Air Raid Shelters etc

Our last house had got an air raid shelter buried in the back garden. The previous owner, who had lived there since just after the war, was a keen gardener and had used the shelter to store his excess fruit and vegetables in. Unfortunately in later life he became housebound and so the garden grew wild. The house was eventually purchased by a charity (who we bought it from) and as part of the modernisation they filled the shelter in. The only clue was the slight hump in one part of the lawn where a corner of the shelter was higher than the rest of it.

I remember as a young boy in the 1950s whilst living in Seneschal Rd in Cheylesmore playing in a shelter that was at the end of the back garden of one the large houses in the Park Paling. It was a concrete shelter with two or more rooms. There was also an Anderson shelter in a nearby garden looking pretty original as I recall.

I have been down a brick built one covered over with grass when in my late 20s on overgrown land, leads to a stream back of the green opposite side of the Roman Fort, Baginton,same side as Russells garden centre.

I know that there is a section on this in the Coventry Topics but this doesn't belong there, so....... Whilst visiting long time friends in Aston-Le-Walls on Saturday, during conversation our friend said that there was an air raid shelter in the garden. Being interested and not knowing about it, I asked to have a look, expecting an Anderson shelter. We went outside and it was a brick shelter with 2 rooms and the original bench seating was still in place. I expect this was used quite a bit because the garden backed on to Chipping Warden airfield! Well, I found it interesting anyway. Dotted around Warwickshire there are many relics of WW2, pill boxes, shelters, gun emplacements etc

My grandad had a brick built shelter in his garden in Nuneaton. From memory, the roof was quite thick concrete. I can't remember any other properties on the estate having them, so were they demolished/removed after the war? Did my grandad elect to keep his?

Hi Dutchman, I know this response is nigh on three Years later but the area you refer to was actually a bomb site and the concrete was part of the original building. The other side of Hearsall lane was built up with rubble from the blast and Advertising Hoardings erected. If memory serves me correct in between a photo processing lab/shop and private dwellings. The previous bomb in the 'stick' had taken out two or three houses at the top of Kirby Road the site of which wooden garages were built on for many Years. I think houses have been re-instated now. Bombs fell on Craven Street and the surrounding ones resulting in a few family deaths. On another note we played/had 'dens' in a few Communal Air Raid Shelters in the early 1960's. Two were behind houses at the top of Spon Street which were either erected for Rotherham's or maybe GEC Factories and were easily accessible to 'exploring' youngsters ! Another two were behind advertising hoardings next to the railway bridge across Albany Road (the one near to Spencer Park entrance) They belonged to the Industrial premises which was a Laundry in the 60's at the bottom of Westwood Road next to a flight of steps leading down to Albany Road which I guess are still there. There a few others we played in located around the Spon Street area & Hill Street. All of the ones I mention above were of similar design with steps at one end behind a blast wall and a stepladder/hatch at the other with long wooden benches each side.

The shelter that my dad built at the bottom of our garden at 15 Marner Crescent, Radford, was still there when the property was sold in 1979. It was sunk into the ground, had a brick floor and walls up to ground level and the roof was of thick corrugated iron with a further thick layer of soil and turf on top. It's probably still there and would be visible from Bede Road.

Our first house in 1969 was in Butt Lane, Allesley. There was a long garden with a shelter in the orchard at the bottom. We grew mushrooms in it.

2 former wartime shelters still exist under Foleshill railway bridge, in Boston Place. I believe they are now used as council storage sheds and until a few years ago the shelter numbers could still be seen.

Okay thanks I knew the photo shop very briefly. It was eventually absorbed by Lexor Electronics who previously occupied the upstairs and rear of the building. I think there was a chip shop next door to it? The upper end of the advertising site was a pattern making factory. I've read many accounts of people sheltering in the Spon Street shelter. It's now the site of an electricity sub-station. The Kensington Laundry. We were customers of theirs for many years.

Spotted this today in Bedworth Town, I have walked this pavement for years and I have only just noticed this

Good find Norm! I'm surprised it hasn't been stolen for scrap yet?

Outside the butchers? We had one at outside the Bedworth Heritage centre but that walked.

Nearly heritage, it's outside the Pizza shop.

I'm amazed I've never seen this. I'll look out for it next time I'm in town. Great find!