Hillside Cemetery, air raid shelter

Hillside Cemetery, air raid shelter

HER Number
15967
District
Sunderland
Site Name
Hillside Cemetery, air raid shelter
Place
Houghton-le-Spring
Map Sheet
NZ35SW
Class
Defence
Site Type: Broad
Civil Defence Site
Site Type: Specific
Air Raid Shelter
General Period
20TH CENTURY
Specific Period
Second World War 1939 to 1945
Form of Evidence
Ruined Building
Description
This air raid shelter was built by Houghton Urban District Council, during World War Two along with many others, for those people who had not got an Anderson shelter. The shelter would have been used by the cemetery keeper and his family and anyone who happened to be in the cemetery during an air raid. Four bombs were dropped on Houghton Cut in July 1940. After the War the shelter was used for tool storage. Brick with a reinforced concrete roof. 2.7m x 2.08m in plan and 1.92m high. The roof is 16cm thick.
Easting
434410
Northing
550420
Grid Reference
NZ434410550420
Sources
Paul Lanagan, 2008, Houghton's Last Air Raid Shelter, www.houghtonlespring.org.uk/worldwar2; Paul Lanagan, 2013, Air-raid shelters offered sanctuary from bombs, article in Seaham and Houghton Star, Wednesday 18 September 2013