Churchill and the Cabinet War Rooms
Learn more about the Cabinet War Rooms used by Sir Winston Churchill and his Ministers during the Second World War.

By 1936 war was becoming increasingly likely and preparations were begun to allow the Government to continue in the event of air raids. Plans were made to provide the Prime Minister and his Cabinet with a secure site and by 1938 a suitable location was found.

Sir Winston Churchill
Arthur Pan
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Situated very close to the Prime Minister's residence in Downing Street (see map), work began in 1938 on converting a basement, 10 feet below ground level, into a suitable set of rooms. They were first used by the Cabinet in October 1939.

When Churchill became Prime Minister in 1940, he was given a bedroom in the Cabinet War Rooms but he rarely used it, in spite of the advice of his officials, preferring instead to remain at 10 Downing Street. That is, however, when he wasn't on the roof of a building watching the air raids!

Amongst the facilities offered by the Cabinet War Rooms were:

• the Cabinet Office
• the Map Room
• Transatlantic Telephone Room with a direct line to the President in the White House

On 16th August 1945, after the Japanese surrender, the door to the Cabinet War Rooms was locked and left as it had been during the war. In 1948, it was declared an historic site but it was not opened to the public. In 1981 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher made the decision that it should be opened up and so over the following three years work was undertaken to preserve the artefacts in there and allow them to be seen by visitors.

On Display

• Today visitors can see Churchill's bedroom, complete with his desk, telephones and microphone for broadcasting via the BBC. This was also the place he met visiting VIPs.
• The Map Room is situated next to Sir Winston's bedroom at his insistence. This was in use throughout the war and was centre of activity. When the War Rooms were closed in August 1945, everything in this room was left exactly as we see it now.
• You can see the Cabinet Office where Churchill conducted meetings of his senior ministers.
• In spite of its grand name, the Transatlantic Telephone Room was once a broom cupboard and is surprisingly small for such an important function. Its link to the White House was the first 'hot line' between the leaders of the UK and USA. The telephone conversations were sent via a scrambler which had to housed in the basement of Selfridges department store because it was so huge there was no room for it elsewhere.
• The Churchill suite, opened in early April 2003, gives visitors the opportunity to see the rooms used by Clementine Churchill, Sir Winston's wife, and the Chief of Staff's planning room.

Work is continuing on the Cabinet War Rooms including the opening of a new Churchill museum, due for completion in January 2005.

Buy the The Complete Churchill Biography DVD set from the History Channel.

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Copyright © 2003 Carol Fisher. All Rights Reserved