Archaeologists have uncovered a 'mysterious' bunker at a primary school in East Finchley.

Hendon and District Archaeological Society (HADAS) was invited to Martin Primary in Plane Tree Walk to carry out excavation work with pupils in the school grounds last Saturday.

HADAS had previously carried out some surveys before digging into the soil, where they were surprised to find one side of a reinforced concrete wall.

Don Cooper, chairman of the society, said: “It’s really interesting but at the moment we don’t really know what it is although there’s been some speculation it could be an air raid shelter.

“We’ve recovered the area but we’d love to go back and have another dig to find out more.”

It is thought the wall could date back to the First World War and be part of an air raid shelter once used by civilians to escape from oncoming bombs.

The school has seven Second World War air raid shelters – although they are all above ground, they too are made out of reinforced concrete.

Governor at the school, Roger Chapman, said: “We weren’t really expecting to find anything so this mysterious bunker was a bit of a surprise. We’re currently working out what to do with it. It may be the case that we have a larger dig to investigate further.”