In early to mid 1939, the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury Cathedral ‘proposed to effect certain work in the Crypt of the Cathedral which [would] make it suitable for use as an air-raid shelter.’ The civil-defence committee requested to know whether this would ‘provide accommodation for the population of the [Cathedral] Precincts, and if so to what number.’ Some such work does seem to have been carried out - alongside other air-raid precautions such as sandbagging and the removal of stained glass for storage: ‘massive pit-props were installed to strengthen the crypt vaults and in the choir aisles above, steel strengtheners were placed beneath a cushion of earth’, which seems, in turn, to have been covered with planks. These alterations were rather controversial at the time. Around the end of September 1939 the Dean and Chapter were told the Cathedral Crypt would be ‘recommended for recognition as a public shelter if [the] interior partitioning and external strengthening [were] carried out in accordance with Home Office Requirements.’ This, however, ‘was never to be as it was thought the necessary alteration required in the Nave and Chancel would have been too great. The Mayor of the time, Catherine Williamson, later commented that such a shelter, had it been completed, ‘would have been of immense value throughout the war for the population of Canterbury to have been able to rely on a central shelter.’ Later, however, when Canterbury became a Nodal Point and needed new medical arrangements within the perimeter, the Crypt was suggested as the site for an emergency hospital and appears to have been adopted as such at some point late in 1941. It was chiefly intended for casualties not requiring surgery, and was staffed by doctors and nurses from the Kent and Canterbury Hospital. Little or nothing of these wartime arrangements is obvious today, although more detailed analysis of the fabric might reveal some trace.
Owner : Private
Publicly accessible : Yes
How accessed for survey :
Tourism Potential :
Condition : poor
Date of visit :

Canterbury City Council Emergency Committee, 01/01/39, Canterbury City Council Emergency Committee Minute Books 1 to 6 (Unpublished document). SKE14858.

Canterbury City Council Emergency Committee, 01/01/39, Canterbury City Council Emergency Committee Minute Books 1 to 6 (Unpublished document). Ske14858.

Canterbury Fortress Command, 01/01/42, War Diary Canterbury Fortress 1942 (Unpublished document). SKE14859.

Canterbury Fortress Command, 01/01/42, War Diary Canterbury Fortress 1942 (Unpublished document). Ske14859.

Williamson C., 01/01/46, Though the Streets Burn (Bibliographic reference). SKE14860.

Williamson C., 01/01/46, Though the Streets Burn (Bibliographic reference). Ske14860.

Crampton P., 1989, The Blitz of Canterbury (Bibliographic reference). SKE14726.