the sound of the suburbs

BBC – h2g2 – The Broadmoor Siren

Every Monday morning at ten o’clock the deafening sound of an air-raid siren disturbs the peace over a large area of the leafy commuter belt that is Berkshire, UK. The signal sounds the familiar alternating high-low note, followed by a constant all-clear note five minutes later.

It’s not a re-enactment of the Blitz; it’s a test of the escape alarm at the local mental hospital, Broadmoor.

Broadmoor Hospital lies on the edge of the small town of Crowthorne, in an area of heathland known as Bracknell Forest. Escaphees could presumably run in any direction, and there is a network of 13 sirens covering the surrounding towns of Sandhurst, Camberley, Bagshot, Bracknell and Wokingham. Many units are mounted on high masts, and could easily be overlooked as mobile phone masts. The sirens are connected to the hospital by telephone lines, and it has been known for BT engineers to inadvertently set them off. Many are located in the vicinity of schools, although there is a separate system to alert all local schools should an inmate escape. In this event, each school has a set procedure to follow, which consists of locking the children inside until parents can come and collect them.

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