George Street Park Lane Town Hall Friends Road Fairfield Fell Road
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1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . Town Hall Park Lane Fell Road Friends Road Croydon Town Hall on Katharine Street two bombs. One hit part of the Town Hall and it The currently disused headquarters of Croydon 4 Fell Road was the headquarters of the On 29 September 1940 South Croydon was very The most obvious loss to the town was the opened in 1896 on the site of the former exploded on the Fell Road side. Gas Company stand at the junction of Katharine Home Guard in Croydon. badly hit. Georgian building which housed St Anselm’s Croydon Central station. The Town Hall was at Street and Park Lane. Building commenced in School. Between 1825 and 1879 it had been home the centre of local administration during Dr Oscar M. Holden, the Borough Medical Offi cer 1939 and was completed by October 1941. It was The Home Guard (originally known as the Local A landmine was dropped by parachute and landed to the Friends School until they moved to Saff ron the Battle of Britain and Council staff and was in the Town Hall and immediately rushed intended for use as a showroom for gas products Defence Volunteers) was formed in May 1940 in an open space on the northern end of Park Hill Walden in Essex. It stood on the spot where the departments took on additional duties. to the basement where he crawled underneath and its art deco style means it is a listed building. following the invasion of Belgium, Holland and recreation ground. It caused a great crater and fl yover and Park Lane meet, by Taberner House. On the day war was declared, many people the wreckage to help the telephonists who were The coming of the war led to a large air raid shelter France. It was established to protect against the damage to houses in Fairfi eld Road, Chatsworth The western end of Friends Road was replaced by besieged the Town Hall demanding to be fi tted trapped in the report centre. One of them was being included in the basement, which was threat of invasion, particularly from parachutists. Road, Barclay Road and Hazledean Road. the fl yover. with gas masks. The Food Offi ce was based in the Miss Wendy Hollyer who, although badly hurt, fi tted with bunks, emergency lighting and other Initially they did not have uniforms and there was Town Hall and was responsible for setting prices managed to reach a telephone and continue to amenities. Around 80 to 100 people regularly only one gun to every three soldiers, but they The bomb damage report states: ‘Damage to shop There were many reasons why bombs did and administering the rationing system, including take calls while the rescue squads were digging sheltered here during air raids. were trained into an effi cient force. Although windows and other glass as far as West Croydon’, not explode on impact. Some were defective issuing ration books. their way to her. Three of her fellow telephonists they never had to fi ght in their envisaged role, however there was no loss of life. although others had time release fuses. Over were killed. Both Holden and Hollyer were Next door to the gas showrooms, where observation posts were manned each night and 150 unexploded bombs landed on the County The Town Hall served as a regional control centre, awarded the George Medal. Chief Librarian W.C. Nestlé now have their headquarters, was the the Home Guard assisted during air raids. They Another parachute mine landed at the junction Borough of Croydon. On 12 January 1941, a bomb which housed the central point for civil defence Berwick Sayers was on fi re watching duty that Croydon Fire Station. The Auxiliary Fire Service were disbanded in November 1944 when it was of Friends Road and Park Lane where it became landed on the Davis Timber Yard at Brighton communications and had a telephone room and night. He was badly injured in the blast and could maintained a fi re watching service to watch for the certain that the threat of invasion had passed. embedded in the ground. On the 30 September Road. It sank more than 30 ft into the ground messaging room. The Town Hall was badly not return to duty for several months. constant threat of incendiary bombs, which were a Royal Navy bomb disposal unit arrived. They and into the Bourne which fl owed beneath. This damaged by a single bomb which hit at 7.40pm designed to cause confusion as well as damage. Fell Road was also the site of the town’s main evacuated the area and surrounding buildings, meant that its location kept shifting so that the on the evening of Sunday 24 November 1940. It took three years to repair the damage. By 1943 When