I've been meaning to get down the Stockport air raid shelters for so long but always seemed to find some reason or other for not doing so. And I'm kicking myself for not doing them sooner, they are absolutely fantastic!
First up we hit the Dodge Hill shelters, located, as you would expect near Dodge Hill. These shelters are probably the best preserved of the two abandoned ones (the third, Chestergate is now a museum, and meant to be very good too, although I haven't visited myself).
Upon entry you realise how claustrophobic they must have been during an air raid, the tunnels themselves are probably no more than 7 or 8 feet wide, with bunk beds down one side of them. Imagine how they must have been teeming with people...
The shelters were excavated in the 1930s when the prospect of war seemed ever more likely..
After spending an hour and a half or so mooching round we exited Dodge Hill and headed over to the Brinksway shelters, which, although much more extensive, don't seem to have the same appeal as Dodge Hill. They appear to have suffered at the hands of vandals a little more over the years.
It's a real shame these shelters are being left to rot, although I must commend Stockport Council for the work they have done at theChestergate shelters, but these are an important reminder of what our parents/grandparents went through during the Second World War.
Anyway, I certainly intend to go back to Dodge Hill, Brinksway didn't really do it for me (besides, I was with Havoc so we got lost!! lol), a return trip is in the offing.
TnM :->
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