UK Bomb Damage. (Still visible now)

Discussion in 'United Kingdom' started by raf, Jul 12, 2006.

  1. raf

    raf Senior Member

    i maybe some years late but i keep looking for bomb damaged sites in the uk.

    i guess most buildings have now been re-built or the land has changed.

    does anybody have any info on this.....like craters in fields etc.

    if not then in the uk the germany ive seen plenty of pics of the somme are from WW1.

    many thanks:cheers:
     
  2. spotter

    spotter Senior Member

    I just did a web search for "bomb crater still visible today" found a few matches in the UK hope this helps
     
  3. kfz

    kfz Very Senior Member

    i maybe some years late but i keep looking for bomb damaged sites in the uk.

    i guess most buildings have now been re-built or the land has changed.

    does anybody have any info on this.....like craters in fields etc.

    if not then in the uk the germany ive seen plenty of pics of the somme are from WW1.

    many thanks:cheers:


    You dont go to Liverpool ot Birmingham or Coventry or Plymouth then?

    Your from wigan? Never got the train into liverpool and not wondered why the station (James St) is a new 1960's building and the building either side of it are pre WW1?? Cos a parachute mine blew the **** out of it.
     
  4. raf

    raf Senior Member

    You dont go to Liverpool ot Birmingham or Coventry or Plymouth then?

    Your from wigan? Never got the train into liverpool and not wondered why the station (James St) is a new 1960's building and the building either side of it are pre WW1?? Cos a parachute mine blew the **** out of it.


    thanks.

    i drive 1500 miles a week and cover all the country but wouldnt think twice if i saw an old building with a new bit next to it....i would just think prince charles has designed some master piece:) .

    like i said it may be to many years to late to notice why an old builing has a new bit.

    i went to coventry a few months ago and just noticed a lot was new.

    bomb damaged buildings would have been patched up and will now blend in i was at victoria station in london last week and couldnt notice that a plane had crashed into it.
     
  5. kfz

    kfz Very Senior Member

    thanks.

    i drive 1500 miles a week and cover all the country but wouldnt think twice if i saw an old building with a new bit next to it....i would just think prince charles has designed some master piece:) .

    like i said it may be to many years to late to notice why an old builing has a new bit.

    i went to coventry a few months ago and just noticed a lot was new.

    bomb damaged buildings would have been patched up and will now blend in i was at victoria station in london last week and couldnt notice that a plane had crashed into it.

    its easy to miss, gotta stay awake. Next time im there I will take a pic. There is a pic somewhere of whopping parachute mine
     
  6. raf

    raf Senior Member

    thanks.

    ive just googled bomb damage and things like ....a pond in a park was created from a german bomb and a cricket pitch has a nice dip to it in durham from a v1.

    interesting.....unless you know its hard to spot.

    cheers
     
  7. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Attached Files:

  8. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Another good clue is often in rows of terraced houses where 1 or 2 are missing or replaced by newer buildings, I've got an excellent booklet on bomb strikes in leicester and these are certainly the easiest to spot.
    And a mate's just telling me that the V&A has bomb damage on the side facing the Natural History Museum.
     
  9. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    True VP, in Ipswich Street, Swindon are two terraced houses that were rebuilt after a bomb missed the GWR Railway Works.
     
  10. adrian roberts

    adrian roberts Senior Member

    Another good clue is often in rows of terraced houses where 1 or 2 are missing or replaced by newer buildings

    In SE London you don't have to walk more than a few streets to find examples of this. Frequently there is a older semi-detached house, with the chimney flue leading up the outside of the side wall - often a sign that there was originally another house attached to that side.
    There are various duck-ponds around, said to have been caused by bomb craters; e.g at Godstone Farm animal sanctuary.
    Cleopatra's Needle on the Thames Embankment has splinter damage from a bomb dropped in the First World War - the first bomb dropped on London by an aeroplane as distinct from an airship

    Adrian
     
  11. Alan Jones

    Alan Jones Member

    I went into Coventry Archives not long ago and they have aerial photos of all of Coventry in 1946, plenty of craters etc, including 3 at the back of the pub 80yds away! They also have a street by street account of every bit of bomb damage done to each address, fascinating, together with degree of damage , ie destroyed, partial, fire etc.
    Regards
    Alan
     
  12. Glider

    Glider Senior Member

    I work in Westminster and noticed the instructions to the nearest schelters still painted on the wall of an ordinary house. Faded of course but still visible
     
  13. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

  14. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    There is a Timewatch documentary on Tuesday October 6 of the bombing of Coventry on November 14 1940.

