People find incredible things in their gardens all the time: a Roman coin here, a Viking spearhead there. But what they rarely find is a massive WWII-era bomb shelter hiding underground. One homeowner in Kent, England, managed to discover exactly that. She has shared the experience online, and the world is reeling to know more.
Discovering the bomb shelter
Rebecca Hobson, a 34-year-old mother of two, moved into her three-bedroom terrace house in Kent about 15 years ago. “When we moved into the house we had no idea about the air raid shelter being in our garden,” Hobson said. However, she explained how “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.”
She said that the row of houses she lives in were originally built back in the 1970s, so it is likely that the shelter had been covered up when they were digging out the foundations for the buildings. She didn’t bother searching for the passageway until 2020, and after having found it just left it be until she finally set about exploring the entrance this year.
She gave the world a tour
To her and her partner Darren’s surprise, they discovered that the bomb shelter was far larger than they anticipated — it actually measures 160 feet long. “We thought it was going to be really small, but it was amazing and we were so shocked by the size of it,” she recalled. Shocked by the sheer size of the shelter, they later learned through newspaper clippings that it was built by volunteers to protect up to 200 women and children during the bombing raids of WWII.
After uncovering the entrance, she gave the world a tour of the bunker via TikTok. “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 video on the social media platform has since gone viral, with audiences amazed by the find.
They want to preserve the shelter’s history
After exploring the bomb shelter, Hobson and her partner set about cleaning the space up a bit. They cleared out the tunnel and increased visibility in the otherwise dark passageway. “We’ve swept it all out as it was really mucky inside and we’ve added some lights inside so people can see inside,” Hobson said. However, they don’t intend to do much else. “We don’t want to really change anything about it as it’s an amazing part of history.”
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Hobson wants to share the find with others and has even offered tours of the space. “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,” she said.