page_title: Air raid shelter
section_title: Stanton shelters
hierarchical_section_title: Air raid shelter / World War II / United Kingdom / Stanton shelters
caption_attribution_description: English: Disused air-raid shelter, Dilton, New Forest This shelter is amongst silver birch trees, just to the west of the western boundary of Beaulieu Heath. It is a Stanton type shelter, with a perpendicular brick entrance. It would once have had earth piled up against its curved sides - some of that soil remains as well as a silver birch that has grown right up against the side of the shelter. This is the northernmost one of a pair on the edge of what was the Beaulieu Heath airfield during the latter parts of the Second World War.
context_page_description: Air raid shelters, also known as bomb shelters, are structures for the protection of non-combatants as well as combatants against enemy attacks from the air. They are similar to bunkers in many regards, although they are not designed to defend against ground attack.
  Prior to World War II, in May 1924, an Air Raid Precautions Committee was set up in the United Kingdom. For years, little progress was made with shelters because of the apparently irreconcilable conflict between the need to send the public underground for shelter and the need to keep them above ground for protection against gas attacks. In February 1936 the Home Secretary appointed a technical Committee on Structural Precautions against Air Attack.
  By November 1937, there had only been slow progress, because of a serious lack of data on which to base any design recommendations and the Committee proposed that the Home Office should have its own department for research into structural precautions, rather than relying on research work done by the Bombing Test Committee to support the development of bomb design and strategy. This proposal was eventually implemented in January 1939.
context_section_description: Media related to Stanton shelter at Wikimedia Commons
  A segment shelter manufactured by the Stanton Ironworks, Ilkeston, Derbyshire.  The shop producing spun-concrete lighting columns ceased production and turned over to concrete air-raid shelters, of which 100,000 tons were manufactured, principally for the air ministry. Reinforced concrete proved an ideal material for air-raid shelters, being strong and resistant to shock with no deterioration with the passing of time. This type of segment shelter was of simple design and of low cost—any length of shelter could be built up from the pre-cast steel reinforced concrete segments. The segments were 20 inches wide; a pair of them formed an arch 7 feet high and transverse struts were provided to ensure rigidity. These fitted into longitudinal bearers which were grooved to receive the foot of each segment. Each pair of segments was bolted together at the apex of the arch and each segment was also bolted to its neighbour, the joints being sealed with a bituminous compound. The convenient handling of these segments enabled them to be transported onto sites where close access by motor lorry was not possible. Partly buried in the ground, with a suitably screened entrance, this bolted shelter afforded safe protection against blast and splinters.
caption: An abandoned Stanton shelter at the disused airfield, RAF Beaulieu (2007)
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