Although 50 miles away from the carnage of the London bombings, small places such as Brighton, or indeed anywhere along the south coast, were targets for the Luftwaffe. Many of the German bombers returning from their missions would drop any remaining ordnance on chance targets before crossing the English Channel. Fighter planes would strafe the streets of Brighton in an effort to frighten and demoralize the inhabitants and my own mother-in-law told me stories of these events happening.

 

As a result of these raids, many places were hit and destroyed or badly damaged and had to be pulled down. There were many casualties from the bombs and in order to protect people from these sorties, air-raid shelters were built in various places for people to shelter when danger threatened. Although built in large numbers during the war years, they have slowly been demolished and there are few left now from those times. St.Peters School is one of the few survivors of that age that is gradually fading with the passage of time.

 

Few now are left that remember crouching in these shelters, huddled together in the dim light of the tunnels, dust drifting down from the cracks and the vibrations of the explosions passing through the walls. The feelings of trepidation and fear that settled on all who waited in these shelters for the dangers to pass so that they might return to their daily lives. Fortunately, the young people of today do not have to experience these events first hand and only hear the stories of their Grand parents as they recollect their times spent in such places.

 

The shelter at St.Peters School is one of these relics of a bygone age and has, as many others, been a victim of neglect and indifference, to the point where areas of the shelter are still out of bounds due to safety. With the present trend of history being the new intrest of the day, people are now wishing to visit these places and see for themselves what it was like for the people who relied on these shelters to give them protection from the sky above.

 

Above: Here the steps leading down into the shelter are still in a usable condition.

At full capacity this shelter could house some 2,000 people in its concrete tunnels which were constructed in the form of tubes with a link to its neighbouring tunnel at each end. The circular design would have given added strength to the tunnels with little chance of a cave in being likely - except perhaps in the unlikely event of a direct hit.

 

Just about tall enough to stand upright in, they had wooden benches down each side of the tunnel with barely 24 inches in the centre for passing. The tunnels were laid off an access tunnel, seen above at the bottom of the stairs. This had one tunnel to the left of the doorway with the rest of the tunnels to the right of the door. Although I did not measure the tunnels, they are approximately 70feet in length and a width of approx. 7feet. Each tunnel was only connected to one other at the far end to minimise disturbance and heighten safety.

 

 

The photographs above show the size of the tunnels and the one on the left has a partially built bench on each side which gives an idea of the confined conditions in the shelter. The right photograph has tables placed in the entrance of the tunnel as this is still unsafe and is not accessible.

 

 

Page 2

 

 

 

 

 

Top of Page       main page:  www.yeoldesussexpages.com