# Leeds still at war 2009!



## phill.d

OUR MOTTO FOR THE DAY WAS-DIG FOR VICTORY! 







It's amazing to think there are relics from W.W.II still to be found across the city of Leeds.
Unbeknown to most people are the large public air raid shelters still under the recreation grounds.
These shelters were sealed up and the entrance ways filled in after the war.
Most people walking there dog, or having a picnic have no idea they are on top of these long forgotten second world war time capsules.

This is by no means a comprehensive list of what can be found around Leeds.
But there are rare pictures taken inside the Woodhouse Moor shelter, and various over W.W.II relics scattered around the city.





I wonder how many people have walked past this raised mound of earth on Woodhouse Moor oblivious to what lies beneath?

I'm glad i've finally managed to take a look inside one of these shelters.
I've explored the shelters in Manchester, and Stockport before, but nothing of great merit in my own city.
I've often looked at these Leeds shelters and thought the chances of getting in were slim.
But as the saying goes 'Where there's a will-there's a way! 




This patch of concrete is really the only clue there could be anything under your feet here.
It's a sealed up 'Escape hatch' There were eight of these in total.
It was very solid and well sealed shut.
An early morning visit and some ingeniouty was called for to crack this one.

The Second World War slogan 'Dig for victory' certainly proved fruitful 





You can just make out the feint outline of the Woodhouse Moor shelter on this Google earth image.
Students sunbathing (or having a barbecue and making a mess) can be seen sat on top of it oblivious to it's existence.

The Woodhouse shelter is one of the smaller ones in the city.
The smallest is the shelter on Soldiers field between Princes Avenue, and Park Avenue.
The largest been the shelter on Potternewton park.

Woodhouse moor, Hyde park has just under 3 million visits a year. It is the second most popular urban park in Leeds.




This is the very clear outline of the shelter in Cross Flats park, Beeston.
The grass has recently been cut around the shelter, no doubt a smaller machine was needed for the sloped area.

There were several of these shelters in the recreation grounds dotted around Leeds.
The idea was to place them away from, but within easy reach of built up areas.
Woodhouse moor, Wortley, Cross flats, Armley, Potternewton, East end park, Chapel Allerton, York road (Shaftesbury cinema) Roundhay park (Soldiers field) and Buslingthorpe recreation ground to name but a few.




The Leeds shelters were built in 1938 one year before the war started.
They must have smelt it coming!

The shelters were trench cut excavations, with a concrete floor and foundations.
Brick walls were constructed, brackets were inserted to carry slats for wooden benches. A reinforced concrete roof was added on top.
When the shelters were complete, the excavated soil was levelled back on top, leaving only a small mound visible.




This shelter has had it's concrete roof added, soil will now top off the whole structure. Only the entrance ways will be visible.
You can see where the escape hatches are situated.
They seemed to be on every corner.
The small alcove section had privacy screens fitted in the Woodhouse shelter. This is where they must have had the toilet.

Both these shots are the Buslingthorpe shelters (just off Chapletown road) under construction.




Where there's a will-There's a way!
Inside the shelter at last!

This is the view of the only entrance inside the Woodhouse shelter.
The entrance is in the middle of the shelter and faces towards Hyde park road.
A large amount of brick rubble had been tipped in when the war ended.
Earth had been piled outside and grassed over to blend it in.




The entrance way is down the first corridor.
The shelter seemed to be split in two halves. One section was for men, the other for women and children only. This is the interconnecting corridor between.
You can see brackets where the benches where once fitted. The brackets near the ceiling carried air vent (and possibly water) piping.




Drawing diagrams on the paint programme isn't my strong point-but at least it gives some idea to the layout inside the Woodhouse shelter.
The black dots in each corner are the escape hatches, The toilets were in the small alcove sections.




You can see this section was for women and children only.
Variable amounts of brick, and concrete rubble, lay scattered under the emergency exits.
This must have been from when the hatches were concreted over.




The shelters were in good condition considering they've been abandoned for 64 years.
The floor was damp and muddy, but suprisingly there was no standing water.




The shelter was much larger inside than i expected.




Time for a breather!

Large amounts of students beer bottles, and cans have been pushed down the small hole from the world above.




The only bit of fresh air filters through a small gap in one of the escape hatches.














Let me out of here!




These shelters can't have been nice places to spend large amounts of time in, there very claustrophobic and cramped.

It was fortunate the Germans underestimated what an important role Leeds played during the war years.
The large factories at Barnbow, and Kirkstall forge were able to mass produce without the unwanted attention from the Luftwaffe.

