No country in the world built and then abandoned as much military infrastructure as Britain did in the 20th century. Two World Wars and a forty-year Cold War created an extraordinary density of airfields, radar stations, coastal forts, underground bunkers and military camps across England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland — most of which were decommissioned and left to decay when the threat they were built to counter passed. These are the finest abandoned military sites in the UK, selected from our Abandoned Places Map UK — 640+ GPS locations including the UK's most significant derelict military heritage.
Whether you're drawn by the Cold War nuclear bunkers, the WWII Lancaster bomber stations or the Victorian coastal artillery forts, the UK's abandoned military landscape is the most varied and most historically layered in Europe.
🏴 England – Airfields, Bunkers and Cold War Secrets
Burlington Underground City — Corsham, Wiltshire
Britain's most extraordinary Cold War secret — a 35-acre underground city built beneath the Corsham quarries in the 1950s-1960s to house the Prime Minister, Cabinet and 4,000 government officials after a Soviet nuclear attack. With its own BBC studio, hospital, power station and underground lake, Burlington was Britain's shadow government in waiting. Declassified 2004, decommissioned and documented by Atlas Obscura as one of the most extraordinary pieces of Cold War infrastructure in the world.
🔗 Source: Atlas Obscura – Burlington Underground City Corsham
RAF Bentwaters — Rendlesham, Suffolk
A Cold War USAF fighter base closed in 1993 — internationally famous as the site of the 1980 Rendlesham Forest UFO incident, whose hardened aircraft shelters stored nuclear weapons and whose derelict station buildings are documented by Atlas Obscura as one of the most significant Cold War heritage sites in Britain. The nuclear weapon storage bunkers, the HAS shelters and the station buildings create a derelict Cold War landscape without parallel in East Anglia.
🔗 Source: Atlas Obscura – RAF Bentwaters Suffolk
RAF Binbrook — Lincolnshire Wolds
One of Britain's most famous derelict RAF stations — a WWII bomber base that continued as a Cold War Lightning fighter station until 1988, whose officers' mess with original furnishings, station church and technical buildings stand in legendary atmospheric dereliction on the Wolds plateau. Consistently named among the UK's most significant and most atmospherically complete abandoned military sites.
🔗 Also read: Top 5 Abandoned Places in England →
🏴 Scotland – Highland Weapons Ranges and Cold War Energy
RAF Tain Airfield — Easter Ross, Highland
A 1941 WWII weapons range and airfield derelict since approximately 1980 — one of only three UK sites used to drop training bombs in its later operational life, listed among Scotland's ten largest derelict sites by The Ferret (2025). The Easter Ross landscape, the Dornoch Firth visible to the north and forty years of progressive return to the landscape create a derelict military atmosphere unique in the Scottish Highlands.
🔗 Source: The Ferret – Scotland's Largest Derelict Sites 2025
Dounreay Nuclear Power Station — Caithness, Highland
Britain's most unusual decommissioned nuclear installation — an experimental fast breeder reactor whose iconic concrete sphere on the Caithness coast is one of Scotland's most recognisable industrial silhouettes. Documented by Atlas Obscura as one of the most extraordinary Cold War energy landscape in Britain; the sphere and surrounding infrastructure in slow decommissioning above the Pentland Firth create an abandoned industrial experience without parallel.
🔗 Also read: Top 5 Abandoned Places in Scotland →
🏴 Wales – Coastal Artillery and Hilltop Radar
RAF Sealand — Flintshire, North Wales
A 1916 WWII and Cold War RAF station on the Dee Estuary — one of the earliest purpose-built military airfields in Britain, whose extraordinary operational history spans from WWI biplanes to Cold War jets. The derelict station buildings, original 1916 infrastructure and Dee Estuary setting create one of the most historically layered abandoned military sites in Wales.
