Londoners - Got a local UXB? (& Bomb Census Maps in general.)

" The MoD has said action to make the devices safe would be taken only if it was thought they were unstable. "


Is it just me; Or, does that sound a bit R's about face? I mean, surely a 'stable' bomb would be better to deal with? Why are they leaving them to ~ one would imagine ~ degenerate in condition and so eventually become more unstable?

Seems a strange policy.

 

Londoners may also care to check out the London Council bomb damage maps:
War Damage Map 1939-45

CS

PS Maps also of Belfast and, I think, Glasgow are held in local record offices

 

Interesting there is only two in Lewisham. I was under the impression there is one on the corner of Engleheart Rd and Laleham Rd in Catford.

The street where I grew up was bombed quite (My house was post war as were the flats opposite) heavily during the war and (Urban Myth maybe) apparently the UXB team tried to de-fuse a bomb on the corner of the street but every time they dug down to it, it kept sinking further in the mud so they decided to cover it in concrete and leave it there.

Cheers
Andy

 

I did a stint to 'assist' the civilian A.R.P. (Civil Defence) Bomb Disposal Liaison Officer when I was employed on full time (paid) A.R.P. duty during London blitz. One lunchtime we were called to assess the action needed for a UX parachute mine that had gone through the roof of a house in Leyton, and was suspended above the gas cooker with the potatoes boiling merrily. The BDLO asked me to turn off the gas. It was one of those occasions when 'presence of mind' quickly dictated 'absence of body'!

 

Some years ago I remember having a telephone conversation with a nice lady from the CTRL (Cross Tunnel Rail Link) who asked if there was anyway they could check if there were any UXBs where they were digging.
Anyhooo could I get an answer fmor the Home Office/MOD? No, so I rang the local council who kindly told me that there was no such thing, so back to the MOD and spoke to another man, who resided in the basement of some government building! I gave him the telephone number of the nice lady and she rang me a few days later, lucky she got me again!, and said that she had received a lovely map showing where they all were! from both the MOD and the local council!
Apparently , if memory serves ( and I am now officially old according to daughter number1!) there were 98 UXBS in London etc, but I dont know if that included the one they found in Stratford/Bow last year!

Would be interesting to know if there are any under the Olympic village/site in Stratford !!!!

Regards

Andy

 

Can anyone show me an example of a Bomb Census Map and explain what they are and what they are were for ?

 

Well maybe this will help you

Plotting The Blitz - What Was The Bomb Census? | Culture24

and examples of Bomb Census Maps:

Bomb census Catford on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Bomb census 21 10/40 sheet 56/18 NE on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

A bit more here.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/RdLeaflet.asp?sLeafletID=344&j=1

Nick

 

Sol thank you for the links and so quickly. The area were i live [just outside Liverpool ]was Bombed a couple of times. Hopefully ther may be details.

 

A bit more here.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/RdLeaflet.asp?sLeafletID=344&j=1

Nick

Nick thanks for the link. Its offline at the moment but i will try again later.

 

The ones posted by Sol were commissioned by some government agency towards the end of the war to grade different levels of Damage by colour to help local councils see how much needed to be re-built or demolished etc.

Catford is where I was born by the way

Izzy if you give me the details of 'where and when' was bombed I'll have a look in my books for you

Regards
Andy

 

Andy, Halewood which is approx 8 miles south of Liverpool was bombed a couple of times between August 1940 and May 1941 resulting in 3 casualties, The bombs fell in various locations Church road and Higher Road were the places that sustained casualties. I will get the dates later as all my research is out of reach at the moment

 

Izzy the dates will help me narrow it down

 

Andy the 2 main dates that concern me were the dates when there were casualties as these are mentioned on the village War Memorial the dates and locations are as follows.

Friday 30th August 1940 Church Road Halewood 2 dead 4 wounded.

4th May 1941 Higher Road Halewood 1 dead.

 

Just going to look now if you want to wait ....I'm guessing you have seen them on the CWGC site via Geoff's search engine for additional info?

 

For anyone interested in city life during the Blitz the" Birmingham History" forum have a thread "the Blitz" . It deals with all parts of life and death , contains Home Guard bomb maps and plenty of photos. Its 38 pages long but look out for entries by O.C. who has done quite some research.

I will try a link but as normal it will probably be rubbish.

The Blitz - Birmingham History Forum

Well beggar me it works!.

 

I'm affraid London and the South gets all the mentions for 30th August 1940.

As for 4th May 1941 there is a slight mention of Liverpool:


Sunday May 4-5

A further attack was made on Liverpool/Birkenhead - The fourth in a row - with 55 aircraft delivering 55 tonnes of HE and 11,560 IB's. Large fires were still burning from the previous night and to these more were added, all crews bombing visually. Explosions covered the area between the Pier Head and the Waterloo Dock, to the north of the dry docks in Langham Dock and in the town. Numerous fires were seen in the middle of the dock installations and over the entire city and, as in the case of Belfast, good results were almost certainly achieved.



ATB Blitz Vol. 2

Unfortunately there is no mention of Halwood in the index.

I think a local library may bare more fruit mate.

Regards
Andy

 

I think I posted this before but here is the census of where I grew up.



See Capt. Sensibles post (No.3) for key to the colours.