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Air Raid Shelters from the war

dartfordgentdartfordgent
edited November 2009 in Not Sports Related
Bored at work earlier and visited a good site where chaps visit old air rais shelters factories etc.got me thinking of local shelters etc

When well young we got into the old public shelter just by the zebra crossing by crayford gasworks you can see the concrete walls to the shelter but you could get in via hatch in the woods near by..........also think use to be a big one opposite Bexleyheath bus depo up on the corner by the lights.....guess there must have been loads all over the borough.......also up on barnhurst golf course there a great lump on concrete with great view over the Thames so may have been some kind of installation.....any one know any others or tales of finding places
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Comments

  • Henry IrvingHenry Irving
    Used to be a few out on the marshes that are now Thamesmead/Abbey Wood in the Mid sixties.

    Think they were pill boxes rather than shelters but as a mere youth may have got that wrong.
  • GoonerhaterGoonerhater
    edited November 2009
    Time Team did a thing over the weekend about ShootersHill. There is a secret bunker under an oranamental pond in someones back garden. On the side of the Bull pub was another bunker which was disguised as an offy.


    The is a large bunker near Barnehurst golf course. Years back you could still seem a domb thing of it. A big public air raid shelter is in Burstead woods. and another was next to the Crook Log pub.


    Years back i worked at MarshHam Street which was Dept Transport. If you went down in the south lift you you got out there was MOD police there !! Under that building is a place called the Citidul(sic) it goes for miles has halls off it filled with beds/cookers etc etc etc 1000z and 100z it likes up to Parliament via a net work of huge tunnels. The is a series of rooms with all the gizmos in which was where the transport / shipping was run for the First Gulf war. had to go down there once a month escorted by two OB.
  • bibblebibble
    DG,
    I live at Vigo right next to Trossley country park. Between the wars and during WW2, the army used to practise in the woods.
    100 yards from my house are trenches (some filled in some not) these were used for practise, also the woods are peppered with bomb craters, most are from German bombers releasing their bombs early before they hit the East End. These bomb holes have been marked by the park staff.
    Another hidden treasure is an anti-aircraft emplacement on the hill overlooking the south, its dug into the side of the hill about 2 hundred feet up. It housed 2 anti-aircraft guns and was used to shoot down bombers and V1 (doodlebug) rockets during WW2.
    A great play ground if you study Military history!!
  • DaveMehmetDaveMehmet
    The ones at Days Lane School are haunted - FACT
  • dartfordgentdartfordgent
    bible take the dogs over there didnt have a clue about the WW2 stuf will have to have a nose round ........a goos site to look at stuf is www.28dayslater.co.uk

    some great pics we got onto this site as some of these guys who love to break into building sites and climb the cranes...........have alook at the whitchapel hospital one and see the guy on the helipad...under high rise great photos........18th floor.lol our security got a right bollocking over that one !!
  • RodexRodex
    Google earth shows all these things, even sites that are no longer visable from WW2.
    Entrance to public air raid shelter can still be seen at Crayford and a few pill boxes on and around Dartford marshes.
  • addick1965addick1965
    I used to live in Glenlea Road in Eltham (the bit they knocked down to build the bus station) and one of the houses in Well Hall Road (also gone) used to have an air raid shelter at the top of his garden.
  • suzisausagesuzisausage
    old farm avenue in sidcup has a few
  • MiserableoldgitMiserableoldgit
    I used to dream of living in an Air Raid Shelter............
  • Clem_SnideClem_Snide
    [cite]Posted By: Henry Irving[/cite]Used to be a few out on the marshes that are now Thamesmead/Abbey Wood in the Mid sixties.

    Think they were pill boxes rather than shelters but as a mere youth may have got that wrong.

    There are a number of pill boxes along the Thames cycle path. I pass a couple when I go out for a ride. They are between Morrisons at Thamesmead and the Royal Arsenal. One of them has been "de-bricked up" by the local youths. Wouldn't fancy venturing in myself....
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  • SwisdomSwisdom
    We had one in our back garden in Crayford - we were putting in a big pond and found it. Had some toys and crockery in it but sadly these are long gone now
  • olsterolster
    on the bridge at ladywell train station you can still see "shelter for 600"
  • ChicagoAddickChicagoAddick
    [cite]Posted By: olster[/cite]on the bridge at ladywell train station you can still see "shelter for 600"

    We had an Anderson Shelter at the bottom of our garden in Catford. My Dad converted it into a shed but always gave me the creeps.
  • BDLBDL
    We also had a shed that was converted from an Anderson shelter.