🔗 Source: Coflein – RAF Sealand Flintshire Wales
Weybourne Military Camp — North Norfolk (accessible from North Wales)
A WWII anti-aircraft training camp on the North Norfolk coast — the original camp buildings, Nissen hut remains and beach defence infrastructure in atmospheric dereliction above the Norfolk pebble beach. The North Sea facing position and the anti-aircraft training history create a WWII coastal defence landscape that complements the Welsh coastal fortification heritage.
🔗 Also read: Top 5 Abandoned Places in Wales →
🇮🇪 Ireland – Barracks, Garrisons and the End of British Military Occupation
Ebrington Barracks — Derry / Londonderry
A British Army garrison that occupied the Foyle Waterside from 1841 to 2003 — excluding the Derry community from 85 years of their own riverfront. The Victorian and Edwardian barrack buildings and parade ground in atmospheric dereliction on the Foyle; the combination of the 85-year community exclusion, the Troubles context and the Foyle setting make Ebrington the most historically charged piece of derelict military heritage in Northern Ireland.
🔗 Also read: Top 5 Abandoned Places in Ireland →
❓ FAQ – Abandoned Military Sites in the UK
Why did the UK abandon so many military bases?
The end of the Cold War in 1991 triggered the largest round of military base closures since 1945 — the "Options for Change" defence review cut the British Armed Forces by a third between 1990 and 1995. Dozens of RAF stations, Army camps and Royal Navy shore establishments were decommissioned in a five-year period. The bases were designed for military use and proved almost impossible to convert; many were simply locked and left.
What is the most famous abandoned RAF station in the UK?
RAF Binbrook in Lincolnshire — a WWII and Cold War station whose officers' mess with original furnishings, the mess bar still stocked with empty bottles and the station buildings in atmospheric dereliction have made it one of the most documented and most visited abandoned RAF sites in England. RAF Bentwaters in Suffolk, with its Rendlesham Forest UFO incident connection, is the most internationally famous.
Are Cold War bunkers still accessible in the UK?
Many Cold War ROC (Royal Observer Corps) posts and smaller bunkers are still accessible, often in open countryside. Burlington at Corsham is the most extraordinary but access is tightly controlled. Regional emergency government bunkers, radar facilities and communications stations vary hugely in accessibility; some have been converted to tourist attractions, others remain in private ownership and dereliction.
Why does the UK have so many abandoned WWII airfields?
Britain built over 700 airfields between 1939 and 1945 — a construction programme of extraordinary speed and scale made possible by the flat agricultural terrain of eastern England and the Lincolnshire plain. When the war ended, most were returned to agriculture but the runways, perimeter tracks, control towers and technical site buildings proved too expensive to demolish; hundreds survive in various states of dereliction across the English countryside.
Safety – Abandoned Military Sites UK
- Unexploded ordnance: some UK military sites — particularly former weapons ranges like RAF Tain — may have unexploded ordnance in the ground. Never approach any metal object on the ground at a former military site; report any suspicious items to the police
- Asbestos: endemic in pre-1980 military buildings — FFP2 mask mandatory in any enclosed space
- Underground infrastructure: Cold War bunkers and tunnel systems may have poor air quality, structural instability and no emergency access — never enter underground military structures alone or without appropriate equipment
- Never explore alone
The urbex code: "Take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints."
🎯 Summary – Best Abandoned Military Sites in the UK
From Burlington's 35-acre underground government city to the nuclear-armed Cold War bunkers of RAF Bentwaters and the WWII Lightning fighter station of RAF Binbrook, the UK's abandoned military sites span the full range of 20th-century warfare from the first airfields of 1916 to the Cold War nuclear stand-off of 1989. Every site in this guide is GPS-mapped in our UK collection.
Abandoned Places Map UK
- ✓ 640+ GPS locations — England, Scotland, Wales & Ireland
- ✓ Abandoned military sites, airfields, bunkers & more
- ✓ Instant access after purchase
- ✓ Free updates forever
19,99€
Explore All 640+ Locations →
