Those old enough to have lived through the Cold War will remember the constant and terrifying threat of nuclear attack.With international tensions at a dangerously high level in the latter half of the 20th century, it is no surprise that the UK Government had plans in place to keep high-ranking members of the Government and Royal Family safe in case the worst came to pass.Among these was the construction of a bunker buried 100 feet under Corstorphine Hill and beneath 10 foot of reinforced concrete, which was Scotland's first line of defence against the threat of a nuclear attack.The Category-A listed structure was originally built during the Second World War to serve as the RAF's operations command centre for all of Scotland's radar stations.
It was expanded and converted into a nuclear bunker in 1952. In the event that the Queen and her family were at their residence in Edinburgh at the time of a nuclear attack, they would have fled to the bunker.
It was redesignated in the 1960s as part of a national scheme known as Regional Seats of Government (RSG) that was a secret until 1963, when their existence was unearthed by anti-war activist group Spies for Peace.
RSGs were a network of civil defence bunkers from which the UK could be governed in the event of a nuclear attack.One of the biggest subterranean military sites in the UK, the Barnton Quarry Nuclear Bunker was built over three storeys.
Read more on dailyrecord.co.uk