Can You Help Solve Mystery of Guildford’s Wartime Air-raid Shelters?

Published on: 27 Feb, 2013
Updated on: 27 Feb, 2013

By David Rose

Did you know that a number of World War II air-raid shelters still exist in Guildford? I bet there are plenty of people who pass them all the time but don’t have a clue why they were built and what their purpose was. Some older readers may remember them, or can recall others talking about them. If so, I’d like to know…

The air-raid shelter at the foot of Merrow Downs, off High Path Road. Do you know who built it?

A few years ago I was alerted to a brick-built structure on the edge of Merrow Downs, just off High Path Road, near Guildford Golf Club. It had been “discovered” by the then trees and countryside manager of Guildford Borough Council, Adam Owen.

It was partially covered with vegetation. I think he and some volunteers cleared it and he obtained the key to it (presumably held by the borough council) and went inside and had a look. It was assumed that it was an air-raid shelter and a relic from the war years.

Why was it built there? No one seems to know. I do know that during the war the council purposely built or converted existing buildings to be used as public air-raid shelters; which people could freely use if the sirens sounded that an air attack by enemy aircraft was imminent. I have a list of these, published in an advertisement in the Surrey Advertiser during World War II (see list below), but it does not list one as being at this location in Merrow.

I wondered whether it had been built as a “private” air-raid shelter, perhaps for use by a number of households near by. Moreover, it is much larger and completely different from the well known Anderson shelters that people could buy and have erected in their own back gardens.

It is brick-built with some characteristic brickwork around roof line. Although I haven’t been inside, I guess it is concrete lined.

Air-raid shelter in Bailie Road, Charlotteville.

I say that, as last autumn I was contacted by John Redpath of the Charlotteville Jubilee Trust and the Spike Heritage Centre in Warren Road, who asked whether I would be interested in having a look inside an air-raid shelter that exists in nearby Baillie Road. “You bet”, I replied.

It is squeezed between two houses with a path running along one side. It is owned by a housing association that owns a block of flats just behind it. John had been loaned a key to the door of the shelter.

A glimpse inside the shelter in Bailie Road showing an inside door and the ‘blast wall’ designed to give some protection in the event of a direct hit on it.

I met John there one morning and he unlocked it and we went inside. Nothing in there, but it is concrete lined. It is all above ground, same as the one at Merrow Downs and roughly the same size.

There is nothing inside the shelter, but the concrete lining is most evident.

The roof of the Bailie Road shelter is quite recent and the brickwork skin on the side next to the said path is also fairly modern. Don’t quite know why money has been spent on it, as currently there’s not much use for it. But John did comment if it was properly converted it might make a useful building that could be used as perhaps as a kind of games room for young people.

Outside view of the air-raid shelter off Epsom Road. Looks similar to the one off High Path Road.

I had already had a tip off that there was another air-raid shelter, similar to the one at Merrow Downs, fairly close by – beside a footpath that leads from Epsom Road to the downs. It is just past what was once the premises used by the Ministry of Food & Fisheries (Uplands) that has now been developed as Boxgrove Park.

I went and had a look and it is very similar to the one just over the way at the top of High Path Road. It has to be said that these two are sealed up, so there is no public access.

Here’s the one in Stoke recreation ground beside Recreation Road. Looks the same as the others in Merrow.

I then realised that there is indeed yet another very similar brick-built structure that also still stands. Yet another air-raid shelter? Yes, it certainly is. It is in Stoke recreation ground, between Recreation Road and Stocton Road.

I recently met up with a good friend of my family of many years, Norman Hamshere (also a reader of The Guildford Dragon NEWS). I knew that he grew up in that area and was a lad during the war. He told me that indeed it was built as an air-raid shelter, but his family never actually went there during a raid, preferring to take shelter in their own home.

So, did the council build all these shelters? If so, when? From my research into the Home Front in Guildford during World War II (a good deal of it in my book Guildford The War Years 1939-45, co-written with Graham Collyer and published by Breedon Books in 1999), I know that a lot of things happened at the time which seems to have not been recorded or no longer exist.

I guess there many be records and reports buried somewhere in council archives, but, as yet, I have not found out whether they do exist. For example, we historians still do not know for certain where the famous Guildhall clock was safely stored for the duration of the war. Was it in the crypt of the then unfinished Guildford Cathedral, or somewhere in the bowels of Holy Trinity Church in the High Street? The latter is currently the presumed location, but no written evidence have I yet seen. But that’s another story.

Therefore, these air-raid shelters remain a bit of a mystery. Can you help solve this mystery? So often eye-witness accounts and personal memories can provide some answers. If you can help, either leave a comment in the reply box below, or contact me on 01483 838960, or email drosedragon@gmail.com

A picture dating back to World War II mainly showing the Dennis Bros works at Woodbridge. Interestingly, in the foreground I am sure can be seen the public air-raid shelter as mentioned in the list below of shelters. I think the shelter is the building on the lower left of the photo – it looks about the same size as all the others mentioned above. On the lower right is a building that was a public loo. If I am wrong, please correct me – those of you who remember.

Below is a list of the public air-raid shelters that appeared in an advertisement in the Surrey Advertiser sometime during World War II (unfortunately I do not have a record of the exact date). Note: this was probably published before the “deep” air-raid shelters were dug into the side of Foxenden Quarry, off York Road (about 1941?). They also still exist and have been opened to the public courtesy of Guildford Borough Council as part of the Heritage Open Days. If you get the chance to visit these, it is an amazing experience and most recommended (if you share the same interest as me). How I wish they could be opened to the public more often…

Public shelters (my comments in square brackets).

Foxenden Quarry (trenches) [hence before the “deep” shelters were constructed].

Old Theatre, Lea Pale Road.

Borough Hall, Haydon Place.

The Playhouse Arcade, High Street.

The Angel Hotel, High Street. [in the undercroft sometimes called ‘the crypt’?]

The Ward Street Hall.

The Public Reference Library, Ward Street [room  or cellar under the Guildford Institute?]

The Public Baths, Castle Street.

The Glass Works, Portsmouth Road. [cellars of the former brewery buildings?]

The Old Technical Institute, Park Street.

Upper High Street Car Park (overground).

Tunsgate Car Park (overground).

Castle Grounds (overground).

Onslow Street Car Park (overground).

Cattle Market Car Park (overground).

Station Meadows, Woodbridge Road (overground).

Clock House, Onslow Street (basement).

Cellars at North Street end of Angel Gate.

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