Monument record MDR11148 - Air raid shelters at Stanton Ironworks, Stanton-by-Dale

An extensive labyrinth of air raid tunnels was constructed on a site adjacent to Stanton and Staveley pipe works. These served as shelters for hundreds of munitions workers during bombing raids in World War II. These shelters survived almost intact until 1997 but were at that time described as being systematically destroyed by landfill earth moving works. During the war the Stanton Works had been one of the main producers of tubular reinforced concrete air raid shelters. (1) An air raid shelter, built in 1940. Manufactured by the Stanton Ironworks Company for itself. The shelter is a sectional concrete structure and it is partially sunken. Externally, the shelter forms a linear earthwork about 95 metres long punctuated by six tubular concrete exit points. The Stanton Ironworks Company was one of the main producers of sectional concrete shelters. From the late 1930's all new factories were obliged to provide purpose-built air raid shelters, so their survival is not unusual. However, this shelter may be a prototype and its presence on the manufacturer's site makes it exemplary. (2)