Castle Hill Woods is a well love West Midlands beauty spot, sitting just behind Dudley Castle is steeped in history but there is a hidden history many don’t know about.
Whilst Castle Hill Woods might look ordinary, nestled in a quiet corner of the woodland is a metal hatch which conceals a large underground bunker. The function of the bunker has been a longtime curiosity but local historians have guessed what it could have been used for.
They believe it was used by staff at the neighbouring Castle Mill Works during the Second World War, perhaps as an air raid shelter. One local explorer Antøny Dimitri ventured inside the spooky bunker to see what lay behind the mysterious metal hatch.
Today, Castle Mill is home to a number of industrial units, but it was once owned by Lord Dudley, according to the BBC. According to local historians, the factory played an important role in WWII where it was used to produce engines for various modes of transport, including aeroplanes.
The hidden bunker lies to the back of the factory, and is only accessible via a small hole at the top of the metal door, BirminghamLive reports.. The bunker itself is pitch black inside, with only a few beams of light able to enter through the entrance.
Pictures show the arches structure of the bunker are still intact. There is a doorway towards the end of the bunker which leads to another small room. There is graffiti on the walls, and rubbish dumped on the floor.
Whether or not this is a real WWII bunker is hard to ascertain through historical records, but we know that thousands of bunkers dating back to the Second World War and the Cold War lie disused and deserted across the UK. Bunkers were specifically important near factory sites, areas deemed strategic military targets by enemy bombers.
Some, such as the Kelvedon Hatch in Essex, have been preserved to provide a historic record of what these shelters were like - but the majority remain derelict. This bunker in Castle Hill Woods is not the only bunker in the West Midlands. You can see inside some of the region’s other fascinating bunkers here.