Homeowner Finds World War II Bomb Shelter Under a Slab In Her Backyard
A homeowner in Kent, England recently made the startling discovery of a 160-foot, World War II-era air raid shelter under a concrete slab in her back garden. And she's since documented the artifact on TikTok, where she gives viewers a tour of the once-forgotten tunnel.
Rebecca Hobson, 34, moved into the three-bedroom terrace house 15 years ago. However, she didn't unearth the passageway until 2020, when locals told her there was something tied to the war in her backyard, and didn't set about exploring the space until this year.
"When we moved into the house we had no idea about the air raid shelter being in our garden," Hobson told the UK Metro. "A few years later some of the locals said there might be something in the garden. We’re still trying to dig into the history of it, but it’s still really interesting."
Hobson said that the row of houses she lives in were built in the 1970s, so it's likely that the the tunnel had been covered up when the foundations were originally dug out. She's since seen newspaper clippings that revealed the shelter was built by volunteers during the war, and that it was intended to protect up to 200 women and children during a bombing and from "the cruelties of Hitlerism."
"We thought it was going to be really small, but it was amazing and we were so shocked by the size of it," Hobson recalled, from when she and and her partner Darren first explored the space. "The tunnel did lead to the end of the road to the edge of my neighbors garden but they were worried that they might get rats so they blocked their side up so you can only get in from our garden now."
The couple have since cleaned out the tunnel and added lights, but have otherwise kept it as-is to preserve the history of the shelter.
"We’ve swept it all out as it was really mucky inside and we’ve added some lights inside so people can see inside. We don’t want to really change anything about it as it’s an amazing part of history," she explained. "We’ve asked the local school if they want to come and visit it and show the children. I feel very privileged that we have this bit of history in our garden."
