Description

The following building shall be added:-
ROSSENDALE STREET
TQ
(East side)
Clapton
735/10009 Air Raid Precaution
Centre
II

Bunker built as Air Raid Precaution Centre. 1938. Concrete,
approximately 2 metres thick and set about 1.2 metres below
ground level as a half basement. Crudely built walls with
shuttering lines; some shrapnel damage, particularly to the
west face. Rectangular in plan, with long axis running on
east-west line; all corners chamfered except for the
southwest. Steps down at south corner, west face, into air
lock: pair of steel doors with portholes, rubber gaskets and
furniture of original design. Corridor along south wall giving
access to Messenger's Room, Telephone Room and, at the east
end of the bunker, the Supervisor's Office and Map Room.
Reached by a short fixed ladder in the east wall of the
Supervisor's Office and Map Room is a circular escape hatch to
air lock; outer lock door has been removed. Entered off
Messenger's room, and located at the west end of the block,
are the Store Room and Machine Room. The Machine Room retains
original plant for air supply and purification and emergency
electricity supply, as well as ventilator ducts running from
this room to the rest, along the north wall. The Electric
generator pedal driven by a twin bicycle frame survives as
does the tiered air filter units made by Sutcliffe Speakman
and Co., Ltd. of Leigh, Lancs. On the north wall is a battery
control unit made by the Chloride Electrical Storage Co. Ltd.,
linked to a chest on the floor which held a 12-volt battery
for emergency lighting and heating. Two 12-volt light fittings
survive in the ceiling. The storey above, flat roofed and made
from brick, has been extensively altered: the earliest section
is to the south. Concrete roof with shuttering lines
throughout upper floor. The Rossendale Street ARPC was the
northern report centre, part of a system which included a main
centre located below Hackney Town Hall. It was used to
co-ordinate information on bombing raids, for the deployment
of teams for emergency rescue and repair work.

Listing NGR: TQ3457686710

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26529162

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)