[CAT]

I'm not sure about finding any tunnels, but certainly all the properties along the High Street frontage that I dealt with (about three in total), had cellars cut straight into the chalk, with only one lined in brick. Between each cellar was a thin spit of upstanding chalk about 3 feet wide onto which the property boundary wall (mainly a timber frame over a couple of brick courses) was constructed. However, each of the cellars were linked via opposing doorways (mostly bricked-up) cut through the dividing chalk spits. With the three properties I looked at and the doorways to the adjoining cellars either side meant that at least five properties could be accessed without coming above ground. At the time I was told by other owners on both sides of the High Street that similar doorways were in their cellars as well. Could this have enabled illegal goods to be transported up the High Street from the riverside without coming above ground?

[mmitch]

I remember that during rebuilding (over the years) of several properties in the High street, they came across tunnels? There was speculation they could have come up from the river. For smuggling?
mmitch.

[CAT]

I'm sure it wasn't the same goodies as came out of a series of seventeenth-century cess pits to the rear of properties formerly fronting Gravesend High Street that I dealt with about 10 years ago. Lots of lovely drinking glasses, hand painted delft plates with the odd German stoneware drinking pot to mention but a few. Happy days!

[mmitch]

We have a back alley with a 10ft wide clear access. I expect a 'night soil man' or whatever the council called them in the 1930s provided some relief.  We certainly put a lot of garden waste in ours but I've no idea what our neighbour deposited.....
mmitch.

[CAT]

A nice treasure trove, but I'd leave it a few more decades, being an old cess pit?

[kyn]

A nice little treasure trove in the future when the area is redeveloped and is dug up!

[mmitch]

My house was built in 1932 among the first private development in Gravesend. Each pair of houses had a cesspit at the back. After WW2 main drainage connected all the houses and we filled the cesspits in with all our rubbish!
mmitch.

[kyn]

THE SANITARY CONDITION OF TOWNS IN GREAT BRITAIN THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD – 19 SEPTEMBER 1876

GRAVESEND- Population, 21,265; mortality 21∙39
-Sewage does not contain manufacturing refuse; is drained into cesspools, not allowed to enter storm water drains, which discharges into the River Thames.
Nightsoil disposed of to farmers. Scarcely any disease occurs that can by any means be traced to want of proper means of removal of excreta; particularly free from serious epidemic outbreaks and outbreaks of any sort seldom become formidable.

[kheridr]

can anyone confirm if this is still around, because i would love this to be complied with my ww2 history for gravesend

There is anderson shelter near me and i belive its here

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=51.43023,0.350632&num=1&t=h&sll=51.431031,0.347896&sspn=0.006295,0.006295&gl=uk&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=51.430277,0.350598&spn=0.000545,0.00142&z=20

ive been down most alleyways to find similar contructions but this is only one i remeber

[Matt_Vinyl]

Hi mao10,

Thanks for that - that's really interesting to hear. It certainly sounds very similar to the one that I used to explore just up the road from you. The alley used to be just off of Devonshire road (opposite Central Avenue).

Would be great to see some pictures (as Colin has requested) if possible?

I wonder what the 'crawl-space' was for? Storage of supplies perhaps?

Thanks,
M.

[colin haggart]

Can you please post a photo or two of the shelter.

[mao10]

Hi Matt_vinyl

I live close by off Central Avenue. It appears that unlike many areas of the country that had to put up with Anderson shelters, it was common in Gravesend during the war to have concrete and brick shelters and there are still a few dotted around this particular area. In fact I have one in my back garden which is in pretty good condition. It has the classic brick entrance with a five or six steps down, you then turn a corner and you are into a room approx 6 foot by four foot as you have described. I understand there are two or three down my road still and a couple in the next road along.

I'd be interested to know why th
ese types of shelter were located in back gardens in Gravesend rather than Andersen Shelters. I can only hazard a guess that it is due to its proximity to the river and  RAF Gravesend hence was seen as a potential target. Any ideas?

Mike

[Matt_Vinyl]

You are most probably correct, it was a great little place - there was quite a lot of old bits and pieces down there too, some of which I still have in my parents' loft, I beleive! I also drew a very detailed map (even though it was only a small place).

I will take a look at those links this evening, unfortuantely they don't appear to work correctly at the office.

[Paul]

It could have been an air raid shelter?
looks like some interesting buildings at the back?

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=sk4qgyh0xtd9&scene=29558913&lvl=2&sty=b

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=sk4nmzh0xtwj&scene=16525381&lvl=2&sty=b

[Matt_Vinyl]

Hi all,

Just located and signed up to this fantastic forum - have enjoyed perusing the many threads that cover many recognisable places.

I now live in Bexley, but spent 23 years in Gravesend (am only 30 now!) and as a youngster, used to love going off exploring the various places that were local to me. Ooh, and apologies if this is in the wrong sub-forum, I wasn't sure of the best option for Gravesend-based stories.

One place that we used to frequent was in the back garden of this (then deserted!) house (Google Streetview Link) - the small gate at the lower left of the picture leads to it - if you 'scroll' to the left, you can see the house slightly (it's the white set-back one). There was a fantastic underground shelter here, which consisted of a room about 6 foot by 4. At the back right, about 3 foot up the wall, was a 'crawl-space' that went a few feet in, turned left andafter a further few feet come to a dead end. This 'dead end' wall appeared to be made from a different type of brick to the rest of the tunnel. My friend and I were certain that it lead on further, but alas, never managed to find out if it did.

Sadly now, the house is once again a private property and from the
top-down view in Google Maps, appears to have been cemented over. :( I would be interested in hearing of any information that anyone may have as to it's use / purpose, or indeed - if it did go further back and link to the house (as we suspected).

Are there any other Gravesendians here with any similar tales?

All the best,
Matt...