Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

A possible Second World War blast shelter or air raid shelter, and eleven possible bomb craters are visible on aerial photographs of 1946 as earthworks just to the south of Lade. These features were mapped from aerial photographs as part of the South East RCZAS NMP project.

Monument Types

• BLAST SHELTER (Modern - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)
• BOMB CRATER (Modern - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)

Full description

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The main group of bomb craters and the possible shelter are centred at TR 0841 2041, on the western side of Pleasance Road North. They extend across an area measuring approximately 133m north to south, and 121m east to west. Two further possible bomb craters are visible to the south-east, centred at TR 0857 2034 and TR 0859 2016.

The bomb craters measure approximately five to six metres in diameter, and are unusual in appearance in that they consist of a round mound with a hole or depression in the top. It is thought that a comparatively small bomb might have caused this effect in the loose shingle characteristic of the ground in this area; by a small explosion at the point of impact causing the shingle to be upcast into a circular bank around the small central crater. This is however, speculation, and it is also possible that the shingle was banked-up to conceal structures such as land mines.

The possible blast shelter or air raid shelter is centred at TR 0837 2046, at the northern edge of the main group of possible bomb craters. It is visible on vertical aerial photographs as an oblong mound measuring approximately eight metres south-west to north-east, and five metres north-west to south-east. A small hollow of the same shape is visible in the top, and measures approximately one metre wide by three metres long. It is identical in form to the bomb craters described above, and differs from them only in its oblong shape. It is thought unlikely that an airborne bomb would cause such a shape, unless it landed at a particularly oblique angle. As such, the alternative interpretation of a possible air raid shelter or blast shelter has been suggested, with shingle banked-up around the central refuge. This may have served some of the nearby houses of Lade.

All of these features are visible on vertical aerial photographs of 1946. By the time of the next available vertical aerial photograph of 1959, the earthworks were still faintly visible. The next available vertical aerial photograph is dated to 1962, and shows the site of the possible air raid shelter and surrounding bomb craters masked by housing development along Williamson Road. By 1983, the area of the bomb craters at the eastern side of the main group was also beneath newly constructed houses along Pleasance Road North. Of the two outlying bomb craters to the south-east; the one centred at TR 0857 2034 was finally obscured by housing by the time of the 1983 aerial photograph. The bomb crater centred at TR 0859 2016, on the western side of the light railway, is still faintly visible on the latest available vertical aerial photograph of 2007 (1-5).

<1> 1946, NMR CPE/UK/1752 3002-3 21-SEPT-1946 (Photograph). SWX23759.

<2> RAF, 1959, NMR RAF/58/2778 0199-0200 01-MAY-1959 (Photograph). SWX23876.

<3> 1962, NMR MAL/62573 97975-6 11-APR-1962 (Photograph). SWX23774.

<4> 1983, NMR MAL/83019 9-11 12-JUL-1983 (Photograph). SWX23785.

Sources and further reading

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