Travelling on LCC tram number 1622 with memories of the Old Kent Road and Well Hall

Now I missed travelling on a tram by just a matter of years, but had I been born a little earlier I might well have been on this one that rattled its way up from the Old Kent Road to Westminster.

And just possibly also taken the 44 and 46 which connected Eltham with Woolwich.

According to family legend I was actually there at New Cross when the last London tram took its last journey in the summer of 1952 but until yesterday I never thought I would come close to one.

Now I know I could visit the London Transport Museum where there is a fine 1910 tram from West Ham Tramways Corporation, but my number 40 which was the one my dad would have used is even closer to home.

It is in the collection of CRICH TRAMWAY VILLAGE just south of Matlock which is no distance for me but I accept is a long way from south east London.

But your loss is our gain and I have planned my visit.

In the meantime I have settled for a picture of LCC number 1622 which plied route 40 from New Cross.

It comes from my old friend Andy Robertson who has been recording the changes to the twin cities of Manchester and Salford and decided to take an afternoon off and visit the museum.

And there is plenty else to see from a Blackpool tram complete with its destination board announcing a Tour of the Illuminations to the Red Lion Hotel which was once in Stoke on Trent and facing demolition was rescued by the museum rebuilt and happily once again serves up a pint.

In his collection of pictures from the day is the sign on a Leeds tram informing passengers that “Spitting is Forbidden” which made sense in an age before antibiotics and the dangers from a range of infectious diseases was all too common.

It is I think Andy's favourite  while for me it will always be the number 40

Which just leaves me to mention Trams in Eltham by John Kennett** and The Campaign To Save The London Trams by Ann Watkins which includes a chapter on that last tram at New Cross.

Picture; trams at the Crich Tramway Village, 2015, from the collection of Andy Robertson, 

* Crich Tramway Village, http://www.tramway.co.uk/

** Trams in Eltham  by John Kennett, Eltham Society, http://www.theelthamsociety.org.uk/publications.php

*** The Campaign To Save The London Trams by Ann Watkins, http://www.kentarchaeology.ac/authors/019.pdf

V Bombs over Peckham and Nunhead ..............a story from Barney

The V1 was one of Hitler’s secret weapons which  he had told his generals would turn the war.

Rolling out a V1, 1944

The V1 was first launched against Britain in June 1944, just one week after D-Day.

The V1 is difficult to classify as a weapon as it was not a true rocket in that it did not leave the atmosphere, but it was also clearly not a plane. Perhaps it could best be described as a winged but pilot-less, fuel propelled, flying bomb.

The V1 was so-called because Hitler saw it as a reprisal weapon – a Vergeltungswaffen.
Wernher von Braun (23 Mar 1912 to 16 Jun 1977) was a German / American aerospace engineer and space architect credited with inventing the V2 rocket for Nazi Germany and later, the Saturn-V for the USA.

V1 & V2 Peckham and Nunhead.

The Peckham and Nunhead areas were badly damaged by "Doodle Bugs", (V1 and V2, flying bombs).
The rockets were to devastate many parts of the capital. Here are just a few examples of the damage and loss of life caused by the V1.

22nd June 1944 at 08:50

After a V1 ....... Upper Norwood, 1944

There was a very serious incident on the corner of Nunhead Lane & Peckham Rye on the 22nd June when 23 deaths occurred when a V1 hit a corset factory.

Many of the casualties were young female workers. The area today has been re-developed as a housing estate. 18 were to die when a V2 hit Waite street on 14th February 1945. This area today is still undeveloped and forms part of playing fields but the original line of streets can still be seen.

The area to the North of Peckham High Street was very badly hit by 10 V1's and 2 V2's.  This is probably one of the highest concentrations of V weapons that I have found anywhere in London. There would have been very few, if any, undamaged buildings in this part of Peckham. This has resulted in the area being more or less totally re-developed post war.

23rd June 1944 at 02:12

50 private houses damaged in Hollydale Road, surrounding property in St Mary's Road, Stanly and Lugard Road, slightly damaged by blast.

Picture; rolling out a V1, 1944, German Federal Archive, and after the V1Men of Civil Defence heavy and light rescue teams and men of the National Fire Service (NFS) listen for survivors as they search a cavity in a large pile of rubble, timbers and debris following a V1 attack in the Highland Road and Lunham Road area of Upper Norwood, 1944, Imperial War Museum, from V-1 flying bomb, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-1_flying_bomb

Plotting the bombs that fell on New Cross

Now I have been watching eight short films about London, and Manchester during the Blitz with a link to a fascinating interactive map from the National Archives.*

London Can Take It is a collection of documentary films made by the GPO, the Ministry of Information and the Co-op recording the experiences of people during the Blitz.

And after reading the post my friend Debbie introduced me to BOMB SIGHT ..... Exploring the London Blitz during October 7 to June 6 1941.**

Now I have only looked at Eltham, Peckham and New Cross but it covers all of London and allows you to see where the bombs fell, switch from a modern map and satellite picture to the original maps of 1940 and much more.

I started with Peckham and New Cross where I spent the early years of my life and the map confirmed some of what I knew about the damage to our road but also threw up new mysteries which in time I will try to solve.

I reckon it will be fascinating for anyone wanting to know more about their bit of Peckham and of course the rest of London.  Not that it ends there other cities will have their bomb maps, including those for  Manchester.***

Pictures; barrage balloon on the Rec from the collection of Alan Brown

* London Can It ........... Manchester and London and eight short films, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/living-through-blitz-manchester-and.html

**BOMB SIGHTS, http://bombsight.org/#16/51.4708/-0.0539

***Manchester bomb maps, http://enriqueta.man.ac.uk/luna/servlet/view/all/who/Manchester%20City%20Council%20City%20Architect's%20Department%20(Building%20Surveyor's%20Division)?sort=Reference_Number,Page,Current_Repository