Canford Cliffs Air Raid Shelter

Set beneath the cliffs between Poole and Bournemouth, the Canford Cliffs Air Raid Shelter is a self-guided, semi-subterranean WWII bomb refuge built by local residents of Canford Cliffs. Tucked next to a leafy children’s playground, the unstaffed site offers street-side access via a low concrete flood barrier and preserves its curved, domed chamber with three rows of original concrete benches—once seating up to 80 civilians during air raids. The intact interior shows no graffiti, keeping alive the authenticity of its wartime atmosphere and the community’s resilience under nightly bombing raids.