Leeds was raided nine times, only six of which were serious attacks.
The worst raid was on the night of the 14th March 1941. The City museum, Town Hall and 4,600 houses were damaged.
Scars from this bombing raid can still be seen near the war memorial on the Headrow, and the Majestic cinema in city square.




The Buslingthorpe air raid shelter under construction in 1938.
The 2009 comparison shot makes that raised manhole cover look very interesting!




View looking across Buslingthorpe recreation ground towards Saville drive, LS 7.




The York road shelter (opposite the Shaftesbury cinema) clearly shows the raised air vents.
The entrance to the shelter is also visible here. I think there would have been a few steps down to the shelter from street level.
It looks like the shelter will have been broken into when they constructed the new footbridge.




There is a variation in construction with this East end park shelter.
The walls are prefabricated concrete sections instead of brick. I can't see any visible signs of this shelter still exisisting.
I shall have to look harder, perhaps it was demolished over the insuing years.

I'm not quite sure what the brick piers are, the Woodhouse shelter had them also.
The pipe leading to it could be an air vent looking at the box at the bottom. On the other hand there appears to be a small trough in the brickwork suggesting a water supply?
It's also possible they were small burners for heat in the Winter months?




Not many people know there was an air raid shelter under the waiting room in the old bus station in Leeds.
Here you can see the waiting room foundations been built in 1938. I recall that building very well. There was a newsagents kiosk outside.
A large amount of Tramps used to congregate in the bus station, they frightened me to death as a youngster 

Quarry hill flats can be seen under construction in the background.




Not all shelters were underground.
This surface shelter still exists in someones back garden on Clarendon road in the Hyde park area of Leeds.
It doesn't look very substantial to me, but i do like it's Helix Hedera camouflage.




The entrance to the shelter has been bricked up behind the blast wall these days.




Air raid shelters came in all shapes and sizes.
This surface shelter was situated outside a newsagents on Brudenell road.




The Hyde park, Woodhouse, and University area of Leeds seems to be the hot spot for W.W.II relics.
This A.R.P sign can still be found near the impressive Parkinson building of Leeds University.




A.R.P stands for Air Raid Precautions, it was created in 1924 as a response to the fears about the growing threat from the development of bomber aircraft.




This air raid shelter escape hatch can still be found on a busy Leeds street 64 years after the war ended. The writing has almost rubbed away by passing feet, most people will have walked past this a 100 times without noticing it before.

The hatch can be seen outside Boots chemist on Otley road in Headingley.




Boots chemist 1960's archive shot.




If you go down to the woods today!

There are still some very strange, and secret places hid away if you know where to look for them!

One such place is situated deep in the woods near the village of Adel, North Leeds.
This heavily fortified structure has remained a mystery for many years. Speculation in the village was rife that it was a W.W.II air raid shelter.
This bunker was actually built by the Leeds Permanent building society to keep there documents safe during the war.
Heavy doors and grilles protected inside, an armoured steel door guarded the main entrance.

The bunker provided 25,000 cubic feet of storage space on two levels.
It was built of reinforced concrete, and had a watertight envelope of brick and asphalt.
It was essential to bring electricity to the bunker, a road to the entrance was made so vehicles could take deeds to and from the safe.

Boxes of deeds began to rust because of condensation, several methods of drying were tried before a cure was found.
The bunker was also used by Leeds Corporation to store many of its historic documents, including the Charter granted to the city in the 17th century by King Charles II.




This very claustrophobic shelter can be found in West Leeds.
The factory it belonged to was demolished many years ago.
This shelter extends through a labyrinth of flooded passages blocked by old tyres.




Not all shelters were bleak places. This one on Dalton Avenue LS 11 was disguised as a flower bed.
I've heard of flower power before, but i doubt this would have stood up to a direct hit by a German bomb.




Mrs Gertrude Mabel Fawcett in her Cardigan Avenue cosy little shelter. LOL 




We were very resourceful during the war years.
These service tunnels deep under York road were converted into air raid shelters. This small locked door under a bridge is the only visible clue to this large network of tunnels today.




The tunnels run far under the city towards East Leeds.




The next relic from W.W.II can be found up high in the clock tower of Morley town hall to the West of Leeds.




Perched above the bells is this air raid siren relic from WWII. It's amazing to see it sill in place 64 years after the war ended.
I'm not sure if it still works, it would give the townsfolk a bit of a shock if it did i guess! 




The outline of the unexplored shelter on Wortley recreation ground.

The grass is usually a lighter colour on top of the shelters when viewed on Google earth.
I guess the concrete underneath absorbs the moisture and dries the ground out quicker.




