The Corsham Computer Centre (CCC) is an underground British Ministry of Defence (MoD) installation in

Corsham Corsham is a historic market town and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England. It is at the south-eastern edge of the Cotswolds, just off the A4 national route, southwest of Swindon, southeast of Bristol, northeast of Bath and southwest of ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, built in the 1980s. According to the MoD, the centre "processes data in support of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

". The centre has been similarly described by Des Browne in 2007, then

Secretary of State for Defence The secretary of state for defence, also referred to as the defence secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the business of the Ministry of Defence. The incumbent is a membe ...

, as a "data processing facility in support of Royal Navy operations". In written evidence to the Defence Select Committee in 2007, the

Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament The Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (Scottish CND) is the Scottish representative body of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). The Scottish CND campaigns for the abolition of British nuclear weapons to contribute to the global el ...

suggested that the centre supports the software maintenance of the United Kingdom nuclear deterrent programme,

Trident A trident is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. The trident is the weapon of Poseidon, or Neptune, the God of the Sea in classical mythology. The trident may occasionally be held by other mari ...

. A '' The Herald'' newspaper report in 2016 stated that the "UK Software Facility" (UKSF), responsible for the Trident targeting system which was upgraded in 2015, was believed to be located at the Corsham Computer Centre. The facility was built near Hudswell Quarry, and close to the

Box Tunnel Box Tunnel passes through Box Hill on the Great Western Main Line (GWML) between Bath and Chippenham. The tunnel was the world's longest railway tunnel when it was completed in 1841. Built between December 1838 and June 1841 for the Great We ...

part of the broader complex of tunnels and quarries in the Corsham area and adjacent to the former Central Ammunition Depot built before the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. It is located a few hundred metres north east of the current

MoD Corsham MOD Corsham (formerly Basil Hill Barracks) is a Ministry of Defence establishment located between the towns of Corsham and Box in Wiltshire, England. History The War Office bought a section of the Pockeridge estate to provide space for Basil ...

. In 2007 the site falls within a wider facilities management contract, the Bristol Bath Total Facilities Management project, which was awarded to Debut Services, a special purpose vehicle of Babcock Defence and Bovis Lend Lease, in September 2007 for a period of three years with the option to extend the contract for a further three years.

References

External links

*Phil Chamberlain
"Secret NATO Command Bunker"
''

Indymedia The Independent Media Center, better known as Indymedia, is an open publishing network of activist journalist collectives that report on political and social issues. Following beginnings during the 1999 Carnival Against Capital and 1999 Seattl ...

'', 11 November 2003. Includes photograph of Corsham Computer Centre entrance. Buildings and structures in Wiltshire Corsham Data centers Information technology organisations based in the United Kingdom Military communications of the United Kingdom Military installations of the United Kingdom Nuclear bunkers in the United Kingdom Science and technology in Wiltshire Trident (UK nuclear programme) United Kingdom nuclear command and control {{Wiltshire-struct-stub