Footprints of the Blitz (2)

Last time we looked at some of the surviving shelter signs in London that I have managed to capture on film for posterity. This week, I have unearthed some more photos of shelter signs along with one or two surviving shelters of various types. As before, all of the images shown are copyright to the author and may not be reproduced without permission.

Camberwell New Road (author's image)

The first image is of a sight that cannot now be seen in the form shown in the photograph, as it has now been partially obscured by a street name sign. The shelter in question that Londoners were being directed to was located on the platforms of Oval Underground Station, one of many then in use as deep level shelters. Oval Station saw out the war without incident, despite the surrounding area being heavily bombed but further down the Northern Line on 14th October 1940, the shelterers at Balham Station were not so lucky; a 1000kg high explosive bomb penetrated over forty feet and before exploding and the resulting explosion and flooding caused the northbound tunnel to partially collapse and fill with water from fractured water mains and sewers, which resulted in sixty eight shelterers being killed and many more injured.

Lee High Road

Our final shelter sign for now sees us remaining south of the Thames but moving south-eastwards to Lewisham. This is a slightly faded effort but one which is worth saving for posterity as with the passage of time, it may not be much longer before this sign fades away completely. This sign can be found in Lee High Road and it's junction with Brandram Road and the letters 'L-T-E-R' can still be seen reasonably clearly, whilst the remainder are somewhat more faded. There is the remnants of another sign in Brandram Road itself but this is so faded as to be now almost completely illegible.

We now move to the shelters themselves and for the first one, will stay south of the Thames but will move westwards to the grounds of the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington. 

NPL Teddington

There are at least two surviving shelters at this location and probably more than this but lack of time has so far precluded a more exhaustive search. The image shown is of the least overgrown shelter, which is located near to the cricket ground and would no doubt have been available for the use of employees of this important wartime facility. These brick and concrete shelters were basically surface shelters and would have provided protection from shrapnel and flying debris but would have been useless against a direct hit. Even the blast from a near miss would have probably caused the brick walls to collapse, bringing the concrete slab roof down on top of the unfortunate occupants. Londoners with their somewhat wry sense of humour, christened these type of shelters "Morrison Sandwiches" after Herbert Morrison, the Home Secretary of the time who was responsible for Civil Defence.

Another similar shelter, only on a much larger scale, survives in London's East End at Fawe Street in Poplar. Although the roof is somewhat overgrown, the shape of the shelter is still clearly visible and it is clear that this would have been capable of holding a considerable number of people.

Fawe Street, Poplar

Shelters could take all sorts of strange forms and often utilised the basements or cellars of existing buildings, expecially when there was nothing else available. Two such shelters are still visible in the Royal Borough of Greenwich - the first one in the grounds of Charlton House, which as the attached press cutting shows, was licensed to accomodate forty people. The shelter is actually located beneath a building formerly used as a public toilet, which rather primly was described as 'The House at Charlton House!' Charlton House itself was used as Wardens' Post 'Park 8' so the Air Raid Wardens presumably didn't want members of the public getting in their way!

Greenwich Shelters

Charlton House Grounds

The other shelter in Greenwich referred to in the list of 'Where to seek safety' was strangely described as a Trench Shelter but was actually located inside the underground reservoir located in Greenwich Park, although there is some doubt as to whether this shelter was ever actually used 'in anger' given the fact that there were plenty of other shelters available in the immediate locality. This would be shelter is included out of interest, especially for the fact that is was shown in the list as having been capable of holding three hundred people. Although I've never been inside this building, one can only imagine the claustrophobic conditions that would have prevailed inside.

Greenwich Park Reservoir Entrance

Before we leave the borough, there is another shelter in Charlton which is of interest, even though it is not immediately visible. This is located in the back garden of 88 Charlton Road, now a dentist's surgery but a house that during the wartime years was requisitioned by the Army as a billet for the crews of Anti-Aircraft guns that were located on the nearby Rectory Field. Whilst the guns would keep blazing away at most times, if the bombing became too adjacent, the crews would retire to their shelter, which incidentally was a good deal more substantial than the equivalent Anderson Shelters provided to the householders of the unrequisitioned houses nearby!

Shelter Entrance, 88 Charlton Road

Unfortunately, I have never been able to explore inside the shelter as it is full of old furniture, although maybe one day perhaps it will have been emptied and an exploration will be permitted.

There are plenty of shelters and other wartime structures that remain dotted around various parts of London, not all of which I have captured as yet. Our next edition will feature some more surviving shelters as well as other more random buildings and signage from the war.

Published Sources:

London Transport at War - Charles Graves, London Passenger Transport Board 1947

Footprints of the London Blitz (1)

Until very recently, I have had a large number of my wartime related photographs published on one of the well known photo sharing websites. A recent unilateral "improvement" of this site which I felt was anything but an improvement has finally given me the incentive to cancel my subscription, take the photos down and begin to re-publish them on this blog.

