Did a bomb hit my house?

For those interested there is a more comprehensive WW2 bomb plot map at the Southampton City site – needs an Adobe SVP viewer to view properly….

http://map.southampton.gov.uk/gis/asp/MappingApp.asp?EXTRALAYERS=195

I’m guess that large cluster of bomb strikes on the river Itchen is the Supermarine factory ?

The Supermarine factory was at the Eastern end of where the Itchen Bridge now stands.(50.8975/W01.3825) .The very large concentration of hits on the east bank at Bitterne Manor succeeded (for the most part ) in destroying mudflats and a few barges.

A useful website but …………..

The site says “that pinpoints where 712 of the bombs fell ” ,…in fact there are many bomb sites that are not shown.

In our road there are obvious(to me ) sites missing – sites that remained as vacant lots till the 50s when new homes were built.

Also – from the look of it only a small portion of the bombs that fell in the Above Bar area of Southampton are actually shown.

I’m guess that large cluster of bomb strikes on the river Itchen is the Supermarine factory ?

This map shows only the night raids on 30 Nov and 1 Dec 1940. The major raids on the Supermarine factories were daylight raids earlier in the year ( 24 and 26 September) . The cluster of three strikes in Woolston ( at the eastern end of the current Itchen Bridge) would have been on the Thornycroft shipbuilding site, Supermarine’s Woolston Works was immediately north of the bridge (you can see the slipway on the map) and the Itchen Works a further 1/2 km north.

[QUOTE=Pondskater;1672097]Done that in Staffs but couldn’t find a thing! QUOTE]

Well, I went through the Air Raids Logs for Berkshire and Oxfordshire and they were very detailed. All I can say is hard luck.
Doug.

At Bentley Priory’s open day they had a large map of the London Borough of Harrow marked with every bomb, unexploded bomb, V1, V2 and crashed aircraft. It was very detailed with dates, type of bomb etc.

Do similar things exist for other cities? I’d be interested to know where bombs fell in Sheffield. All I’ve seen is a map produced by the local newspaper which was rubbish in terms of accuracy.

There is a bomb map for Hull it can be viewed on line at the following;

http://www.rhaywood.karoo.net/bombmap.htm

If you know where to look in Hull you can still see one or two bomb sites.

Nick

About a year ago someone posted a complete set of London County Council bomb damage maps on flickr. They were great and not only showed the damage to individual properties in london but also showed the exact impact points of all the V1 and V2’s. Unfortuantly the person who posted them was ordered to take them off the site or face prosecution under copyright laws. (I believe these may now be available in a book)

Steve

Chox,
If you have a County Records Office in Sheffield, you should be able to go through the original Air Raids Wardens Log, which is likely to be more accurate.
Regards, Doug.

Done that in Staffs but couldn’t find a thing! And, of course, censorship prevented detailed reports in the press. Are there records in the National Archives that will give details of individual raids – any references anybody?

AllanK

The house I currently live in was built just pre-war but at the end of the garden there’s an empty plot where a house must have stood – and to the side a couple of post-war houses have been built. I can only assume that this must have been the result of a stick of bombs,

Reminds me of Bill Gunston saying how as an RAF Cadet he was detailed to show a young American around town, and pointing to a gap in a row of terrace houses told him that was where a Luftwaffe bomb had fallen. “Gee” the American said in all seriousness, “Lucky it missed those houses either side.” BTW, does anyone know what Bill Gunston is up to nowadays; retired, I guess?

There is a large display at Aeroventure, Doncaster about the Sheffield Blitz and it includes a bomb plot map, though whether it is any more accurate than the one in the newspaper I could not say. It looks pretty extensive and the display as a whole is excellent.

I believe I’ve read on the Sheffiled Forum http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/index.php that it was possible to buy a map at one time but it may be out of print. I would imagine the Central Library has a copy.

There’s quite a few threads on the Sheffield Forum about the December 1940 raids including one started just recently as the 70th anniversary approaches.

I was working with a TV company called “True North” at Hendon a few weeks ago when they were making a TV documentary of The Sheffield Blitz with presenter Terry Deary of “Horrible Histories” fame. The transmission date was 15 November (the anniversary) on BBC1 although I have just realised that the date and time now conflicts with the TX date for “Dig 1940”. Maybe somebody in the Sheffield area might know if the region has opted-out of “Dig 1940” and is showing the Sheffield Blitz prog instead?

I’m curious to know!

Did a bomb hit my house? No, it always looks like that.

Chox,
If you have a County Records Office in Sheffield, you should be able to go through the original Air Raids Wardens Log, which is likely to be more accurate.
Regards, Doug.

Thanks for the info – I’ll have to investigate although I’ll be suitably wary of the Sheffield Forum. I read some great tales on there before about RAF Norton and RAF Coal Aston. Truly amazing how people recall these places and they patently don’t even know where they are!:)

Think I would rather know about the duds … !

There is a large display at Aeroventure, Doncaster about the Sheffield Blitz and it includes a bomb plot map, though whether it is any more accurate than the one in the newspaper I could not say. It looks pretty extensive and the display as a whole is excellent.

I believe I’ve read on the Sheffiled Forum http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/index.php that it was possible to buy a map at one time but it may be out of print. I would imagine the Central Library has a copy.

There’s quite a few threads on the Sheffield Forum about the December 1940 raids including one started just recently as the 70th anniversary approaches.

I’d love to see an accurate map of the Sheffield raids. The house I currently live in was built just pre-war but at the end of the garden there’s an empty plot where a house must have stood – and to the side a couple of post-war houses have been built. I can only assume that this must have been the result of a stick of bombs, and as I’m only a mile from one of the Luftwaffe’s favourite targets (a railway viaduct next to Hillsborough football stadium), I think it must be likely that a fair few bombs fell here. But the newspaper map looked more like a “pin the tail on the donkey” game than an accurate account!

Now that would be interesting , wonder if details on Belfast are available as well ?

Do similar things exist for other cities? I’d be interested to know where bombs fell in Sheffield. All I’ve seen is a map produced by the local newspaper which was rubbish in terms of accuracy.

I’m guess that large cluster of bomb strikes on the river Itchen is the Supermarine factory ?