the National Fire Service was formed police station during World War II and this stood then sandbagged the bomb and retreated with a unexploded bomb, nicknamed ‘Satan’ took 3 years The sirens sounded at 7pm but there a series of underground rooms were constructed in 1941 the responsibility for fi re watching near the present Fell Road entrance to Queen’s cable to around 100 yards. They were hauling the to recover. seemed to be only one bomber in sight: where the bomb fell. This became the operational was delegated to local groups. Gardens (then the Town Hall Gardens and much mine out when the bomb slipped and exploded. most Croydonians were used to there being hub to co-ordinate the town’s response to the smaller). It was demolished in 1980. There was no loss of life but great devastation. several hundred in the sky. The bomber dropped ‘Doodlebug attacks’ of 1944. Town Hall following the bombing of 24 November 1940. Town Hall being protected against bombing. Croydon Air Raid Wardens, 1940. 32ND Surrey Battalion Home Guard on parade. St Anselm’s School before and after the landmine of 29 September 1940. 5 . 6 . 7. 8 . Fairfi eld George Street East Croydon Wellesley Road In early 1939 a plan was proposed for the In 1940 a damaged Messchersmitt 109 was placed Croydon was a leading town in the This picture shows the Mayor, Alderman Harding, Rail travel in wartime was often disrupted due It is no small achievement that nearly 20,000 The Phoenix Assurance Company offi ces had 17 people were killed, including children, and excavation of the Fairfi eld for a shelter for 30,000 on display at the Fairfi eld as a fundraiser for the wartime National Savings movement. (seated right) and the Town Clerk (seated left) to enemy action and there were frequently long people (children, teachers, helpers, under 5s and built new buildings just before the war. These were many more were injured. The bomb had fallen people and 800 cars with a plan for further local Spitfi re fund. The Croydon Fighter Plane Campaigns were promoted throughout the making personal purchases of savings certifi cates delays. Damage on the line meant that journeys mothers, expectant mothers and the blind) were on the north side of Dingwall Avenue on a narrow strip of earth between the pavement excavations at Grangewood and Duppas Hill. It Fund was opened in mid-July 1940 to raise £5000 war and the National Savings shop opened during National Savings Week 1940. were diverted or terminated unexpectedly. successfully evacuated in a single day. Parents did and were destroyed by a direct hit on the and the wall of the building, sank a few feet and was not approved, largely because it was felt for a plane to be called ‘Croydon’ and bear the at 72 George Street (where Suff olk House now not know until after the evacuation was complete 7/8 October 1940. The borough engineer’s then blasted a hole through into the shelter before that they might become places of permanent Croydon Borough coat of arms. To help the fund stands) on 4 March 1940. This was provided It was from East and West Croydon, soon after where their children were going. report reads: ‘Phoenix Insurance building wrecked. exploding. rather than temporary refuge. A form of shelter the Air Ministry loaned a Messerschmitt which had free of rent and rates. dawn on the morning of Monday 4 September Nos 12 to 28 Wellesley Road and ‘Croindene’ did appear on the Fairfi eld which consisted of been shot down that summer in Surrey. It was 1939, in a carefully planned operation, that the Railway companies did off er cheap day returns Dingwall Ave Severe damage. Nos 2, 4 and 6 The Croydon Repertory Theatre on Wellesley concrete sewer main tubes held in position with displayed at the Fairfi eld car park for 10 days in On 25 May 1940, a salvage shop also opened on evacuation of Croydon’s schoolchildren began. for parents, but as the mass air raids failed to Dingwall Avenue slight window damage.’ Road was closed in 1940 and never re-opened. It brickwork, furnished and buried with three feet of late August and some 26,000 people paid to see it. George Street and this was followed by another Croydon’s evacuation offi cer, Herbert Roberts, had materialise, large numbers of homesick children was used as a repository for furniture storage for earth. These could shelter around 300 people. seven around the district. The Salvage Committee only been informed of the fi nal arrangements for began to drift home to Croydon where all the On Wednesday 30 October 1940, a bomb exploded people who had been bombed out. If not claimed and its many voluntary workers were collecting travel and accommodation on Saturday evening.