear bomb blast, they also had a Ground Zero Indicator, which projected the fireball image on to photographic paper. Lighting was provided by a 12 volt battery

Hawkshead's buyer will presumably inherit cracked lino, a couple of old mats, a list of first aid instructions and a rusting petrol can.

"Part of the bunker chain was decommissioned during defence cuts in the late 1960s," explained Mr Ward. "The rest remained in use until they were decommissioned in 1992, following the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War."

Log on to http://www.ebay.co.uk for bunker sale details.

May 23, 2003 09:30