Inside an underground British city built to survive the nuclear apocalypse with a maze of secret tunnels

The underground network of tunnels and secret rooms near Corsham, Wiltshire, was built during the Cold War and remained top secret for five decades - but is still isolated from the public

The switchboard room inside the bunker (

Image: Crown copyright

Buried deep beneath the British countryside is a maze of tunnels dug as the new seat of government in the event of a nuclear apocalypse.

The bunker - codenamed Burlington - was built in the late 1950s as fears of attacks grew during the Cold War.

Fortunately, it was never used for its intended purpose, but the labyrinthine underground network of rooms near Corsham, Wiltshire, has remained untouched ever since.

Built to house around 4,000 government officials, the royal family and scientists, Burlington would have been where then-Prime Minister Harold Macmillan hid in the impending apocalypse and continued to run the country - or what would be left of it.

Burlington is an incredible maze of underground tunnels built to withstand a nuclear apocalypse (

Picture:

Crown copyright)

The 15 hectare base was built in a disused quarry and includes a kitchen, canteen, accommodation, laundry facilities and even a makeshift hospital, with enough space to live for up to three months.

Eerie images show its abandoned tunnels, strollers to navigate them and even a switchboard to communicate with the world above.

Burlington also had an underground lake as its main water supply and 12 tanks of fuel to run the generators for three months, keeping the bunker at a relatively comfortable 20°C.