An Anderson Shelter in Broxbourne

in 1938 Neville Chamberlain , Prime Minster, appointed Sir John Anderson in charge of Air Raid Precautions.   Anderson commissioned William Patterson to design a cheap shelter which could be erected in people’s gardens. The Anderson shelter was the result.

It consisted of six corrugated sheets and measured 6 feet by 4½ feet.  The shelter was buried in the garden and the corrugation made it very strong.  The shelter required a pump or drain hole to remove the water which tended to seep into it.  They were also damp and cold.

The first shelter was erected in a garden in Islington on 25th February, 1939.  Approximately 1.5 million had been distributed by September and a further 2.1 million were distributed during the war.