    If you want tunnels and bunkers then make sure you go to Point de Hoc in Normandy. German defence position that took an absolute battering from the air and was eventually captured by US rangers after an almighty battle.
  • SoundAsa£SoundAsa£
    Not forgetting the biggest of them all of course...........Chislehurst Caves.
    By the way, if none of you have visited The Caves it's a nice morning or afternoon out and an interesting place to take the family, nice little cafeteria there too for a cuppa and sandwich after your guided tour.
  • KBslittlesisKBslittlesis
    I believe we had one in our back garden in Maiden Lane (Dartford end) Dad filled it in apparently, all way before my time. An old school chum lived in one of those huge houses on Dartford Heath (her auntie is Diana Quick) & she had a huge one in her back garden. Her parties were legendary, got up to all sorts ;-)
  • GoonerhaterGoonerhater
    Dad used the old Anderson shelter at bottom of garden as a shed for donkeys years. He decided he wanted to try to level the garden as it was like a 1 in 3 tilt. We dug up the top and hit what was left of a concret air raid shelter about a foot under the surface.. It went from their garden into the next garden, yet their house was built in 1930 so had to be built after the house. We gave up trying to level the garden, and when its very very dry you can see the outline of the walls showing through the soil.
  • Oggy RedOggy Red
    When I was a kid in Welling, there was an unmade lane off Shoulder of Mutton Green where stacks of wooden boxes of old ammunition shells, disabled weapons (I think) and loads of old army equipment were stored. I've still got a couple of brass cartridge shells somewhere.


    Also, the house next door to us still had a concrete shelter in the garden, which they used as their shed.
  • WhenIwasLittleBoyWhenIwasLittleBoy
    A few down on Slade Green marshes
  • NathanPriorNathanPrior
    As this mentions Chislehurst Caves, went there on monday for the first time in 13 years and was totally creeped out. Heard breathing and footsteps behind me (and no one was there) but when I turned around there was a white orby figure that I just saw dissapear when I turned around. Also the missus saw a splash at the pool and a white figure sitting by the pool.
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  • RedArmySE7RedArmySE7
    Stop taking acid.
  • Leroy AmbroseLeroy Ambrose
    As this mentions Chislehurst Caves, went there on monday for the first time in 13 years and was totally creeped out. Heard breathing and footsteps behind me (and no one was there) but when I turned around there was a white orby figure that I just saw dissapear when I turned around. Also the missus saw a splash at the pool and a white figure sitting by the pool.
    LOL - Quite literally LOL

  • NathanPriorNathanPrior
    I'm not. It seriously did happen
  • GreenieGreenie
    I'm not. It seriously did happen
    Was Scooby Doo there?
  • BlackForestRedsBlackForestReds
    Time Team did a thing over the weekend about ShootersHill. There is a secret bunker under an oranamental pond in someones back garden. On the side of the Bull pub was another bunker which was disguised as an offy.

    .
    The details on the TT programme:

    http://www.channel4.com/programmes/time-team/episode-guide/series-15/episode-8

    Currently this programme is not on 4OD but as I recall the pill-boxes were a last ditch defensive line at the top of Shooters Hill that was designed to slow/hold up a Nazi invasion and give London time to evacuate and/or reinforcements to arrive.

    The fake front to the off-license was designed as a particularly grisly way to kill a few of the enemy - as they went past it would spew out oil which would ignite and cause the lead tanks or vehicles to blow up hopefully blocking the road and buying a bit more time.
  • BlackForestRedsBlackForestReds
    As this mentions Chislehurst Caves, went there on monday for the first time in 13 years and was totally creeped out. Heard breathing and footsteps behind me (and no one was there) but when I turned around there was a white orby figure that I just saw dissapear when I turned around. Also the missus saw a splash at the pool and a white figure sitting by the pool.
    Interesting, it seems that matches the description of one of the ghosts that are said to haunt the caves:

    http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20469&sid=df4342bcbfa52f3eaf7b14c7db42dfab
  • suzisausagesuzisausage
    There is one in my nans garden. (used as a shed) Dad cleared it out at the end of last year when she died and the pull down bunk beds are still in there.
  • Leroy AmbroseLeroy Ambrose
    As this mentions Chislehurst Caves, went there on monday for the first time in 13 years and was totally creeped out. Heard breathing and footsteps behind me (and no one was there) but when I turned around there was a white orby figure that I just saw dissapear when I turned around. Also the missus saw a splash at the pool and a white figure sitting by the pool.
    Interesting, it seems that matches the description of one of the ghosts that are said to haunt the caves:

    http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20469&sid=df4342bcbfa52f3eaf7b14c7db42dfab
    Which would be really, really spooky - if 'ghosts' weren't utter bollocks.
  • MrOneLungMrOneLung
    There was one in my mates garden in Roseberry Gardens, Dartford.
  • Bexley DanBexley Dan
    When i built the patio in my back garden in sidcup i discovered an air raid shelter. My wife buried a time capsule under the patio as well.
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