Consol Portable Shelters

Excellent - I've been trying to find out what these were for a while. Saw one recently which was ex limestone company. They used it in a quarry close to the working face. The observer had to be able to check that all the charges went off during a blasting operation. I believe it had been used by the military in WWII.

Graham

I too remember seeing one somewhere. Could have been at the Imperial War Museum, a looooong time ago?

It would certainly protect you from certain air raid hazards, but I would imagine that a near miss would leave the occupants' ears ringing!

Cannot be missed from Hooton Station, this is a a WW2 Royal Ordnance Factory. I'm not sure what it made, but HAA guns have been mentioned.

The whole area is known as "Roften" - it took me ages to realise that it was "Royal Ordnance Factory No. Ten !"

maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl...914,0.00284&t=h&z=19

The buildings more recently was a galvanising company, and is now a TDG depot.

The works have diminished in size, but a local mate from WW pointed me at this appendage on the roof, a "Consol Firewatchers Shelter". I'd seen it before, didn't know what it was, and ignored it as being just - well - er - "something on the roof" !

The idea was that during an air raid, the (unfortunate ?) firewatcher, would be up on the roof, in this steel shelter, looking for incendiary bombs that landed on the roof - presumably he had some method of putting the fire out as well. I guess that if the fire were to take hold, he just escaped down, or slowly roasted.

So that's where NP spends his spare time!

Nice to see a relic intact; I will take a look next time that I'm in UK since I will be in the area.

Arcade wrote:

Could have been at the Imperial War Museum

IWM North, at Manchester - last week

Graham

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Re the caption board statement.

Splinters from HE bombs apart, the biggest risk was from falling incendiary bombs which weighed between 1 and 2.2 kg each dependent on type. These were dropped in showers from containers. A firewatcher in a CONSUL shelter would probably be protected agains a direct hit by one of these but killed or severely injured if struck in the open.

Greetings

This is a real long shot, but can anyone provide a manufacturers drawing or dimensions of a Consul Firewatcher's Shelter. I am especially in need of a drawing of the door, as I am intending in getting the shelter I have acquired restored as faithfully as possible.

HS

On the subject of these shelters, here's an odd one:
www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2137646

This is a Consul Shelter outside the Maritme Museum at Ramsgate, with thanks to Steve 'Wevsky' Weatherly for letting me put the photo on AiX