A woman renovating a property together uncovered a little piece of history hiding in their garden.
In a video posted to TikTok under the handle @restoring_no.26, a woman based in Lancashire, England, revealed what she discovered after a recent period of torrential rain. “All the rain recently opened up a secret behind our house,” an on-screen caption explained.
“What we thought was just a mound of dirt opened up a doorway into the ground.” The clip shows her bravely stepping through the door to see what is inside, describing the moment as “so amazing and so terrifying at the same time” in the blurb accompanying the clip.
When the woman does walk through the door, the homeowner quickly realizes what she has stumbled upon: an Anderson shelter from World War II.
What is an Anderson Shelter?
An Anderson shelter was a small, backyard air‑raid shelter used in the U.K. during World War II to protect civilians from German bombing raids.
Introduced in the U.K. in 1939, the shelters consisted of a prefabricated steel structure made from corrugated iron panels bolted together. The structure would be buried around 4 feet into the earth, with soil piled over the top for extra blast protection.
Usually installed in people’s gardens, the shelters were designed to protect up to six people in the event of a bombing raid. Designed for protection rather than comfort, according to the official Anderson Shelters website, around 1.5 million were initially installed in the gardens of around houses in the areas officials thought would be targeted by the German Luftwaffe, or air force.
Over the course of the war, a further 2.1 million were installed, bringing the total to 3.6 million. Today, just a handful remain, making this discovery all the more extraordinary.
The homeowner was certainly stunned to find what she called “a little snippet of British history” in her backyard. Not that she was all that keen to explore further.
While the video shows glimpses further inside, with a room containing bunk beds visible on the video, that was as far as she was willing to go for now. “I was too scared to go any further in,” the woman wrote in an on-screen caption accompanying the clip.
The video certainly garnered plenty of attention on social media, though many watching were unsure whether this was an Anderson shelter or something more substantial.
“Anderson shelters were the corrugated iron ones. This looks much more substantial,” one user wrote.
“Def not Anderson as it is made from concrete,” another said. “It also looks like it stands about 8ft tall. In addition to this other are multiple doors offset 90deg to each other, acting as a blast baffle and has about 9 bunk beds. I think you may have an old dad’s army bunker. refurbish it.”
A third added: “that isn’t an Anderson it’s an auxiliary bunker used to carry on resistance in the case of the Germans winning the war if I had to take a guess I would say this is actually a more early designed version as the specs for the later versions are slightly more modified so I would say this was likely near the start of the war which if so is incredible you should notify a local historian and get them to evaluate it to see if it’s worth the restoration these places are extremely hard to find in this high of a condition.”
The homeowner responded to this comment, writing: “I’m trying to find the right person to talk to! It’s so incredible and definitely wants restoring and not destroying!”
Newsweek has reached out to @restoring_no.26 for comment.
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