There seems to have been a Second World War civil-defence depot at the Corporation Yard on Kingsmead Road, Canterbury (the present Council Depot), extending across the road to the electricity works. Perhaps due to its size, Canterbury looks to have had two or more Depots for the civil-defence services – the other being on the Corporation Central Depot at St Peter’s Lane. The Kingsmead site seems to have been the more important of the two. It was referred to by various names, including also the ‘Northgate Centre’ and the ‘Northgate Air-Raid Precautions Depot.’ In the months preceding the Second World War, one of Canterbury’s two first-aid posts seems to have been established on the Depot (this is discussed in a separate entry). Other services may have been established on the Depot nearer the outbreak of war, and their initial facilities provided during the closing months of 1939 – the premises were provided with an ‘exhaust fan’, around the end of September, and a supply of gas was laid-on early in October. The Kingsmead Depot accommodated the ‘Rescue Party Depot’ (attested in December), and a decontamination centre for civil-defence personnel was established ‘adjacent to the Electricity Works’ on the other side of Kingsmead Road. This decontamination centre seems to have included a decontamination laundry, which, from 1941 until the construction of another at the St Mildred’s Tannery, was the only such facility to fall within the defensive perimeter of the Canterbury Nodal Point. These facilities were doubtless placed at the Generating Station because of the boilers there.
Owner : Public
Publicly accessible : No
How accessed for survey :
Tourism Potential :
Condition : unknown
Date of visit :

Canterbury City Council Emergency Committee, 01/01/39, Canterbury City Council Emergency Committee Minute Books 1 to 6 (Unpublished document). SKE14730.

Canterbury City Council Emergency Committee, 01/01/39, Canterbury City Council Emergency Committee Minute Books 1 to 6 (Unpublished document). Ske14730.