Courtauld's Textile Mill Air Raid Shelters

Courtauld's Textile Mill Air Raid Shelters, Bocking, Essex -1990

Dug-out these photos whilst sorting through another box-load of pics
About 5 years previous to this visit, the original Textile Mill and Factory Buildings sadly were demolished. Today, a new housing estate stands on part of the site, with just a few 1930's buildings remaining, now used as a Gym and for Industrial / Offices. We were told at the time by an old Village Resident that these Shelters were built for the Mill and Factory Workers.

My and me friends used to mess around in these old shelters, and there were rumours of old Plague Tunnels nearby. There were 2 types. A "single" (type 1) and a double "two-way" (type 2).
Sadly all these were removed when they re-developed the site.

Type 1







Type 2





Hope that these were of some interest to y'all

Lb:jimlad:

The development.....
http://www.barratthomes.co.uk/Find-a-Home/New-Developments/H2869-Bocking-Mill/?mode=2

Some history about Courtauld's Textiles.....
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TEXcourtauldS.htm

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...ocking&um=1&hl=en&rlz=1T4SUNA_en___GB243&sa=N

This is exactly what we do here - record stuff before it is gone forever.

Well done for doing this and thanks for sharing.

If you hadn't thought to take some pics all those years ago, they'd be gone forever. Great stuff.

Excellent post, Lb. Glad you took photos of them at the time...good call for posterity.

Very interesting Lightbuoy, if it`s not a daft question, what are plague tunnels

Ooh, nice.

concretegarden said:

Very interesting Lightbuoy, if it`s not a daft question, what are plague tunnels

Click to expand...

I believe they are tunnels where the corpses of plague victims were buried during the era of the Black Death.

LiamCH said:

I believe they are tunnels where the corpses of plague victims were buried during the era of the Black Death.

Click to expand...

Thanks mate, I suppose it was self explanatory really

Sausage said:

This is exactly what we do here - record stuff before it is gone forever.

Well done for doing this and thanks for sharing.

Click to expand...

Thanks very much! This was one of those rare occasions for me -when I actually had a camera with me.
"back-in-the-day", i rarely took along a camera. It was all about having fun (and occasionally a scare) -like an old Mansion -supposedly haunted Besides, prcessing camera film was much more expensive back then.

Lb:jimlad:

Seahorse said:

If you hadn't thought to take some pics all those years ago, they'd be gone forever. Great stuff.

Click to expand...

Ta muchly ol' bean. Appreciate the interest

Lb:jimlad:

Foxylady said:

Excellent post, Lb. Glad you took photos of them at the time...good call for posterity.

Click to expand...

Ahh well, I have me moments
Thanks a lot Foxy

Lb:jimlad:

P.s. -I trust that all's well in the land of Cider?

Potter said:

Ooh, nice.

Click to expand...

Ta buddy

Real shame that these have gone. There used to be a whole bunch of them near the old Lido in Braintree. About 10, I seem to recall. All had a their own number painted on the entrance blast screen wall.

Lb:jimlad:

concretegarden said:

Thanks mate, I suppose it was self explanatory really

Click to expand...

Ta for the interest

Lb:jimlad:

I realise that I am what…15 years late for the conversation! But had been researching these for a while before coming across your post. I also remember as a kid visiting these shelters with my brother. And we were trying to pinpoint exactly where they were. I knew they were close to the factory which we also used to explore when it was empty! So dangerous now looking back!!

Anyway, long shot but I don’t suppose you still have the images of these somewhere as they are not working here anymore. I’d love to see them again.

Also if your able to doodle on a Google Map of where these were it would be great to see.

Thanks again.

RunningMan said:

I realise that I am what…15 years late for the conversation! But had been researching these for a while before coming across your post. I also remember as a kid visiting these shelters with my brother. And we were trying to pinpoint exactly where they were. I knew they were close to the factory which we also used to explore when it was empty! So dangerous now looking back!!

Anyway, long shot but I don’t suppose you still have the images of these somewhere as they are not working here anymore. I’d love to see them again.

Also if your able to doodle on a Google Map of where these were it would be great to see.

Thanks again.

Click to expand...

the poster hasnt been on since Oct 21 so its unlikely you will get a reply Im afraid.

BikinGlynn said:

the poster hasnt been on since Oct 21 so its unlikely you will get a reply Im afraid.

Click to expand...

I did notice that too, but it was worth a go, I will wait to see if there is a reply. Thanks!

I've been doing a bit of digging on the internet and I came up with these links about the shelters with photographs.
https://andersonshelters.org.uk/other-shelters/halsteads-factory-shelters/
https://www.halstead21stcentury.org.uk/heritage-at-risk
https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/courtaulds-air-raid-shelters-halstead-sep-2022.135564/

Hi Sam

Thank you for taking the time to research this. My response to this post in particular is specific to another set of Air Raid Shelters that were located in Bocking, near Braintree. The research you provided were for the shelters that are based in Halstead, which is in a town 6 miles away.

Both Braintree and Halstead had factories which were used to contribute to the war effort by using materials produced there for parachutes and other apparatus. Hence the Air Raid Shelters were created to protect skilled workers. The Shelters in Halstead are in the process of undergoing a protection order from redevelopment, which hopefully will be upheld.

The Air Raid shelters in Bocking, Braintree however may have not been so lucky as a new housing estate has since been built in the same location as where the shelters were, and the demolished factory. I remember playing around these shelters growing up when the factory was derelict and was keen to see the photos taken by the original poster here, and also confirm the location of these since I cannot fully recall the exact spot they were in. I don't see any preservation orders to save these shelters in Bocking the way in which Halstead had, so it would appear this was kept quiet by Braintree District Council to approve the re-development of new houses and lose these interesting artefacts forever.

Sam Haltin said:

I've been doing a bit of digging on the internet and I came up with these links about the shelters with photographs.
https://andersonshelters.org.uk/other-shelters/halsteads-factory-shelters/
https://www.halstead21stcentury.org.uk/heritage-at-risk
https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/courtaulds-air-raid-shelters-halstead-sep-2022.135564/

Click to expand...

Thanks for the links. One reads: "They may have been Stanton Shelters installed by Courtaulds in 1939 to protect their workforce from the Luftwaffe." I take Stanton to refer to Stanton & Staveley, whose namess still appear on countless steel street manhole covers. Wondering as to why a steel manufacturer's name was connected with concrete air raid shelters, I further found that:

"Stanton air raid shelters were manufactured by the Stanton Ironworks Co Ltd near Nottingham (the iron connection is in the mould pattern). They could be built to any length but usually consisted of 18 precast concrete arched-shaped units (each one in two parts), bolted together to form a standard (after 1941) Air Ministry shelter for 50 men. The entrance was often brick-lined with concrete steps (where required) and the rear unit had an emergency escape hatch. They are often above ground or semi-sunk but for concealment purposes there were covered by a layer of earth and turf."

The emergency escape hatches mentioned can be seen in some photos. I had never realised air raid shelters were constructed to such a large size.

I looked on Google maps and it's all new housing there now. You could try looking on Wheres the Path and looking at the old maps with comparing it with a satellite view. The factory might show on the map and give you an idea where the shelter could be.