Pierremont Par Air Raid Shelter

The air raid shelter beneath Pierremont Park in Broadstairs was intended to hold around 130 people, although in practice it could probably have accommodated considerably more. It is built in two distinct sections. The entrance passage is a reinforced concrete vaulted tunnel, beyond which the shelter is lined with precast concrete planks.

As the shelter is relatively shallow, it may have begun life as a Munich Crisis trench shelter. The change in construction could reflect the varying depth of cover, with reinforced mass concrete being used in the shallower sections where greater structural strength was needed.

The shelter is entered by a ramp set within a concrete-lined cutting. There is also a second entrance, now bricked up, together with two emergency escape shafts, both of which have lost their ladders.

The adjacent Pierremont Hall was visited by Princess Victoria, later Queen Victoria, in 1826. By the Second World War the building had become the town council offices, and this may explain why the shelter appears to have been built to a higher standard than many others, as it would have been intended to protect council staff during daytime air raids.

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