Eastern air raid shelter at Carrow Works, Thorpe Hamlet, Norfolk

Summary

A purpose-built air raid shelter tunnel constructed in 1939 complete with original internal fixtures.

Description

A purpose-built air raid shelter tunnel constructed in 1939.

MATERIALS: the shelter has shuttered concrete entrance portals and is walled in corrugated steel with additional structural steel ribs.

PLAN: the shelter is planned as a horseshoe shaped tunnel with entrances/exits at each end.

EXTERIOR: the entrances consist of rounded openings in-filled by later C20 wooden doorways, set into shuttered concrete surrounds.

INTERIOR: the north-south tunnels are narrower, formed from ribs with a rectangular rather than semi-circular section. This widens at the south eastern corner to meet the east-west tunnel and to allow space for a block of lavatory cubicles. The east-west tunnel is strengthened by timber posts and three reinforcing brick walls laid in English bond.

There are 7 women's lavatories at the south east corner, and 11 men's stalls along the south side of the east-west tunnel, identified by painted signs. The cubicles are made of pine with simple canvas-covered doors and have hinged wooden benches with holes, under which a bucket could be placed.

The wider south tunnel and the south-east corner feature the concrete bases of perimeter benches, the wooden seat of which remains at the south-west corner.

History

In 1850, land immediately to the north of the Carrow Abbey estate was purchased by the successful mustard, flour and starch milling business of J and J Colman Ltd from the Norfolk Railway Company. The Colman’s business had begun in 1804 when Jeremiah Colman (1777-1851) milled flour and mustard at a smock mill outside Magdalen Gate. In 1814, the business moved to a larger mill at Stoke Holy Cross, four miles south of Norwich, with Jeremiah taking his nephew James Colman (1802-1854) into partnership in 1823, the firm becoming J and J Colman Ltd. James’s eldest son, Jeremiah James (1830-1898), joined the partnership in 1851, and went on to play a significant role in the expansion of the business at Carrow.

By 1926, the premises had expanded to cover some 50 acres and had a frontage of nearly a mile along the River Wensum. Most of the mills had also been electrified by this date, the power being supplied by the company's own steam-powered generating station. While mustard, flour, starch and laundry blue were still the main products produced at Carrow, Colman’s had started producing "Patent" barley, "Patent" groats and "Waverley" oats in 1925 following the acquisition of rival mustard maker and cereal producer Keen Robinson in 1903. Colman’s diversified into drink production in 1935 when, for the Wimbledon lawn tennis championship, lemon barley water was created under the Keen Robinson name. Three years later, in 1938, Colman’s merged with Reckitt and Sons Ltd, a firm producing household products such as polish and bleach, to form Reckitt and Colman Ltd.

In the 1930s as the British Government prepared the civilian population for the likelihood of war, new factory sites were required to provide air raid shelters for their workers. During the war, the production of mustard took on renewed significance for the national diet as a valuable source of flavour at a time when ingredients were limited. As such, mustard did not undergo rationing and played a role in maintaining popular morale.

Plans showing Carrow Works in 1938 indicate an envisaged set of five roughly parallel tunnels running north-south beneath the bank which separates the factories from the higher ground at the west end of Carrow Abbey. At the north end of each tunnel would be a concrete entrance portal, while the south ends were all connected by a long east-west tunnel.

The shelters were dug in 1939 but not according to the original plan: the central north-south tunnel was omitted, and the central section of the east-west communication tunnel was not constructed. The result was a pair of horseshoe shaped tunnels.

The unlisted western shelter was the larger, with wide tunnels and two brick-walled rooms at the south-west corner. All the fittings from this shelter were later removed to allow the use of the shelters as a chemical store in the post-war period.

The eastern tunnel was narrower along the north-south arms of the plan and retains parts of its original fittings, including; separate lavatory blocks for women and men, and low benches along the outer edges.

In the 1980s as railway transport throughout the site was replaced with road haulage, an access road was sunk between the two shelters, so that they no longer appear to be part of the same bank.

In 1995, the mustard and condiment side of Reckitt and Colman Ltd was sold to Unilever, while Robinson’s was acquired by Britvic. In 2017, Britvic announced it would close its Carrow Works factory in 2019, prompting Unilever to review its own future on the site, which led to a decision to cease production in 2020.

Reasons for Listing

The eastern air raid shelter at Carrow Works, Norwich, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a good example of a purpose-built tunnel shelter for communal use at a factory site;
* for the rare survival of its internal fixtures, including benches, toilet cubicles and hand-painted signage.

Historic interest:

* as a tangible and evocative reminder of the dangers faced by civilians during the Second World War;
* as evidence of the importance of the Colman’s factory and its mustard production for morale during the Second World War.

Group value:

* for the building’s functional wartime relationship with other listed buildings at the Carrow Works site, including Blocks 7, 7A, 8A, and 8, and Block 92 (Grade II), and Carrow Abbey (Grade I).

External Links

Historic England Listing

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