A COUPLE were baffled after discovering a World War II bunker hidden under their summerhouse.
Catherine and Liam Milburn unearthed the secret room three years after moving into their new home in Wiltshire.
Jam PressThe couple discovered the historic remains under their summerhouse[/caption]
Jam PressCatherine and Liam were shocked when they made the discovery[/caption]
Jam PressThe shelter is one of just 14 left in the UK[/caption]
Jam PressLiam came across the iron roof after drilling through the concrete[/caption]
They believe it could be the remains of an Anderson shelter which would have been constructed during WW2.
According to the Andersons Shelters website, there are only 14 of them left in the UK.
The couple live in their three-bed, semi-detached house in Southwick, near Trowbridge with their children Noah, seven, and four-year-old Florence.
And they had no idea that the bunker was in the garden until they unearthed it this month.
“There’s about a three-metre-long piece of concrete underneath a summerhouse in the garden,” said Catherine, 32.
“When we were digging it out, we noticed steel bars.
“We thought it was a bit over the top for a summerhouse then we got to a corrugated iron sheet.
“I thought ‘Oh my God, what have we found?’
“We kept digging. We were so excited.
“Liam and I kept going until we ran out of daylight.
“Then we found the steps. It’s got water in it so we’re going to pump it out.”
The family has ditched their plans to put a garden room where the summerhouse stood as they want to preserve the shelter.
Catherine said: “It’s lovely to have that history in our back garden.
“We love the idea of making use of it and we want to do something different.
“We want to get some light in there. I’ll definitely document it as we go.
“The kids are really excited and the school want to do a trip here.
“It’s so educational for them to learn about the history,” she added.
Regional manager Catherine says she and sports coach Liam, 34, fell in love with the house because it was “full of character”.
It had once been the village post office.
Catherine added: “We assumed there had been an overground bunker there because when we moved in there were lots of bricks in the garden.
“We renovated around 60 per cent of the garden but we hadn’t found a thing, not one piece of history in the house.
“We were desperate to find something.”
Anderson shelters were small, metal air raid shelters built in gardens and houses during the war to protect people from bombs.
They were made out of two curved corrugated steel sheets bolted together at the top, and buried about three feet into the ground.
Designed to protect up to six people from shell fragments and bomber splinters, they are capable of withstanding a 100-pound bomb falling six feet away.
The government supplied them to low-income families for free, and later sold them to wealthier people.
Around 1.5 million were distributed before the war, and 3.6 million were produced in total.
They became popular after heavy bombing began in the summer of 1940. During the Blitz, it was common to use them every night.
They were named after Sir John Anderson, the Home Secretary from 1939 to 1940.
Jam PressThey have plans to preserve the shelter[/caption]
Jam PressIt was hidden under the pavement[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
