Geeky thread warning. Or, if you’re like me, a cool bit of 20th Century urban archaeology. Check out this shop in Kingston. What’s unusual about it (aside from its no-doubt-excellent nails service)?

On its gable-end, the wall is double-thickness up to about 6 feet. Why?

On closer inspection, it’s a thick layer of concrete, either up against or cutting through the wall of the presumably brick building. This shop has been armoured...

Even better, this concrete has two wide-angled loopholes in it. The right hand one has been completely filled in, the other left partially open for a handy security box cubby-hole. Armoured and loopholed - this is a fortified shop. A shop with a bunker built-in!

A south-facing, concrete fortification, near a major Thames crossing... This fortified shop is part of London’s WW2 invasion defence network, specifically part of London Stop Line Central (Line B). It was built in 1940 or 1941 to slow German tanks should the worst happen.

It played its small part in history (and thank goodness it was never needed) but I love that it still survives, an otherwise unnoticed chunk of concrete lining an alleyway by a nail bar. You never know what’s around you until you look!

There are *loads* of remnants of Britain’s defences that we never notice - some are destroyed unwittingly every year. There’s a searchable database to find those near you here: https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/dob/ai_q.cfm

UPDATE: Remember this nail bar/WW2 fortification I tweeted about last week? It turns out there’s a planning application in which would demolish it. And that’s not all... https://www.surreycomet.co.uk/news/17550596.site-of-wwii-fortification-faces-demolition-despite-viral-online-interest/

There are checks to avoid accidental destruction of heritage sites by new developments. Formal reports are produced on the heritage of the site and nearby monuments, and on the likelihood of archaeological remains being affected by development. BUT...

...I checked the reports.
1) The Heritage Assessment doesn’t even *mention* the fortification,
2) The Archaeological Assessment notes it is meant to be there, but says “No evidence...was seen during the site visit.” They visited the building but failed to notice it!

Here’s picture 4 from the archaeological report. And here are my photos. See the red sign? They opened the gate, stepped in past the fortification and couldn’t see it. They took a photo while standing next to it then reported there was no sign of it. Oops.

It’s an innocent mistake, by arch. consultants who have to work very hard reviewing masses of proposed developments. And a site like this isn’t automatically protected. But I think it would be a great shame if this snippet of history was lost, partly after an oversight.

Thank you to @Lando_j and the @SurreyComet for taking an interest and sharing this story further. I’m pleased so many people find it as interesting as I did! https://www.surreycomet.co.uk/news/17550596.site-of-wwii-fortification-faces-demolition-despite-viral-online-interest/