Air Raid Shelters

I was recently contacted with an interesting question, "where were the bomb shelters in Port Glasgow during the second world war and were any still standing".

I was aware that one was still in existence but for the other part of the question I went to the Blether Board and asked the many users there the same question. This was my reply:

Hi Carol, there were different kinds of bomb shelters during the war. There were the "street" shelters which were the big ones. There was one at Woodhall which took a direct hit during the blitz and a lot of people were killed, including several members of the same families. I can't remember where the others were.
Then there were "Anderson" shelters, which were usually in backyards and were erected by the people who lived there.
There were other shelters, but I'm not sure what they were called. I lived in the Alley, and there were a bunch of these shelters in the middle of the space which now has grass I think. It used to be totally open, with metal clothes poles all over the place. I think they were in blocks of four, and there was usually two or three families per shelter, depending on family size. I think they had enough shelters to accommodate all the families who lived in the Alley. Our shelter didn't do us much good, because the night Bouverie was hit, our shelter got a large crack along the roof and down the sides so we had to stop using it. They were demolished sometime after the war. They were great places for the kids to play in.
The dungeon at Newark Castle was also used as a bomb shelter, and a lot of people used that, but people were nervous in case it was hit and the water might come rushing in. As much as they loved the Clyde, no one fancied getting their lungs filled with Clyde water.......
A lot of families who didn't have shelters went up the Public Park. They had incendary bombs and shrapnel landing all around them..... Scary!
A lot of the older tenements had wood scaffolding in the bottom floor of the close to reinforce them, and they stayed there.
Looks like I've told you everything EXCEPT what you wanted to know. I thought all the shelters had been demolished when they started rebuilding after the war.

Thanks to Mr McItosh who sent the photographs from the only shelter that we know of that is still standing

The diesel engine (which I think should be saved & placed in a museum) was to pump flood water out of the shelter, and it is still connected to a full shelter length pipe, which has a sump lower than the floor so the water could flow in. On the pic of the shelter, you can see in on the right hand side under where the seating was. There are no wooden seating left, except
some pieces of rotting wood where they were screwed in. I have not looked up details of the Blackstone Diesel Company maybe I should have got a closer photo of the serial no. ach well,
maybe I will again.
When walking down the stairs into the tunnel, you feel an icy coldness and the hair on your neck stands up, it's not so much eerie but you can feel the place full of people listening to the bombs falling nearby. If you don't like pitch blackness it's not 4U!

S McIntosh

Agnes had asked me some time ago about air raid shelters,but I was unable to get back to her at the time.Your research could be over by now, but in case it isn't,I could give you my limited knowledge. There were two types that I know of . The ones in Kelburn were cell like with smoothed off curved tops and there were about five in a row. Some had a long baffle wall ln front of the entrances, while others had their entrances facing each other. About six families shared each one. The other type , was the shelters at Woodhal. They were a single building. They had a brick wall and a concrete roof. Several closefulls of people shared it and its design was a disaster for some. When Woodhall was bombed, the blast sent up the roof causing the walls to fall inwards and the roof to fall back onto the people. About 70 were killed. These shelters were later re-enforced with railings taken from gardens and parks.Where there was no space to build shelters, closes were lined with wood and metal poles and baffle walls built at the entrance.Others were advised to use the cellars under there homes.There was a photograph of a large shelter in the Port library recently, but I did not know where it was, or anything about it.
I hope this is of some use to you
Regards Marianne

Thanks to everyone that helped put this page together, your help is really appreciated! Please not that the shelter photographed is no longer in existance and was removed in 2006

This page last modified on Monday, March 10, 2003

© Carol McG 2000-2007 all rights reserved, all trademarks hereby acknowledged. The photographs in this site have not to be shared or otherwise used without permission!
Please do not submitt them to any other site for display