03 March 2024 , 14:40
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A mum who discovered a secret tunnel under her garden has filmed a walk-through tour through the remains of a 50 metre-long air raid shelter used during World War II.
Rebecca Hobson, 34, stumbled upon the elaborate 'air raid shelter' after she became bored during lockdown. The mum-of-two was shocked to discover the tunnel still had items from the 1940s, presumably belonging to women and children dodging Nazi bombs.
Rebecca bought the property, near Folkestone, Kent, 15 years ago - but only unearthed the tunnel in 2020 with her partner Darren, 34. The pair began digging it out last year. The tunnel was believed to have provided shelter to 200 women and children during the German bombing campaign in the Second World War. Inside, Rebecca and Darren found an old toy gun, 'rusty' bottles, rat traps, and bowls.
Shocking walk-through footage shows steps leading into the tunnel, revealing a 'damp' a one-metre-wide passageway. Another passage goes on for around 50 metres ending at a dead end. The clips went viral on TikTok with 390,000 views and users rushing to comment their burning questions. One user said: "Amazing. If only walls could talk", while another added: "I wonder how many lives that [air raid shelter] has saved?"
A third said: "I'm intrigued to know and see what's past the end there. Does it open out? Does it lead to another exit?" A fourth added: "It's amazing that these tunnels and air raid shelters are still being discovered."
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The pair explored their garden while bored in lockdown - and discovered the tunnel (Kennedy News & Media)The couple were motivated to explore after locals hinted there may be 'something in the garden' dating back to WW2. Newspaper cuttings reveal volunteers built the shelter during the war to hold 200 women and children as bombings raged on from 'the cruelties of Hitlerism'.
Rebecca said: “When we moved into the house we had no idea about the air raid shelter being in our garden. A few years later some of the locals said there might be something in the garden [from the war]. We found it under a big slab in the garden and originally uncovered it in lockdown.People told us about there being something in our garden but we didn't want to do anything with it.
“It was only when we were in lockdown and we were bored that we decided to look into it. We're still trying to dig into the history of it, but it's still really interesting. Our row if houses were built in the seventies and so we are assuming that the earth they dug out for the foundations [for these houses], covered up the tunnel.
“All we know about the shelter at the moment is what we have been able to find out from some newspaper clippings. The shelter was built for all the mothers and children in the village to use. When we opened the shelter for the first time we found a toy gun in there and lots of rat traps and rusty bottles and bowls.
Rebecca and Darren have invited schools over to explore the tunnel (Kennedy News & Media)“We thought it was going to be really small [when we first discovered it] but it was amazing and we were so shocked by the size of it. We thought it was going to be big enough to just fit a handful of people in but it is supposed to be able to fit 200 people in it.
“When you go into it, you go down about five or six steps. It's very cold and damp and it's then just a brick tunnel. The tunnel did lead to the end of the road to the edge of my neighbour's garden but they were worried that they might get rats so they blocked their side up so you can only get in from our garden now.”
The couple have since cleaned out the passageway and added lights. The rest remains untouched as they want to retain its history. Rebecca said her children were very excited to explore the shelter and has since approached local schools asking if they'd like to visit.
She said: “We've swept it all out as it was really mucky inside and we've added some lights inside so people can see inside. We don't want to really change anything about it as it's an amazing part of history.
“We've asked the local school if they want to come and visit it and show the children. I feel very privileged that we have this bit of history in our garden. My son thinks it's amazing and was very excited about it and has been telling his friends about it at school.”