A small ladder leads into a little know part of the dark days of world war 2, this is many of the world war 2 shelters made during the dark days of the blitz to protect the people of Plymouth from the blitz this small hatch cracked and rusting originally an escape route this now gives us access into this world. hardly under ground bar a few feet of soil and concrete hastily made in the start of the war using the cut and cover method a large hole dug filled with a concrete floor and lined with pre made panels and tied together with a series of steel beams then buried to offer some form of protection against the falling bombs this space small and poorly lit offered some shelter from regular raids. During the time in the shelter the former occupants left us clues in the form of small pieces of graffiti drawn in pencil on the wall. This portrait of life in stoke gives us a tangible personal clue to the day to day life of the people of Plymouth during the dark days of world war 2 and adds a historical and personal context to what would just be a series of rooms and chambers without the graffiti.
To enlarge the images click on them
Plymouth navy day 1944
NAFFI
a list of local names and addresses and a possible football score at the bottom
to add a scale and perspective to the graffiti the below images give a context and scale of the shelter.
the shot towards the cubical for the toilets
this would have been lined down one side with benches.
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