Since being at school and learning about the war, I have always been keen to show people a little piece of FH history, that being the wall on London Road.
Opposite the old McDonalds, or just outside the Wetherspoons, just where the pavement narrows, heading up London Road, there is a piece of history on the wall....
"Shelter 100 yards" I believe it says....
Never noticed that. Was not born to 1949. Hope we have some even older people who use the site.
Guess there could have been a communal shelter , could it have been for the cinema. I believe cinema going very popular in the war years
lol was not expecting anyone to remember it really, just maybe know where it was.
Too close to the cinema to be 100 yards, and unless they had a basement would think it unlikely too.
Did wonder about the subway though and if there was anything of that level further along.
I've been told that it was directly across London Road, where Sainsbury's carpark now is. It was accessible by a footpath roughly where the modern one runs alongside Sainsbury's. At the time the carpark was mostly allotments.
There is a similar sign, hard to read now, on the side wall of the locksmith's next to the Dartmouth Arms. It may well have been directing people along London Road.
I must add that I do not remember it, either.
For a random selection of items on local history visit my blog at:
http://sydenhamforesthillhistory.blogspot.com/
I've been told that it was directly across London Road, where Sainsbury's carpark now is. It was accessible by a footpath roughly where the modern one runs alongside Sainsbury's. At the time the carpark was mostly allotments.
There is a similar sign, hard to read now, on the side wall of the locksmith's next to the Dartmouth Arms. It may well have been directing people along London Road.
I must add that I do not remember it, either.
Excellent, thanks for that
Always interesting to know a bit about the place you grew up eh
I've never seen the Forest Hill signs, but on the road bridge over the railway at Ladywell there is a large painted sign saying 'Shelter for 400' (IIRC) and an arrow. I think the shelter may have been under the bridge itself.
I'm having no luck spotting this sign. Snazy, can you give more precise directions? Thanks.
no probs. Imagine you have just come out of the Weatherspoons, come down the steps, turn left to face up London Rd.
As you look up the pavement, there are a few more shops, a couple of phone boxes and the bus stops. Then the pavement narrows.
Where the pavement narrows, there is a perimeter wall of some houses next to the shops. Old dark brick. Most of this is now covered by a billboard, and a phone box (black one)
Behind all that, on the wall is the sign. I will try and get a snap of it tomorrow
To quote from ' A History of Kings and Princes Garth and Forest Hill' by Jad Adams (1993) p42
"The residents of Kings and Princes Garth spent many nights huddled in the basement with the sound of exploding bombs in their ears. Other people from the surrounding area were also welcome to try to sleep in the air raid shelter which was the boiler room later known as flat 9 Princes Garth. A sign on the outside boundary wall facing the station still proclaimed in the 1990s, though in fading script, that a few yards on there is SHELTER FOR 100."
Kings and Princes Garth are the properties opposite Sainsbury's so this appears tp put the shelter on the west side of London Road.
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