A former police station in Swanage, Dorset, has been placed on the market for £1.2 million, retaining many of its original features, including its cells. Built in 1899, this historic building served as a police station for more than a century. Notably, it still houses the original front desk, charge rooms, and a series of cells complete with wooden beds. Estate agents marketing the property highlight the building as an "excellent redevelopment site," with planning permission already secured to convert it into a mix of three three-bedroom flats and three four-bedroom homes.
The location of the property is described as prominent, being about one-third of a mile level distance from the Swanage town centre and the beach. Swanage itself is situated at the eastern tip of the Isle of Purbeck, set between the scenic Purbeck Hills. The town features a mix of old stone cottages alongside more modern properties, blending into the peaceful surroundings. To the south of the site lies Durlston Country Park, renowned as the gateway to the Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage Coastline. The listing notes that the building still retains a feel from the early 2000s era, including a kitchen which would have been used by police staff during its operational days.
This former police station is joining a growing list of unusual properties currently on the market. Among these is a Cold War-era former observation bunker located near the Sandringham royal estate in Norfolk, which is set to go to auction. Known as the Dersingham Royal Observer Corps post, this site was part of a nationwide network of observation posts established as an early warning system against nuclear attacks during the Cold War.
The Dersingham post, which has been privately owned since 1992, was built in 1957. Its structure consists of a concrete orlit hut above ground and an underground bunker, located on the north-east side of Chalk Pit Road. The bunker is accessed by a metal ladder descending 15 feet and contains two rooms: a smaller room with a toilet and a larger room used for observation and sleeping quarters. When in use, the site was equipped with standardised canvas chairs, a folding table, shelving, cupboards, and metal-framed bunk beds. It also housed three critical pieces of monitoring equipment: the fixed survey meter, bomb power indicator, and ground zero indicator. The bunker was manned by three trained, uniformed volunteers, each assigned specific duties, and was part of Group Six in Norwich as Post 12.
The Royal Observer Corps posts, including Dersingham, remained operational until 1991 when the network was closed and many buildings were subsequently demolished or sold off. The Dersingham post is due to be auctioned on 8 May, with a guide price of £20,000 before additional fees, as reported by Auction House.
The Daily Mail is reporting that these properties highlight a variety of historical British sites, ranging from a late 19th-century police station with its original facilities intact, to Cold War-era military observation posts, both of which are now transitioning from their former official uses to potential residential and private purposes.
Source: Noah Wire Services