The History: Built by the Birkmyre family, this was the largest privately owned air raid shelter in the UK and it was used by the workers at the nearby ropeworks. It measures almost 600m in length with the tunnels approximately 10 feet wide and 7 feet tall when they are not flooded with mud and water. This creates a space for around 1000 people to take shelter. This area of Scotland suffered greatly during the war and it was civilians who took the worst of the bombings in May 1941, where nearly 250 people died over just two nights.
The Explore: After a very rainy drive from Edinburgh, we pulled up where we suspected the entrance was located. We had no trouble at all finding where we needed to be and after a short scramble up a bank, there we were! We did not manage to go far into the shelter, so apologies for only having a few pictures, as the whole place was completely flooded. I managed to navigate my way down one corridor, precariously balancing on bricks and tyres and hoping my camera would make it out alive. We have plans to return, but next time we will be much better equipped with waders. Even though we didn’t make it far, I was very excited to be down there as it was my first air raid shelter so I thought I would put a report up anyway, with the few pictures I did take. Watch out for the horrific sacks of spider eggs- especially if you have a lot of hair like I do!
Pictures are taken on a Fujifilm x100s.
The Explore: After a very rainy drive from Edinburgh, we pulled up where we suspected the entrance was located. We had no trouble at all finding where we needed to be and after a short scramble up a bank, there we were! We did not manage to go far into the shelter, so apologies for only having a few pictures, as the whole place was completely flooded. I managed to navigate my way down one corridor, precariously balancing on bricks and tyres and hoping my camera would make it out alive. We have plans to return, but next time we will be much better equipped with waders. Even though we didn’t make it far, I was very excited to be down there as it was my first air raid shelter so I thought I would put a report up anyway, with the few pictures I did take. Watch out for the horrific sacks of spider eggs- especially if you have a lot of hair like I do!
Pictures are taken on a Fujifilm x100s.
