Air Raid Oct 2nd 1941

[anna]

The following pictures give an idea of the devastation caused by the air raid of Thursday October 2nd, 1941

Looking down King Street from Market Square; all that is left of Crofton's is one corner, still bearing the store's name


Another view of Crofton's, with the Grapes Hotel and two wrecked buses in the foreground


Looking towards Market Square from King Street; Woolworths fared little better. Only part of the famous sign "Nothing over 6d" is visible in the top right-hand corner. The rest of the store has completely vanished.


A crater marks the site of the Market Square air-raid shelter.


St Bede's school - another building to take a direct hit.

[Globalmyths]

Glad I wasn't there Anna. Awesome devastation, but near the end of the war both from memory Dresden and Cologne in Germany got far worse when a thousand bombers flew over Germany.

[anna]

We dont know how lucky we are Global ..it must have been terrible times for the familys in them days ...I didnt relise how much our Town took a battering ..

[hartman045]

Some of the street furniture from that period still existed well into the 1970s, along with shrapnel holes etc. I did take some photos of them in 1973, but haven't managed to track them down yet.

[anna]

come on Hartman ,,get your finger out ...we are waiting ...lets us see more of your Photos ... =D>

[Popsk]

spot-on Anna, these are magnificent shots, I was only in nappies at the time, but they illustrate the horror our parents must have experienced - no wonder they didn't want to talk about it. =D> =D> =D>

[anna]

Yeah it must have been bad Popsk..like i say i never relised it was as bad as it was ..
I wasnt born either i might add...
but ive been looking into our Towns History ,,and ive learnt a lot of very intresting stuff

[Jarrow Pete]

The post box in the first photo was still in the same place outside Croftons last time I was in the market.

[Ed Hitcham]

This is my first time on this wonderful website (please be gentle with me)
Re the air raid, was this the raid that bombed the house that I lived in when I was just a baby-in -arms?
I lived in HS Edward Street with my mother, our house was bombed with us still in it. My uncle was on firewatch that night
and saw the bombs dropping.
When he came off duty he made his way towards HS Edward Street and saw this woman coming towards him.She was covered in brick dust and was carrying a bundle of rags. The bundle of rags was me!

[baldy.smith]

Our house was hit that night, I lived in Brodrick Street when it happened.
I was a bit more than a bundle of rags at the time. I don't remember the
actual bombing, I think I slept through it, but I have plenty of memories
of the nights we spent in the air raid shelters.

[jimmywizz]

hi ed welcome to our website

[anna]

Welcome to our Palour Ed ....

[Ed Hitcham]

Many thanks to jimmywizz and anna for your friendly welcome,as an exiled geordie I hope to have many hours of nostalgic memories trawling through this wonderful website!

[jimmywizz]

ed i had some photos in a book that included a lot of bomb damage in shields but i sold the book on ebay there is a good chance that photos of your street will still be floating about that show the bomb damage

[Ed Hitcham]

Hi jimmywizz.Thanks for your reply do you happen to remember the title of the book? Cheers Ed

[jimmywizz]

ed if your ever back in shields go down stairs in the libary and ask to see a copy of the magazines that were printed at the end of the war showing bomb damage in the town, i think there was 4 or 5 of them at the time, i have seen 3 of them and there are some great photos in them that they were not allowed to publish during the war, the name of them escapes me at the moment so does the name of the writer who was a lady historian at the time, i think se was called amy flagg as in flagg court

[Delilahcat]

Don't know if it was the same raid but my late mother used to tell the tale of how she and my dad were in the Palace cinema when the air raid siren went. Before they could leave the first bomb blast blew open the emergency exit doors. They ran all the way back to South Eldon Street where my dad lived. The bombs were dropping - I think part of South Eldon Street was hit - and they kept throwing themselves to the ground to avoid flying bricks and glass. My mother''s biggest complaint was that her stockings got ruined. They made them tough in those days.
I worked with a guy who used to be manager of the cinema in King St that became the Odeon. He was an air raid warden and actually directed people to the shelter in the Market Place that took the hit.
My cousin has a picture of the bomb damage in South Eldon St. I'll try and get it and post it.

[Pilot]

hi delilah

[Delilahcat]

hI I do pop in now and again to see how things are. The old codgers seems the most interesting place these days.

[Ed Hitcham]

I hope to be visiting Shields in November (will there be a space on the beach?) and I will try my luck at the library.
Thanks to everyone for all of the interesting comments!
ps. Who sells the best stotties?