Rare and fascinating …….. the 85 year old relic

This could possibly be the last Anderson shelter in Chorlton.

Anderson Shelter, 2021

I know there was one on Upper Chorlton Road, but I am not sure it has survived.

This one is on Sandy Lane, and in 1939 the house beside it was occupied by Mr. & Mrs. Craven.

James Craven was born in 1896, and his wife Hilda seven years later.  On the 1939 Register he described himself as a "Textile Agent", working for himself, while Mrs. Craven was engaged on  “Unpaid Domestic Duties”. 

In all probability they were the first residents in the house which was built in 1935, and may well have been responsible for erecting the shelter.

Andersons were designed in 1939, could accommodate six people and were made of six galvanized panels which were bolted together.  They were 6 feet high, 4.5 feet wide, and 6.5 feet long.

They were either buried deep in the ground and with a covering of soil on the roof, or in some cases installed inside people's houses and covered with sandbags.  They were issued free to all householders who earned less than £5 a week.

But for those earning above £5 a week  there was a charge of £7 .

One and a half million shelters of this type were distributed between February 1939 and the outbreak of war, and  during the war a further 2.1 million were erected.

In 1945 householders were expected to remove their shelters and local authorities began the task of reclaiming the corrugated iron, and those householders who wished to keep their Anderson shelter could pay a nominal fee to retain them.

I first saw the Sandy Lane one back in the mid 1970, but never did anything about.

But back in 2021 I knocked on, got permission, and discovered that it sat level with the ground, leaving me to wonder whether the Craven’s or some one else had rescued it from the ground and rebuilt it on top. 

Anderson Shelter in the making, 1939

Or maybe it was never sunk into the ground.  

The present owner offered to move the bins, but I rather like them where they are, a reminder that the shelter and the bins, along with the garden are an essential part of the house.

Location, Chorlton

Pictures, the Anderson Shelter, 2021, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and the first delivery of an Anderson Shelter, somewhere in Manchester,1939, Daily Herald, m09587, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass