Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms

• Location: London, England

The Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms are located in the basement of England's Treasury Department building, opposite St. James's Park on King Charles St. and Horse Guards Road. The Cabinet War Rooms were the central headquarters from which Prime Minister Winston Churchill directed Britain's military and political activities during World War II. Underground, the rooms were protected from overhead bombardment of German planes. The Map Room, Cabinet Room and Churchill's bedroom all still stand as they looked from 1940 until August 16, 1945, when the war was over and the rooms were no longer necessary. All the maps, pictures, notes, books, telephones and accessories were left untouched after the war.

The Map Room was the hub of the operations and is lined with maps of the war's various theaters. The Cabinet Room was used as the conference room for meetings between the prime minister and various ministers of his cabinet, as well as his chiefs of staff. Churchill's room included a bed for the occasions when it was too dangerous for him to return to 10 Downing Street at night. He made his radio broadcasts to the nation from this room and met heads of state and military figures here.

The Transatlantic Telephone Room was also preserved, showing the original hotline between Churchill and President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Telephone Room was connected to a scrambler (SIGSALY), allowing secure and private conversations.

Adjacent to the Cabinet War Rooms is the Churchill Museum, the first British museum dedicated to the Prime Minister. It is divided into five sections, beginning with Churchill's appointment as Prime Minister. The other sections include one on his childhood, one on his early political career, one on the period of what is referred to as the "gathering storm" (the period leading up to WWII) and a 15-meter (16-yard) long "lifeline" — an interactive table on which visitors can select different periods and events in Churchill's life.

Each visitor receives a headset with an audio tour.

How to get there:

• By tube:
  Nearest stations are Westminster (Jubilee, District or Circle Line) and St. James's Park (District and Circle Line).
• By train:
  
  • Charing Cross railway station is a 10-minute walk. You can also take a bus (#11 or #87) from there to the museum.
  • Victoria Station is a 15-minute walk. You may take the tube's District Line from there to Westminster or bus #11.
  • Waterloo Station is a 20-minute walk. You can take the tube's Jubilee Line to Westminster or bus #211.
• By bus:
  Buses # 3, 11, 12, 24, 53, 87, 88, 109, 148, 159, 184, 211 all go to the Churchill Museum.
• By car:
  There are two parking lots in the area: Abingdon Car Park on Great College Street and Trafalgar Car Park on Spring Gardens. Metered parking begins at 8:30 a.m. The museum is located in the London congestion charge zone; there is a daily charge of £8, Monday-Friday 7 a.m.-6:30 p.m. (except for public holidays).
• By boat:
  Westminster Pier is about an 8-minute walk from the Cabinet War Rooms. Regular boat tours of the River Thames operate on a daily basis.

The museums are handicapped-accessible. Since there are steps on the end of King Charles St., Great George St. is an easier route to travel. There are two wheelchairs available for public use. The museum has limited seating, but one can sit in the cafe — about halfway through the museum, and in the Churchill Museum — about one-third of the way through the tour.

An onsite cafeteria, The Switchroom Café, offers hot and cold food and beverages. It is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. There is also a souvenir and book shop at the end of the tour.

The Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms are open every day of the year except December 24-26. Visiting hours are 9:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m. (last admission at 5:00 p.m.).

Admission costs £11 for adults, £9 for students and senior citizens, £6 for the disabled (one assistant may enter with a disabled visitor for free). Admission is free for children under the age of 16.

Prices are subject to change.

• Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms, Official Site
• Imperial War Museum
• A Veteran of Churchill's War Room
• Virtual Tour of the Museum

Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms
Established	1984
Location	Clive Steps King Charles Street London SW1A 2AQ United Kingdom
Visitor figures	306,600 (2007-08)[1].
Director	Phil Reed
Public transit access	Westminster St James's Park
Website	cwr.iwm.org.uk
Imperial War Museum network
Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms · HMS Belfast · Imperial War Museum Duxford · Imperial War Museum North

The Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms is a museum in London and one of the five branches of the Imperial War Museum. The Cabinet War Rooms are an underground complex that had been used as an operational command and control centre by the British government throughout the Second World War. Located beneath the Treasury building in the Whitehall area of Westminster, the facilities were abandoned in August 1945 after the surrender of Japan. The Rooms were opened to the general public in 1984, having previously been managed by the Department for the Environment. Following a major expansion in 2003, the Rooms were reopened in 2005 as the rebranded Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms, with the additional space developed as a biographical museum exploring the life of British statesman Winston Churchill.

