Tag Archives: air raid shelter

Stockport’s Underground Air Raid Tunnels

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The air raid shelters in Stockport are open to the public so as we were staying overnight in Stockport we decided to have a look around.

The Chestergate shelter opened in 1939 after just over a year of digging out the sandstone rock.

After opening there were ‘open’ days for the public to have a look round and see the tunnels in order for them to know where they would have to shelter should Stockport become a bombing target.

The tunnels are 7 feet high and 7 feet wide, and about 40 feet underground. ARP (Air Raid Protection) Wardens had their own space.

Humans sheltering would sit on the benchs either side of the tunnel with two people standing in the middle between them, so it was quite crowded.

There were flushing toilets with compartments separated by curtains.

These toilets were for the air raid shelter staff, which included the wardens, nurses and canteen staff.

People would travel from miles around to use the shelters as they felt they were stronger and better equipped than other shelters, some spending all night in them, giving the tunnels the nickname ‘The Chestergate Hotel’. Originally the shelters housed about 4000 people, due to the demand was later extended with more tunnels to accommodate 6500 people.

The tunnels are nearly a mile in length, but not all open to the public. They had electric lighting but that was taken out when the war ended and re-used elsewhere.

The ARP had an area to store their tools, which would have been behind a door like this!

There are five underground shelter systems in Stockport but they do not link together. Each shelter was intended to serve people in the immediate area, but as stated above, people from further afield such as Manchester used to travel to spend the nights in the shelters. Stockport did get bombed in 1940 and later in 1944 but wasn’t a main target like Manchester.

There are narrow tunnels accessing the bigger tunnels.

A canteen serving basic food was situated in one area.

There were many bunk beds, 1575 in total.

Basic medical care was available in the first aid post.

I felt a little that I could have ended up going round and round and never emerging as there are so many tunnels!

This is a replica of the sort of air raid shelter people may have had in their gardens. They were called ‘Andersen’ shelters and were made of corrugated iron and were usually partially below ground. My human remembers her mother talking about a ‘Morrison’ shelter, which was used indoors and the shelter could be used as a table when not in use; she remembers her mum mentioning having to hide under the table when the air raid siren sounded.

There are lots of old signs displayed around the shelters, including this one urging people to not waste the rubber by wearing wellies unnecessarily.

After an hour or so exploring we emerged back out into the sunshine.

I do recommend visiting these shelters if you are in the Stockport area, they could be combined with the hat museum for a day out and both are very interesting.

More information about the Air Raid Tunnels Air Raid Shelters – Stockport Council

Link to my blog about Stockport Hat Museum https://horacethealresfordbear.com/2025/11/30/hats-hats-and-history-at-stockport-hat-works-museum/

Horace the Alresford Bear 4/5/2026

Exploring Bristol’s Historical Air Raid Shelter

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The humans took me along with them to find out about some Bristol history and visit the air raid shelter underneath The Corn Exchange in Central Bristol. My human’s father lived in Bristol in wartime and he was 14 when much of the area which is now Castle Park was destroyed in ‘The Blitz’ in 1940.

Before setting off to find the air raid shelter Duncan, the guide, told us some snippets of information about the history of Bristol. Here I am next to a ‘Nail’ which dates back to the 16th Century. There are four ‘nails’ outside the Corn Exchange, though they used to be next to All Saints Church until being moved to their current place in the 18th Century. The saying that humans sometimes use ‘pay on the nail’ comes from the time when traders did deals using cash on the ‘nails’.

There is a very interesting clock that has an extra hand on the front of the Corn Exchange. The guide explained that there were two minute hands, one showing Bristol time and the other showing London time, which is about 10 minutes earlier. The clock was necessary when people started travelling by train in order to make train timetables reliable. Nowadays everyone uses the same time, but if you are in Bristol and are late for something, as the guide suggested, an excuse could be that you were using Bristol time!

There was a little talk about a ghost to look out for, called Margaret, who is apparently a friendly ghost, then we set off to find the air raid shelter.

We had to go downstairs to the basement area of The Corn Exchange.

Nearly there….

On entering a room that used to house a cafe for the city valuers, the guide changed into an ARP (Air raid precautions) Warden’s hard hat to take us into the air raid shelter.

The bears in the cots wouldn’t have been in the shelter originally but I guess children may well have brought teddy bears with them when they had to shelter.

The cuddly dig reminded me a bit of my human’s spotty dog (that doesn’t have spots anymore)

The posters on the wall are reproductions from the 1940’s that have been made to look old. The toilets were just areas with rows of buckets for 100 humans sheltering sometimes for hours, it must have been very scarey for the humans sheltering as bombs fell outside.

The guide, Duncan, put a record on a reproduction wind up record player then told us about Nipper the dog. Nipper was born in Bristol in 1894, and called Nipper because he ‘nipped’ at humans’ ankles. When Nipper’s owner died he was taken to Liverpool to be cared for by his owner’s brother, then later to Kingston-on-Thames where he is buried. Several years after his death his original owner’s brother painted the picture of him which went on to advertise HMV (His Master’s Voice).

The ‘Smoking is strictly prohibited’ sign is an original sign from the 1940s.

The bike is from the 1940’s and may have been the sort used by ARP wardens.

I tried on a helmet, but it wasn’t very comfortable for a bear!

There are other interesting items in the shelter such as the gas masks that humans were issued just in case gas was dropped, which fortunately it wasn’t. The black long thing is an incendary bomb, thousands of these were dropped that caused buildings to catch on fire. It is sad that humans have wars.

Dances used to happen in The Corn Exchange above the air raid shelter. My grand humans met at a ballroom dance there in 1954!

In the 1960’s rock and roll bands started playing there, including The Who, Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones. I had a look at the diary of a young woman describing the gig by The Who.

The Corn Exchange is now full of market stalls selling all sorts of things so sadly no bands play there anymore.

My blog is only a few snapshots of the tour. The guide told us lots us interesting facts about Bristol’s history and if you are in the area it is worth doing.

For more information see https://www.st-nickstours.com/

Horace the Alresford Bear 14/3/2025