Rather than attempt to upload a hundred or more photographs in one hit, perhaps it is a good idea to use these images plus some which have never been published before to illustrate a theme relating to wartime London which still survives. This week, we are going to examine air raid shelter signs, a surprising number of which still survive in various parts of London. All of these images were taken by me, are my copyright and may not be used or reproduced without my express written permission.

Perhaps surprisingly, Westminster is the home to many surviving shelter signs, although less surprisingly these are mainly off the beaten track.

Lord North Street

The signs above and below are to be found at several locations along Lord North Street and Longmoore Street and indicate the way to shelters that were formerly located in 'vaults' in the basements of the properties concerned. These were public shelters which would have provided a measure of protection against anything but a direct hit on the premises above.

 

Longmoore Street

   

36 Longmoore Street

The next sequence of shelter signs are slightly easier to find, being on main roads but perhaps a thoroughfare which people would normally traverse by car or cab. The first sign is outside La Gavroche, a Two Star restaurant in Upper Brook Street, just off Park Lane. This isn't the only shelter sign to be found on this street, for continuing into Brook Street proper, two further signs can be found and these are also reproduced below.

 

43 Upper Brook Street

42 Brook Street

The final sign in Brook Street can be found outside number 72. All of these are remarkably well preserved.  

72 Brook Street

The final pair of shelters to be found in Westminster are in Queen Anne's Gate and are of a similar 'vault' type basement shelter. The first sign is now partially obscured by a Blue Plaque erected in 1954 by the erstwhile London County Council. Were the plaque to be erected today, the shelter sign would doubtless have been preserved but the fact that it has been partially obliterated reflects the mood of 1954; the Blitz was too recent a memory for most people and any remnants of it were not to be commemorated.

28 Queen Anne's Gate

A few doors further along though, we can still find an unadulterated sign, again in a good state of preservation. At the time of writing, it is partially obscured by a building contractor's hoarding but I am assured that when the works are complete, the sign will remain intact!

30 Queen Anne's Gate

Moving away from Westminster and the centre of the capital, we can find more shelter signs both in southeast and east London. In Poplar, we can find a sign outside Our Lady Immaculate Church in Norway Place, the crypt of which during the Blitz, in common with many other places of worship would have been used as a shelter. The faded sign tells us that the shelter was capable of accommodating 250 people, no doubt in fairly grim conditions but which would have provided respite from the horrors outside. This sign was painted over, no doubt immediately after the war but seventy years on, the black paint is wearing away, revealing once again the original sign.

Norway Place E13

Moving south of the river to the London Borough of Lewisham, we can find another cluster of signs. The first group can be discovered in and around Deptford High Street. The first one, adjacent to Deptford Station actually points towards a still extant location, the railway arches, although the shelters have naturally long disappeared. These are much larger signs than those found in Westminster and whilst some have been painted over, they are still readily visible and identifiable.

Deptford High Street SE8, adjacent to Station

There are a couple of other signs to be found just off the High Street, in Frankham Street and Comet Street and again, especially the former, still readily visible. These point to the location of now long demolished public surface shelters.

Frankham Street SE8

Comet Street SE8

For our next group of shelter signs, we remain in the borough but move along towards Lewisham itself. The first one we see is on the road bridge across the railway in Tanners Hill and once again, points towards a shelter that is now only a memory for some older residents of the area.

Tanners Hill SE8

The next sign is at the junction of Shardeloes Road and Lewisham Way and although the wall upon which it is painted is somewhat the worse for wear, the sign itself is still clearly visible some seventy four years after it was first painted.

Lewisham Way/Shardeloes Road junction

Until recently, there was another surviving sign in this area but which sadly has recently fallen victim to a new property development, being replaced by a facile imitation in the form of a Dollar sign advertising the development. This sign was in Jerningham Road and is shown below for the record.

 

Jerningham Road SE14

For our final shelter sign in this sequence, we remain in the Borough of Lewisham but move to nearby Ladywell Station, where a large sign advertising 'Shelter for 700' points to the direction of the nearby railway arches.

Ladywell Station SE13

For our final collection of shelter signs, we remain south of the Thames - just but move back towards the centre of London, to the old Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey. The St John's, Neckinger and Lockyer Estates, all located within the borough close to Jamaica Road all have signs pointing to shelters located at the base of the various blocks. The shelters themselves are still extant but firmly sealed so as to prevent access. To show all of these shelter signs would be somewhat repetitive as they all look rather similar but reproduced below is the sign pointing towards Shelter A7 on the St John's Estate in Druid Street, SE1.

Shelter A7, Druid Street SE1

There are other shelter signs elsewhere in London that I am aware of but have yet to capture on film and no doubt there are others out there that I don't know about. Rest assured, they will appear here as and when they are photographed.

Unpublished Sources:

Author's private research