Churchill Museum & Cabinet War Rooms

Churchill Museum & Cabinet War Rooms

  • Attraction
  • Culture

The Cabinet War Rooms are located beneath the Treasury building in the Whitehall area. Constructed of the rooms started in 1938; they opened a year later on 27th August 1939 (a week before Britain declared war on Germany). The War Rooms were used up until August 1945, when Japan surrendered.

Visitors can now explore the Cabinet War Rooms and feel just what it was like for the Churchill and his team during the war. Navigate the winding corridors in the underground bunker that kept the British government and their secrets safe during the war.

Immerse yourself in the history of the Map Room – which has been untouched since it was left in 1945, the Cabinet Room, Churchill’s bedroom and the other various offices and facilities, including Churchill’s Transatlantic Telephone Room which was disguised as a private toilet, so that Churchill could speak in secret to the President of the United States.

Within the Churchill Museum you’ll be able to get a close and personal look of Churchill’s life, including artefacts and objects from his life such as his paintings and favourite cigars, letters to his wife, Clementine, during the war, and you can listen to some of his most famous wartime speeches.

Key Points
  • The War Rooms are only 12 feet underground and it is thought, because it wasn’t bomb-proof, that if had a direct bomb hit the bunker it would have caused great damage.
  • The clocks in the Cabinet Room are all set to 4:58pm because that was the first ever cabinet meeting held in the room on 15th October 1940.
  • Look out for the maps on the walls which have lots of little holes – to indicated and mark the progress of the fleets crossing the ocean and the positions in which the army held, Churchill and his team used pins.  
Location

Churchill Museum & Cabinet War Rooms