In late September 1939 contracts were entered into for trench air-raid shelters at the Methodist School, beside St Peter’s Grove, attached to the Methodist Church on St Peter’s Street. These were to be completed in accordance with new Home Office Specifications and thus was expected to take about seven weeks. (In the meantime it was suggested that they use the cellar of Tower House in the Westgate Gardens as a shelter. Either the initial plan was changed, or the trench shelters were soon replaced with surface shelters, because by the end of January 1942 the school possessed a brick-built, surface air-raid shelter, to accommodate 321 scholars and staff. The shelters were ‘on garden land at back of [the] school entrance from St Peter’s Grove’. By this time they had been made available for public use outside school hours. They were ordered to be strengthened in February 1942.
Owner : Private
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Canterbury City Council Emergency Committee, 01/01/39, Canterbury City Council Emergency Committee Minute Books 1 to 6 (Unpublished document). SKE14950.

Canterbury City Council Emergency Committee, 01/01/39, Canterbury City Council Emergency Committee Minute Books 1 to 6 (Unpublished document). Ske14950.