IT STARTED as a run-of-the-mill garden renovation project.

When Graham and Lizzie Hendra brought in a gardener to remove a mound of earth at the end of their Southampton garden, they had no idea they would be uncovering a rare piece of history.

Just after beginning digging, he hit metal. Some careful investigation led him to realise what he had discovered – a Second World War Anderson shelter.

These were bomb shelters, many given out free by the government, for people to put in their gardens for protection during German air raids.

Graham, a heating designer, of Glenfield Avenue, Bitterne, said: “We were tidying up the garden and there’s always been a big heap of dirt behind the garage – like a massive compost heap. So the gardener dug it out and he said there was a load of metal there.

“He started digging around, found a hole and looked inside – and realised it was an Anderson shelter.

“By the time we had got home he had uncovered about a third of it.

“So we gradually removed the dirt from around the sides and then pumped the water out of it.

“It’s about waist height and it sits half in the ground. They would have dug a hole, put the floor in, then the U-shaped arch and then put dirt on top to stop shrapnel.

“It’s in an amazing condition. There’s no door – just a bit of tin holding the dirt back. It makes you think how horrible it must have been to be in there.”

Graham, who has lived in the house for six years, added: “Our house is the oldest in Glenfield Avenue and was built in 1922. We think the lady who owned it before us had been there from about the 1950s.

“Although it’s interesting we don’t really want the shelter so we’d like to offer it to a local school or someone who can use it.”

Martin Stanley, 67, a London-based Anderson shelter expert, told the Daily Echo: “Just from the photos it look like it’s in its original position. It may have well have been a builder who made it because it looks incredibly strong. I suspect someone put in a lot of effort.

“It would be a real shame if it was lost for good because there are very few left. Most of them were removed to re-use the iron or as pig or garden sheds.”