South London
First screened 10 February 2008

What they found

There were a number of sites investigated by Time Team at Shooters Hill. These represented a variety of different installations that were part of the wartime preparations to resist any German invasion. As one of the main roads into London from the south, Shooters Hill would have been central to the Germans' planned encirclement of London; from its heights, their forces would have had command over the whole of the city. The Shooters Hill installations formed a small part of a national network of 'stop lines'.

Barrage balloon tether
The first site investigated was Eaglesfield Park, where the team was looking for a barrage balloon tether believed to have been located there. Barrage balloons were huge balloons filled with hydrogen and tethered to the ground via cables that were strong enough to destroy any aircraft flying into them. They were designed to deter low level flying and precision bombing. Time Team excavated one of the anchor points and using 'geophys' was able to map the entire site.

Shrapnel shelter
The second site excavated by Time Team, an L-Shaped bunker in nearby Oxleas Woods, was just across the road from the first one. The excavation showed it to have been simply built, with cement poured into improvised wooden moulds. Rather than being an anti-invasion bunker as originally thought, the experts agreed it would have been a civilian shelter to protect people caught out during an air raid from shrapnel.

Spigot mortar platform
A quarter of a mile away on Eltham Common the Team investigated a spigot mortar platform with possible trenches around it. The spigot would have been used with a portable anti-tank mortar. Time Team's excavation revealed the corrugated iron revetments and original floor of the installation (complete with a dog's paw prints in the concrete) still in place. The nearby trenches would have been used for supporting fire, but Time Team's excavation revealed only rubbish and the remains of prefabricated housing built on the site to ease the postwar housing shortage.

Pillbox/gun position
The fourth site investigated by the Team was an unknown concrete emplacement built into a hospital on the road into London. It was known that a pillbox disguised as an off licence had been added to the nearby pub and it was thought that this was a similar defensive structure. Time Team's investigations suggested that it was most likely a fortified gun position.

Flame fugas emplacement
Information from volunteers who had served with the Home Guard locally revealed a site dug into a steep bank in front of houses. Here, disguised behind fake garage doors, was a flame fugas emplacement. This was an improvised munition, consisting of 40-50 gallons of petrol and other inflammable material, with an explosive charge behind that would throw it all out into the road as huge fireball when it was set off.

Mystery bunker
There was also one other location to investigate – a mysterious bunker built into the back gardens of two ordinary suburban houses and disguised as a rockery. This was no ordinary domestic air raid shelter but a substantial structure equipped with two rows of plug sockets, light fittings and what appeared to be communications fittings. It was most likely a control centre for a resistance cell, designed for operation after any invasion.

Bronze-Age remains
The Eaglesfield Park excavations didn't just produce second world war finds. The diggers also found a huge Bronze-Age ditch and a large quantity of metal-working slag. This is as 'rare as hen's teeth', according to Francis Pryor, who couldn't help exaggerating somewhat in his enthusiasm. Unfortunately for Francis, he had to contain his excitement as Time Team didn't have the resources to do a Bronze-Age dig as well as following the second world war storyline.

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