Harton Primary School, air raid shelters

Three concrete structures, associated with air raid shelters identified through geophysical survey, were recorded during an archaeological evaluation at Harton Primary School in 2009. The tops of the structures had been truncated. Constructed from 0.12m thick concrete with ferrous reinforcing bars and netting. The central structure was exposed to reveal a concrete base. The air raid shelters were constructed by the excavation of a trench and the building of the concrete structure within the trench. The tunnels were approximately 2m high internally and had vertical sides with a change of angle of 45 degrees near the top. The roof was probably flat. This would make the structure a covered trench shelter rather than a semi-sunken shelter. Entrance would have been by a flight of steps. Further air raid shelters have been identified though geophysical survey in the adjacent field.