World War 2 Air Raid Shelter, England

This World War 2 Air Raid Shelter is an interesting piece of British history. I was lucky enough to visit this fascinating location several times in 2020 and early 2021. Sadly, it was sealed with rubble sometime in the Summer of 2021.

Beautiful and mysterious portraits

The most interesting part of the air raid shelter, can be seen on the walls of one of the chambers. The walls are lined with portraits, around 20 of them. These mostly appear to be drawn in charcoal, or perhaps with soot from a lantern flame. Additionally, two are draw in some kind of bright blue paint. There are men; soldiers in uniform and helmets, as well as well dressed gentlemen. One even sports a pipe and dicky bowtie. Most of the sketches are women, each with 1940s hairstyles and fashion. Several of these portraits are accompanied by initials, either the artist’s signature or perhaps the initials of the person in the portrait.

On the roof there is writing, likely from cigarette light or lantern soot, mostly jumbles of letters but also some years (all early 1940s). It seems that these were draw by workers whiling away time inside the air raid shelter, awaiting the “All clear!” signal to emerge back to the surface.

History and information about the WW2 Air Raid Shelter

This adjacent factory was built in the 1930s, originally this was the headquarters of a large business empire. During World War II the building was requisitioned by the government. The building became a multi-purpose asset to the war effort. Part aircraft assembly line, part printers and textile manufacturer. However, this put the building at risk of being a target from German bombers. Unfortunately building did not have any form of air raid shelter, so one was designed and added.

The air raid shelter was built alongside the factory, which was preferred in situations where space allowed. This ensured that the shelter escape would not be blocked due to building collapse, in the event of a direct hit. The approx. 250m long shelter runs parallel to the building, with entrances spaced approximately every 20m along the length. This enabled rapid entry into the shelter, via the multiple entrances. There would have been benches along each side of the shelter (the shadows and some fixings remain). There were also the buckled corroded remains of tin chemical toilets, kettles and oil lamps.

The air raid shelter was originally dug as a trench. The walls and roof were then lined with pre-cast reinforced concrete slabs, which fitted together giving added strength. Earth was then mounded up to re-cover the shelter, adding another layer of protection from bomb debris.