Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral History Air Raid Protection

In November 1938, Chamberlain placed Sir John Anderson in charge of Air Raid Precautions (ARP). He immediately commissioned the engineer, William Patterson, to design a small and cheap shelter that could be erected in people's gardens. Within a few months, around two million of what became known as Anderson Shelters were distributed to people living in areas expected to be bombed by the Luftwaffe. Made from six curved sheets bolted together at the top, with steel plates at either end, and measuring 1.95m by 1.35m, the shelter could accommodate six people. These shelters were half buried in the ground with earth heaped on top.

The Morrison shelter was approximately 6 feet 6 inches (2m) long, 4 feet (1.2m) wide and 2 feet 6 inches (0.75m) high. When not in use as a shelter it could be used as a table (see illustration) by temporarily removing the welded wire mesh sides.
Whilst the Anderson was constructed of 14 corrugated sheets, and required some digging to let it into the ground, the Morrison consisted of some 219 parts (not including 48 nuts and bolts) and came with 3 tools with which to assemble it.
These shelters were distributed free to most people and over 500 000 had been distributed by November 1941.
The Morrison was extremely effective, if assembled correctly, and undoubtedly saved many lives.

I would not like to rely on that to stop shrapnel !

Terroconcrete, Stent,Reinforced, Public Shelters

A lot of people during air raids decided to seek protection in their own basement or cellar or even under a sturdy table or under the stairs rather than go out into the cold and often water filled shelters. Shelters were free to anyone earning less than £250 a year and a charge of £7 was made to higher earners. Though the Anderson and Morrison were useless against direct hits they offered excellent protection against compression and debris falling.

Really good study there bert - thankyou!

scary stuff, pity todays chavs don`t apprieciate this, its all plastic knives and spud guns these days thinking their `hard`.

grow up in these war times you little fags and see how hard you are then!

crackin post burt

So true Ste So true.

The pre-war policy of the Government was to disperse the population in an air raid rather than build large public shelters which might become mass tombs. Many of these public shelters were squat brick and concrete surface built shelters, designed to hold 50. They were dank and dark and had no sanitary facilities. Their poor construction also made them dangerous and deadly places. A nearby bomb burst could lift the roof, usually a concrete slab, which would come crashing down on the occupants. These defects were later overcome by the building of outer blast walls, improving the mortaring of the cement joints and by edging the roof so that it could shift a few inches without falling off the supporting walls A smaller version of these shelters were often erected in property's that had yards rather than gardens, a simple brick construction with a concrete slab for a roof. some of these are still in use now as sheds and coal bunkers.

When I acquired an allotment in the late 1960s (I was a bit younger then) I remember "finding" a buried Anderson shelter when I was digging foundations for a greenhouse. It seemed to take for ever to dig out bits of rusting metal sheet etc but it had to be done because I did not fancy having a potential "hole" below the greenhouse.

I gave up the allotment about 4 years ago

Snod

If you google "Anderson Shelter On Alotments" Youll find some interesting stuff

Does anyone have memories of using the Queensway tunnel as a air raid shelter. I remember my Mother telling me the people in her area use to use the tunnel on occasions and i would think seeing as she lived in Wood St it would have been the Dock entrance in Rendall St. I know the underground was also used and apparently a lot of people felt safer under arched brick bridges rather than the public shelter.

I dont have memorys as I wasn't alive during the war's. But I spoke to the old folk but they werent alive then neither, I should have known. But my mum told stories that my nan told her and yeah they remember that they were told to shelter there if that was the nearest place they could shelter.

If your house had a back garden you got an anderson shelter, which applyed to most of the semi detached council houses arround Birkenhead. if you lived in a terraced house that had room in the back yard you got one of the brck built shelters, if the terraced house only had a tiny back yard so there was no room for a brck shelter, the larger brick shelters where built in the street, as the one bert1 shows in his photo's. most of the strrets in lower Tranmere had these shelters in them..the bunk beds where wooden frames with thin metal straps accross them. If you where lucky some on had a candle that they lit so you where not in the dark.

This is a fantastic thread. So much info out there! I wonder if other countries had similar shelters during the war.