On this day in 1900

The Town Militia arsenal was destroyed by fire just eight years after a turned-over paraffin lamp had come within a few feet of igniting the powder room in Fort Regent.

At the time, each parish had its own arsenal, allowing Militiamen to relocate from the parish churches where they had been originally based. Built in 1835 and insured for £1200, according to the Guernsey Star, the arsenal at St Helier was 135 feet long and 25 feet wide, and packed with ball and blank ammunition. These were ignited by the fire, resulting in an impressive display “resembling a feu de joie”.

Uniforms and weapons destroyed

The fire spread quickly, consuming more than 800 uniforms and 1000 rifles (some sources say it was only 100 rifles) belonging to the Royal Jersey Light Infantry, but the supply of water was so meagre that there was little chance of stopping it from spreading throughout the building.

By the time it had burned itself out, just 90 minutes after it started, only the walls were left standing. In the words of The Times the following day, “four engines were soon on the scene, and the 3rd Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment (Militia) rendered valuable assistance, but unfortunately there was a scarcity of water.” Similar criticism had been levelled at the efforts to quell the fire at Fort Regent, but it seems the lesson of that incident had not been learned.

 

...and on this day in 1981

It was the height of the Cold War. At any moment, war could break out between east and west, and a nuclear exchange could wipe out life on Earth. It was also a time of opportunity for those with appropriate expertise, like Jersey-based Douvaine, which unveiled plans for Western Europe’s largest fallout shelter.

If built, the shelter could have housed up to 12,000 people in the event of nuclear war. Plans for the £10m development, which the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament described as “horrendous” centred on a disused, 41-acre quarry in Wiltshire. It was deep enough to give inhabitants, each of which would pay £2000 for the right to take refuge, plus £50 a year ground rent, 100ft of protection above their heads.

The Times spoke to Dr Paul Rogers from the School of Peace Studies at Bradford University who claimed that rather than making us safer, schemes of this sort “could increase the likelihood of nuclear war because the idea became increasingly acceptable”.

DIY nuclear shelters

While Douvaine was refining its plans for a communal shelter, the British government was distributing information to householders showing them how they could construct their own family shelter at home for between £250 and £10,000. According to the Newcastle Evening Chronicle of 26 January 1981, “the more you spend, the more chance you have of living to tell the ghastly tale, according to a new Home Office booklet on nuclear shelters”. The booklet cost 50p.

It made grim reading, predicting that around 5% of the mainland would be wiped out by direct hits and everyone would suffer from the fall-out. Lead would be the most effective defence, with an inch of the dense metal providing around the same level of protection as seven inches of slate. The question was, where were we to get sufficient lead to build these shelters from?

The 1981 Ideal Home Exhibition showed off a Tudor Home with an integrated nuclear bunker, and the National Federation for Nuclear Shelter Constructors was running seminars in conjunction with local councils to show householders how they could help them build their own fall-out refuges. Building societies were offering mortgages to fund their construction.