Wisbech man finds underground bunker while gardening

Will Barnes (right) discovered the bunker 15 years ago, but the news only spread after son Jack (left) posted a tour of it on social media

A man who hit a slab of concrete while doing some gardening has described how he dug down 10ft (3m) and discovered the entrance to an underground bunker.

Will Barnes, from Lynn Road, Wisbech, believes the find is most likely to be a World War Two air raid shelter.

He said the "most intriguing" thing about the bunker was a second door under his neighbour's garden.

It was found 15 years ago, but became more widely known after his son Jack posted a tour of it on social media.

It took two men two days to clear the 6ft by 8ft and 6ft high (1.8m x 2.4m) space, which was filled with "old toilets and bricks"

Mr Barnes said he and a friend were doing some gardening when they "hit something hard".

"We end up taking all the earth out of the way and see a step, and I thought, 'Oh hello', and we kept digging and eight steps later we find the bottom of this bomb shelter - well I assume it's a bomb shelter," he said.

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It was full of "old toilets and bricks", which Mr Barnes and his friend spent two days removing, "filling an eight yard (7.3m) skip".

The room revealed within is about 6ft by 8ft and 6ft high (1.8m x 2.4m).

The most likely scenario is that it was a World War Two air raid shelte

"It was amazing, but most intriguing was the door under next door's patio - my friend who wanted me to keep going wasn't the one paying for an extra skip," he said.

"It's strange to imagine the siren going off and both families have come into the garden into the air raid shelters and there's a doorway in between where they can all sit together and listening to the sirens until it blows over again."

Recently, Jack has been doing some research and discovered the house was built between the 1930s and 1949.

The entry to the bunker is usually covered with scaffold boards, to keep first Mr Barnes' children and now his grandchildren safe.

As a result his neighbours, who have lived there for five years, have only just discovered there may be a shelter under their patio, with a door leading next door.