Buildings Destroyed in the Blitz

A perspective view of a Georgian facade in 1942; the rest of the terrace has been destroyed by bombing. Exeter and a number of other cities were targeted by Hitler in revenge for Air Marshal Harris' bombing campaign against German cities in 1942. Can you tell us about a building destroyed during the Blitz?

The bombings of cities during the Second World War destroyed architectural masterpieces, such as Coventry Cathedral, but also quite ordinary streets and houses that gave cities and towns their distinctiveness.  Post war development has changed the look and feel of these neighbourhoods forever but we can retain their memory through records and personal testimonies?

English Heritage holds archive material from before and during the war and is planning an article in its members’ magazine, Heritage Today, to tie together the photographs, drawing and plans with the people and events of the war years. 

 

 

St Bride's Church in Fleet Street was rebuilt to the designs of Sir Christopher Wren following the Great Fire of London. This photograph shows the remains of the church after it was bombed in 1940. It was subsequently rebuilt using Wren's surviving walls. Do you have a memory or personal reminiscence of a building lost during the Blitz or the Baedeker raids on Exeter, Bath, York and Norwich?  Would you like to share it with us?  If you would, then please write to Heritage Today, 15 Prescott Place, London SW4 6BS or email heritagetoday@sevensquared.co.uk.  

We may edit your submission for publication, or contact you to arrange an interview for further information, so please include a phone number or email along with your full address.  It would useful to know if you have any personal photographs of yourself, family or friends along with the buildings or the area, but please don’t send them to us at this stage.