Kenton Bunker at Former Raf Blakelaw is a Grade II listed building in the Newcastle upon Tyne local planning authority area, England. First listed on 25 June 2003. Bunker.

Kenton Bunker at Former Raf Blakelaw

WRENN ID
endless-baluster-storm
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Newcastle upon Tyne
Constituency
Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West MP: Dame Chi Onwurah (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
25 June 2003
Type
Bunker
Address
Kenton Bunker at Former Raf Blakelaw, Kenton Lane
OS grid reference
NZ 216 673
Coordinates
55.00056, -1.66291
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

Kenton Bunker, located at the former RAF Blakelaw, is an underground operations room or bunker built in 1939 as the headquarters for No. 13 Group for the North. Constructed from reinforced concrete and brick, the above-ground structure features a small entrance building with a flat concrete roof supported by square brick columns. The entrance doors are located to the right and are flanked by single narrow casement windows, with an overhanging canopy above. To the left, there are two additional bays; the first bay has a central 2-light casement window flanked by single narrow casements, while the left bay contains a single narrow casement window. The bunker itself is underground and covered with grass.

Access to the interior is via a long flight of concrete steps. The west entrance door is equipped with rubber gas seals. Most of the original fittings remain intact in the Plant Room, including Porton anti-gas filters, electrical pipes and fuse boxes, the main power input console, original air pressure gauges, and metal ventilation ducting. The Auxiliary Battery Room still contains acid-filled glass batteries, and the Operations Room retains its original light fittings. This bunker served as the headquarters for No. 13 Group, coordinating the northern response during the Battle of Britain and overseeing air defense for the remainder of the Second World War.

Local climate

Kenton Bunker at Former Raf Blakelaw receives an average of 820 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 51% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 99% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 33 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 54% of listed buildings. Of these, 20 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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