During World War II, a concrete underground wireless control room was built into the inner rampart of the Iron Age hillfort at Old Sarum. This was one of several structures built as a ‘Battle Headquarters’ belonging to the anti-invasion defences of Old Sarum Airfield. A hexagonal brick pillbox on top of the control room was the only above ground element of the structure. A grainy photograph survives when it was extant. In 1961 the Minister of Works approved the demolition of the pillbox and the control room was converted to public toilets for visitors to Old Sarum.
Exactly 60 years later, archaeological investigation by Context One as part of renovation works discovered that the pillbox was only reduced to the level of the rampart with the lower part of the pillbox still surviving. The excavation of this revealed a floor hatch and ladder down to a previously bricked-up chamber that was re-discovered during the renovation work.
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