This is the smallest of the public shelters in Leeds.
I wonder how many people walking across Soldiers field to Roundhay park know about this shelter?





Happy explorers are hungry explorers!
In time honoured fashion, we celebrated another good explore with a slap up Burger King meal.






DIG FOR VICTORY!


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## Winchester

Another great report Phill 

I like the history you put into them.


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## Badoosh

Absolutely fantastic, well done indeed. Great report, very informative & some excellent pics. I can tell you've obviously put a lot of time & effort into this, hats off to you!


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## extrogg

Excellent post mate..truely inspiring!!


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## simaving

Excellent stuff mate!!!!!!!!!


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## Gibbo

Outstanding level of detail in this report. Thanks!


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## oldscrote

Belter of a report Phill a lot of time and effort obviously gone into this one.Suggestion for the black pipe and box thingy in picture 21, could it be a little old coke or coal burning stove?Once again well done matey.


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## phill.d

Thanks guys.
Glad you all like it 

Thanks for that oldscrote. I was thinking it could be a small stove also (although i'd never heard mention of them in those shelters before)

Cheers!


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## Random

As people have said above, great stuff. Obviously a lot of effort gone into this, I assume you didn't do it all in one day?


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## phill.d

Random said:


> As people have said above, great stuff. Obviously a lot of effort gone into this, I assume you didn't do it all in one day?


Thanks.

Do the shelter in one day you mean?
Yes we were in and out of there before 8 a.m lol.
The other bits and pieces is what i've collected over 3 years. It's good to group it all together i guess.


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## cogito

Brilliant report! The detail you've gone into and the effort you put in are great. 

Great pics too.


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## The_Revolution

phill.d said:


> I wonder how many people have walked past this raised mound of earth on Woodhouse Moor oblivious to what lies beneath?



Guilty.

An excellent and comprehensive report; as usual.


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## DigitalNoise

Great stuff Phill, I'm working on something similar down here, shame there isnt anywhere near as much left!!


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## Vintage

Fantastic Report!


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## Neosea

Way to go Phill. Great finds and great research.


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## TK421

Phil, you really do set the benchmark for reports, the effort you have gone into is simply excellent, I spend a lot of time in Leeds and will look a bit more carefully in the future, firstly for interesting war related items, and also for you appearing out of a hole in the ground


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## Runner

Great stuff Phil, very impressed at the detail and that you got into somewhere that most folks wouldn't even know existed.
Nice one - thanks!


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## Darkness

One of the best reports i've read so far dude! Excellent, and well researched. Great photos and a simply amazing explore, I'd love to have seen someone's face if they walked past you while you were digging the hatch open!


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## phill.d

Darkness said:


> One of the best reports i've read so far dude! Excellent, and well researched. Great photos and a simply amazing explore, I'd love to have seen someone's face if they walked past you while you were digging the hatch open!


Ha ha. We were very early and stealthy getting in.
Not so getting back out tho.
A few Joggers and dog walkers had a laugh as we popped out again.

Everything was put back and patted down again. You'd never know we had been lol 

Thanks guys!


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## RichardB

A lot of preparation and effort gone into that and it was well worth it.


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## Darkness

phill.d said:


> Everything was put back and patted down again. You'd never know we had been lol



As it should be!


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## cactusmelba

I Bow to the Master!

(book?)


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## Urban Mole

Excellent, I couldnt put any more words to this that havnt been said already.
This is the kind of reports I like, lots of history and pictures with explainations, take note you n00bs 

Good work


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## night crawler

Brilliant Phill, I always look forward to your Flickr photos.


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## Foxylady

Not a lot I can add to what's already been said, except that I thoroughly enjoyed that and appreciate the time, research and effort put into it.
Cheers Phill.


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## ashless

Epic stuff, 10/10


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## kernowexpeditionary

best report ive seen in months m8, thankyou!


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## freebird

Well done phill absolutely brilliant work!


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## UrbanX

absolutely fantastic report dude, I wish everyone put this much in to them! 
It really does go to show what we're about, actually looking at what people walk past every day. Nice one!


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## CitadelMonkey

Outstanding report mate. :wcool:


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## jonney

nice work mate 10 out of 10 for getting in there. It's surprising what you can find if you start looking for it. Awesome report


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## Apopcalyptic

Superb thread!


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## tbkscott

Epic post mate totally out standing, so much research well done.


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## sheep21

cracking report! 

love how yo lay it all out and right it up. Top marks


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## ricasso

Truly outstanding Phill,you should write a book mate,I would definitely buy it!!!!


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## spacepunk

Great fun, I enjoyed that one.


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