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Air raid shelters

Hi All.

It is not a gunsite. It is too much near the houses for one thing. I am sure that it is an air raid shelter that has been filled in.

Old Boy
 
On looking at Google Earth I can see some interesting concrete foundations nearby. Any idea what was there and could there be a connection with your lumps of concrete ? I favour the idea of a filled in air raid shelter but why is it in a residential area ? Too many questions for a Saturday.
 
I was always told it was to do with the old tram line. (Have always lived on "the Green")
 
Arkrite said:
On looking at Google Earth I can see some interesting concrete foundations nearby. Any idea what was there and could there be a connection with your lumps of concrete ? I favour the idea of a filled in air raid shelter but why is it in a residential area ? Too many questions for a Saturday.
Click to expand...

The concrete you can see used to be football changing rooms,well that how I remember them in the 70/80's. Now on that site is a recenrtly opened care centre.
 
Another filled in air raid shelter nearby on College Rd. Not a very good photo as I lifted it off Google.

Phil

AirRaidShelterCollegeRd.jpg
 
My family lived in Marsh lane from 1947 until 1972 and my sister still lives nearby.Our house was where the large tree is on the top right hand corner of the photo.
As kids we often sat on the old air raid shelter talking to our mates. Alberta
 
how fascinating...thanks for posting this gary i would never have guessed an air raid shelter...the college road one is very close to me...

lyn
 
Wow! I think I'd like an air raid shelter outside my house. When visitors call 'round I'd say, "can i show you the air raid shelter?"
You know the situation is bad when the council start building air raid shelters in the street! What people went through. Dear me.
Thanks pmc1947 for the College Road shelter info'. I'm definitely going to take a look.
gary.
 
I have read a lot as a result of this post. The British Govt was very slow off the mark in providing deep and strong bomb shelters for the public. Lessons learn t from the bombing of Barcelona were not put into practice. The Underground was actually banned from being a shelter but public pressure would win in the end. I have read a report of a gentleman being arrested , charged and sentenced for 12 months because he snored in a public bomb shelter
 
Arkrite said:
The Underground was actually banned from being a shelter but public pressure would win in the end.
Click to expand...

This doesn't suprise me. The government always knows best. :rolleyes:

robb128 shelters in Co op car park Wylde Green. Around here Robb?

image.jpeg
 
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Definately the entrance to a filled in public underground air raid shelter, saw many being dug the roof was approximatley 9ins thick, pic is of an underground shelter being constructed outside the Municipal Bank, 1940, at the Yew Tree, the Bank is still there, now Lloyds. Len. (text on pic- underground air raid being constructed outside The Municipal Bank at the Yew Tree, Yardley, a few yards up the road was a camp of wooden huts for the Anti Aircraft Gunsite on Oaklands Recreation Ground).
 
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Air raid shelters in the car park of Wylde Green Co Op just as Robb128s info.
I think it's great that they're still around. Reckon with Birmingham council, if it was economically viable, these shelters would been long gone.

That's a great picture lencops. I've now got to get over to Yardley!
 
Arkrite said:
On looking at Google Earth I can see some interesting concrete foundations nearby. Any idea what was there and could there be a connection with your lumps of concrete ? I favour the idea of a filled in air raid shelter but why is it in a residential area ? Too many questions for a Saturday.
Click to expand...
Arkrite, They were in residential areas because many houses did not have Anderson shelters in there back gardens pic is of Anderson Shelter. Len
 
Thank you Len I was under the mistaken impression that most houses had the Anderson type shelter. I found an interesting bit in Hansard, a speech by the Bishop of Birmingham who championed the deep hardened shelter. The Govt. and Councils were backing the Anderson shelter and the Brick with Lime mortar surface shelter. Lime mortar was being used because of a shortage of concrete at that time. Both types of shelter were poor protection against large bombs. The Spanish Civil War had given a taster of what was to come but I dont think anyone realised just what the Allied Bomber Fleets would become capable of.
The existence of these concrete shelters are proof that someone listened to the old Bishop and realised he was talking sense. That is a miracle in itself.
 
Arkrite,The government gave out anderson shelters free to people who earned below £5 per week. By September 1939 one and a half million Anderson shelters had been put up in gardens. Len.
 
Post 19 pic, not much protection with this shelter, they are supposed to be buried in the ground. We had a steel table type shelter in our dining room which replaced ourdining table as an alternative to the Anderson shelter, I think it was called a Morrison shelter, during the raids we were all supposed to shelter underneath it,with 5 in the family it was a bitof a squash. Eric
 
cookie273uk said:
Post 19 pic, not much protection with this shelter, they are supposed to be buried in the ground. We had a steel table type shelter in our dining room which replaced ourdining table as an alternative to the Anderson shelter, I think it was called a Morrison shelter, during the raids we were all supposed to shelter underneath it,with 5 in the family it was a bitof a squash. Eric
Click to expand...
cookie273uk, I don`t think they had read the instruction manual. Len
 
pretty sure its an air raid shelter their is one like it on Kingstanding road near police station but its not to close to houses to be a gun site because i can remember one on the corner of Leyton grove Hurlingham road we used to go out nest day and collect the shells Allen
 
Yes definitely old air raid shelter. Used to be one on the Walsall road near Perry avenue before the road layout was changed, also large concrete tank traps. Used to be fenced off but we still used to explore when we were kids in the late fifties, dirty wet and smelly places.
 
The original picture shows very similar air raid shelters [filled in] that were opposite Swanshurt Park. My Dad would never use them but our Mom did.
 
On 3 December 1953 the Secretary of State for the Home Office was asked a Parliamentary Question on whether he would give permission for ALL air raid shelters to be demolished. It was claimed they were a menace to health. The S o S replied that shelters would be preserved as part of the Civil Defence effort. However he was prepared to consider demolition if the Medical Officer certified it as essential on health grounds. So I wonder, have many air raid shelters survived across Birmingham? Viv.
 
I wonder if this one on Kingstanding Road is the same design as the one on Marsh Lane. Looking at this photo, there seem to be marks showing through the grass which suggests a long entrance to the shelter - down steps perhaps? Viv.
 
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