Site Records

Site Name: Shooters Hill - Air raid shelter in Warren Wood

Warren Wood
Shooters Hill
London
S.E.18
OS Grid Ref: TQ439763 (approx.)

Sub Brit site visit 26th September 2006

A small building, assumed to be an air raid shelter has been found in Warren Wood on the south side of Shooters Hill in London S.E.18

There is no obvious reason why an air raid shelter should have been sited here although there are some brick and concrete foundations in the vicinity suggesting that other buildings once existed on the site.

Photo:Note the broken blast wall that would have protected the main entrance and the flanged pipe protruding from the ground in front of the shelter.
Photo by Nick Catford

The air raid shelter is of concrete construction and 'L' shaped. The main entrance is on the longer arm of the 'L' and was protected by a brick blast wall which has now fallen over. The longer arm is approximately 15' in length and 4' wide with a sloping towards the entrance. The shorter arm is approximately 10' long and 2' 6" wide with a sloping roof and an additional brick wall for blast protection at the entrance.

The shelter is partially mounded over with soil at the back and may, at one time, have been totally covered.

A flanged metal pipe protrudes from the ground in front of the shelter, an identical pipe was noted alongside a footpath about 75 yards to the west. It is unclear what these pipes were for, of if they had any connection with the shelter or any buildings that formerly stood on or near the site. Two depressions were also noted in the wood nearby, one brick lined and the other concrete lined. These may have been drains or perhaps inspection hatches for buried cables.