World War 2

The town has a number of sites still directly linked with the war, some more obvious that others. On Christchurch Park there was a small brick building near Bolton Lane which was a Police box and served as an air raid warden's post (it was demolished July 2005 as part of the park's refurbishment).

Clifford Road school still has it's air raid shelter which is open to visitors during the summer.

Further details of the structure and opening times can be found on their web site.

There are pill boxes still in place in the area. One example is along the Orwell Country Park road off Nacton Road on the eastern perimiter of the old airfield. Close by along the Nacton foreshore a pair of machine gun emplacements around a concrete gun plinth. The emplacmenents provided a defensive view down the river Orwell protecting the airfield and docks, now in a state of decay adjacent to Alnesbourne Priory golf course.

Defensive "tank teeth" (concrete blocks) on Henley Road and Heath Road which were designed to block access from potential landing sites also remain probably more due to the difficulty of demolishing them rather than historical interest.