A WWII air raid shelter was recently located in the grounds of the former South Kent College, Station Road, Ashford. Entry was by a flight of concrete steps leading
down to an underground shelter in a very good state of preservation.

The shelter was constructed throughout by the cut-and-cover method using precast concrete sections. Electric lighting had been installed throughout and the original wartime Bakelite (the forerunner of modern-day plastic) lamp holders were still in situ. There was very little graffiti except a pencil drawing of a fighter ace in his aeroplane cockpit located in the main passage.

A number of Elsan chemical toilets remained in the toilet areas, one of which had its original seat still intact. These had stood there silently and untouched for perhaps 65 years. Parallel battens ran the length of the passages, which would have been used to support the seating on each side which had been removed. Sadly it is planned to backfill the shelter soon and redevelop the site. Another example of our history being destroyed.