Contents 1 Construction and wartime use 2 Abandonment and preservation 3 Opening 4 Redevelopment 5 References 6 External links

Construction and wartime use

The Cabinet War Rooms became operational in 1939 and were heavily used by Winston Churchill and the War Cabinet during World War II. Engineered as a bunker, the facility was reinforced with a layer of concrete, one to three metres thick referred to as 'the slab'". Over 100 meetings were held in the Cabinet War Rooms between 1939 and 1945.

The section of the War Rooms open to the public is only a portion of a much larger facility. They originally covered three acres (12,000m²) and housed a staff of up to 528 people, with facilities including a canteen, hospital, shooting range and dormitories. The centrepiece of the War Rooms is the Cabinet Room itself, where Churchill's War Cabinet met. The Map Room is located nearby, from where the course of the war was directed. It is still in much the same condition as when it was abandoned, with the original maps still on the walls and telephones lining the desks. Churchill slept in a small nearby bedroom although, according to the audio presentation in the museum, he only slept in the war rooms for three nights over the course of the war. One feature of the bunker was a telephone scrambler system that allowed Churchill to securely speak with U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the White House. The unit was concealed as the prime minister's lavatory.

Abandonment and preservation

Following the end of the war the Cabinet War Rooms became redundant and were abandoned. Their maintenance became the responsibility of the Ministry of Works^[2][3] and later the Department for the Environment. While the Rooms were open to the public, they could only be accessed by appointment and access was restricted to small groups.^[4]

Opening

In the early 1980s interest in the Rooms increased^[5] and the government looked at options to increase the public’s access to them. In 1984 the Rooms were opened to the public after cooperation between the Imperial War Museum and the Property Services Agency. In 1989 responsibility for the Rooms was transferred to the Imperial War Museum.^[6]

Redevelopment

In 2003, nine rooms used by Churchill and his closest associates (including his wife), which had been stripped out after the war and used for storage, were added to the museum. These rooms are known as "The Churchill Suite". The Churchill Museum itself opened in February 2005. It is a chronological exhibition telling the story of Churchill's public and private life, using original and facsimile objects and documents and interactive display techniques. It contains the world's largest interactive display called 'The Lifeline' which covers the events and activities that took place over the course of Churchill's 90 year life.^[7]

Entry to both the Churchill Museum and the Cabinet War Rooms is by one combined ticket.^[8]

The public entrance to the museum. When in use, access was from the buildings above and underground tunnels. The Rooms are in the basement of the Treasury building, visible in the foreground. The building behind is the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

The Map Room at the Cabinet War Rooms.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cabinet War Rooms

References

1. ^ Department of Culture, Media and Sport: Monthly museum and gallery visitor figures[1]Figures for 2007/08 financial year. Accessed 19 January 2009.
2. ^ 'News in Brief',The Times, 9 March 1948; Issue 51015; page 2 column C
3. ^ Hansard, 8 March 1945; 'War Cabinet Rooms HC Deb 08 March 1948 vol 448 c115W' Hansard 1803-2005. Accessed 18 March 2009.
4. ^ Hansard 6 December 1978; 'War Room, Storey’s Gate HC Deb 06 December 1978 vol 959 cc681-2W' Hansard 1803-2005. Accessed 18 March 2009.
5. ^ 'The Times Diary: More visitors for the shrine under Whitehall', The Times, 1 June 1982, Issue 61248, page 14 column B
6. ^ Hansard, 23 March 1989; 'Cabinet War Rooms: HC Deb 23 March 1989 vol 149 c780W' Hansard 1803-2005. Accessed 18 March 2009
7. ^ For details of the development of the Churchill Museum, see Pickford, John (March 2008). "Making the Churchill Museum". Casson Mann. http://www.cassonmann.co.uk/publications/making-the-churchill-museum. Retrieved 2009-03-28. 
8. ^ Churchill Museum Fact Sheet accessed 01/01/08

External links

• Official website of The Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms

Coordinates: 51°30′07.5″N 0°07′44.5″W / 51.502083°N 0.129028°W / 51.502083; -0.129028

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