I’ve been doing some research on Anderson and Morrison shelters during WW2. The video above is a picture gallery for a school project which involved the restoration of an Anderson shelter found buried in the ground. I found this interesting as it shows the step by step construction…. it took them 300 hours to do the job properly…
Below is a snippet from the Spartacus Educational website and you can find out more about Anderson Shelters by clicking here
QUOTE: 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 nearly one and a half 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 6ft 6in by 4ft 6in (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 entrance was protected by a steel shield and an earthen blast wall.
Anderson shelters were given free to poor people. Men who earned more than £5 a week could buy one for £7. Soon after the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, over 2 million families had shelters in their garden. By the time of the Blitz this had risen to two and a quarter million.
I might have some photos of the one that was still standing in the garden when we moved into this house in 1992, if so will post them ( same family lived in the house from way before the war till last one died then). I am afraid we took it down about 8 years ago when kids were grown – they loved to play in it. One of our neighbours though still has theirs still standing, just looking rather rusty now
I saw one of these on “1940’s House” and wondered how bomb-proof these really were. If a bomb dropped on one of these, or even near it, would it have actually protected the occupants? Or was it more of a “placebo” to citizens to make them think they were safe?