Monument record 4086/0/6 - Samuel Street Public Air Raid Shelter

<1> Local World Ltd, Various, The Stoke Sentinel, 15/01/2014 (Web Site). SCH7084.

An air raid shelter designed and built in 1939 or 1940 to protect 500 people. The bunker was found underneath a football pitch in Samuel Street. It was last opened in 1992. There were aluminium bunk beds in good condition and chemical toilets at the other end of the shelter.

<2> Royal Air Force, 1944-1947, 1940s RAF Aerial Photographs from Operation Review (Aerial Photograph). SCH8041.

The top of a possible subterranean structure is visible at the southern end of the playing field where Richard Moon Street and Bright Street meet.

<2> The GeoInformation Group, 2005, 1940s RAF Aerial Photographs from Operation Review (Aerial Photograph). SCH4608.

The top of a possible subterranean structure is visible at the southern end of the playing field where Richard Moon Street and Bright Street meet.

<3> Trinity Mirror North West, Various, Crewe Chronicle, 'When suddenly the earth moved...' Woodhouse J c.1992 (Newspaper-Magazine). SCH7319.

The shelter was built quickly once the war started in 1939 and typically contained 300 people from the surrounding streets and Crewe Works. Quite a lot of incendiary devices were dropped in the surrounding area, as well as bombs targeting the Crewe Works. The shelter is square shaped with a maze of narrow corridors running through it, many of which were lined with benches. In the event of the bunker being hit, there were ladders up to three hatches in the roof, in addition to the two entrances. Barrage balloons were also stationed on the playing field and a smokescreen raised nearby.