Dodge Hill Air Raid Shelter


The Stockport Air Raid Shelters are a system of almost 1 mile of underground air-raid shelters dug under Stockport, six miles south of Manchester, during World War II to protect local inhabitants during air raids. Four sets of underground air raid shelter tunnels for civilian use were dug into the red sandstone rock below the town centre. Preparation started in September 1938 and the first set of shelters was opened on 28 October 1939; Stockport was not bombed until 11 October 1940. The smallest of the tunnel shelters could accommodate 2,000 people and the largest 3,850. It was subsequently expanded to take up to 6,500 people. In 1948, the shelters were sealed off from the public. The largest of the Stockport Air Raid Shelters have been open to the public since 1996 as part of the town's museum service. The Dodge Hill shelter in Heaton Norris had a capacity for around 2,000 people. In 2013, two youths became trapped in the tunnels for over three hours, resulting in over twenty firefighters and seven emergency vehicles attending to rescue them. The following year, over thirty five firefighters arrived to extinguish a fire possibly ignited by rough sleepers.
Having seen this shelter was open and after visiting the Brinksway version a few years earlier, we headed to the tunnel system with help from @host . We spent a few hours inside on a weekday night, trying to spot the differences between Dodge Hill and it's counterparts. Visited with @jtza and @huyt.urb .







Toilets.



One of the exit stairwells.


Here's a link to our documentary styled video showcasing this location. We cover the shelter's past, present and future through cinematics and narration:


Thanks for reading :)