    Regarding the mark of Luftwaffe intruders on to Bomber Command airfields.While flying out of Wickenby,it was pointed out to me, former bomb craters in farmland in the airfield's vicinity.These are now small ponds in the fields. Tree growth round the edges of the ponds record the path of nature over the last 70 years.

    In Gainsborough,Luftwaffe bombs intended for Marshalls Engineering Works during a raid in 1942,missed the target and fell on the main shopping street,demolishing a number of shops and took out two pubs.Now replaced with "attractive" modern architecture and no sign of the past.
     
  15. Smudger Jnr

    Smudger Jnr Our Man in Berlin

    My Niece moved into a terraced house in Ward street, Lostock Hall, Bamber Bridge, Lancashire, quite a few years ago after getting married.

    On visiting the street I was struck by two new houses that had been built in the centre of the terrace, with much reduced roofline which was not in keeping with the old terrace.

    I made enquiries and found that the street was bombed in WW2 and the two terraced houses destroyed, hence the rebuild.

    I found a mention on Wiki and the old Hall of Lostock is featured.

    Lostock Hall - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    Lostock Hall[​IMG]


    This building was made into a Hospice many years ago and is where my mother passed away in 1997.

    Apparently the Luftwaffe were looking for Leyland Motors and due to weather conditions could not find the target and bombs were jettisoned, causing the damage in the area.

    Regards
    Tom
     
  16. James Daly

    James Daly Senior Member

    There is a booklet on the destruction and reconstruction of Portsmouth after the war, by John Stedman entitled 'Portsmouth Reborn: Destruction and Reconstruction 1941-1974'. Very interesting reading.

    At the city records office next to where I work there are shrapnel pock marks on the wall, and even a hole gouged in the iron railings outside.
     
  17. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    There's shed loads in South East London where I lived. There are lots of Prefabs still being used that were built on bomb sites. As Adam mentioned post war houses in between pre war terraces is another obvious clue.

    The Biggest site that you can still visit today in South London is on Blackheath near the band stand and Greenwich park - The bomb craters were never filled in and the land will never be built on as its a mass burial site from the plague hence the name Blackheath.

    I can recommend ATB's three volumes of the Blitz if you want to see some good 'Then and Now' shots.

    Regards
    Andy
     
  18. Rob Dickers

    Rob Dickers 10th MEDIUM REGT RA

    Outside my son's flat, Wapping School, London. E1.1940
    Rob

    [​IMG]
     
  19. James Daly

    James Daly Senior Member

    Theres loads of prefabs near my house. The area where I live was built post-1945 as an overflow development for bombed-out inner city families. Where I live is one of only a couple of roads that were built pre-war.

    Something else that springs to mind, there was a Q/Starfish decoy site in Langstone Harbour, aimed at decoying bombs away from Portsmouth. There are some bomb craters on Farlington Marshes that have turned into lakes.
     
  20. blacksnake

    blacksnake As old as I feel.

    Raf ... Regarding your search for evidence today of bomb damage, Kev's post on Liverpool's James St. station is correct, but I feel your looking for the actual 'scars' of the bombing.

    There are two well known sites here in Liverpool. The first is the old post office on Victoria Street. When walking along the street nothing appears out of place, you have to look twice because although the buildings fascia is normal, there is nothing behind it. The building was destroyed during the Blitz, what remained had to be demolished, but the undamaged outer shell was left in-place.

    The second, and most well known is St. Luke's Church located at the corner of Berry Street and Leece Street where it has stood since 1831. On the 5th May 1941 St. Luke's was hit by an incendiary bomb, resulting in it's interior being burned out leaving just the outer shell which still stands today as a stark reminder of our cities wartime heritage.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     

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