The original Payne Smith School was in Longport, opposite the Technical College (the former Kent and Canterbury Hospital in St Augustine’s Abbey. Due to a shortage of space, Second World War air-raid shelters had to be provided off site, in the field below the garden of Barton Court. As Peter Holmes recalled, the shelter was at some distance from the school ‘up Lower Chantry Lane, across the road, up along Edward Road, into open fields there ... where the College of Art is ... that was all fields and back gardens to [Barton Court] in Longport ... The shelter was underground, made of brick ... like a long passage with benches either side ... there was electric light in there. From about 1940, the shelter was made available for public use outside school hours. Open to public outside school hours, and possibly after the evacuation of the school. Eric Wilkinson recalled ‘The [air-raid shelter] by Edward Road in Barton Court we had to take deckchairs there to sleep in.’ In 1942 the shelter was described as a ‘concrete-trench air-raid shelter’ with room for 348 persons, it is clearly visible in immediate post-war aerial photographs. The school was destroyed during the ‘Baedeker’ raids of 1942.
Owner : Unknown
Publicly accessible : Unknown
How accessed for survey :
Tourism Potential :
Condition : Destroyed
Date of visit :

Canterbury City Council Emergency Committee, 01/01/39, Canterbury City Council Emergency Committee Minute Books 1 to 6 (Unpublished document). SKE14951.

Canterbury City Council Emergency Committee, 01/01/39, Canterbury City Council Emergency Committee Minute Books 1 to 6 (Unpublished document). Ske14951.

Peter Holmes, 01/01/95, "And We All Got Under the Table": Under Fire 1939-45 A VE Day Commemmoration (Bibliographic reference). SKE14952.

Peter Holmes, 01/01/95, "And We All Got Under the Table": Under Fire 1939-45 A VE Day Commemmoration (Bibliographic reference). Ske14952.