An ambulance in a bombed street: Ladywell Park, Lewisham

 

I chanced upon this photo, taken in the Ladywell area of Lewisham on 18 September 1940.  In common with most wartime photographs, other recorded details were excluded in case they helped the enemy.  But where was it?

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) holds the national register of civilians killed in the Second World War in the UK, at sea and overseas, including where they died.  From this I could see that on the 17^th September there were several incidents in Lewisham but the one that seemed the best match was in a street called Ladywell Park.

No street of that name now exists, but the 1940 edition of Bartholemews Reference Atlas of Greater London revealed it was a road off of Lewisham High Street (to the east) opposite to the junction with Ladywell Road.  (Later this was the sight of Ladywell Leisure centre, now demolished.)

In the background of the photo, at right angles to Ladywell Park, a building is visible with a distinctive pediment at the roofline.  Looking at Google Maps street view, it can be matched to the building still standing at 324 to 328 Lewisham High Street.

This is the sight of the junction with Ladywell Park as it looks today:

From the book “Red Alert” by Lewis Blake, a history of the blitz in south-east London, a parachute mine exploded at 11.30pm on Tuesday 17^th September.  This was a naval mine, about 6 feet long, dropped from a bomber at about 40 mph after the parachute opened.  After touching the ground, it had a timer to explode after 25 seconds and had been used for the first time in the UK on the previous night.  (For more information see https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30020471).  This is a painting of a mine falling in another incident:

This extract from the London County Council sows the damage done to Ladywell Park, black denoting complete destruction:

Blake says 25 people died in this incident although CWGC only lists 24 names.  These include

·         John Smart, a labourer, and four of his children at number 18

·         Richard Butler, a timberman, his wife, adult daughter, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren at number 16.  At the same address, George Johnson, a lorry driver, and two of his children.

·         At number 7, newly married Charles Lawrence, a compositor (typesetter) and his wife Kathleen.

·         At number 1, Mary White and her adult daughter Annie, who usually lived in Kentish Town with her father but was evidently visiting her mother at the time.

A common idea is that in the Blitz, Londoners slept in stations on the Underground but of course this depended on there being a station near you and that y could get a place.  Many people either chanced it at home, used a shelter in their garden, or used a public shelter in the street.  However, less than a week before at least 36 people had been killed in a public street shelter less than a mile from Ladywell Park, at Albion Way.  This might have deterred people from going to a similar shelter overnight.

The death toll could have been higher.  One of the rescuers, John Donno, a labourer, retrieved four people alive by crawling into the rubble of the houses.  He went back for a fifth person but a rubble fall knocked him out and he had to be rescued himself, awaking in hospital.  For this, he was awarded the George Medal, the highest award for civilian bravery.  Very little is known about John Donno.  Born on 18^th October 1884, he lived at 56 Laleham Road at the time, with his wife, Frances. Looking at the original photo again, we can perhaps imagine him crawling into the wreckage in the middle of the night

 

Here are two views of Ladywell Park, the first probably looking towards Lewisham High Street and the other looking towards Campshill Road:

The following aerial view shows the Lewisham URC Church on the corner of Courthill Road and Lewisham High Street in the bottom left, Lewisham High Street runs from left to right across the photo in the foreground.  Ladywell Park is the tree lined street running away from the camera on the right hand side and curving towards the centre of the photo:

This is an approximation to the same view today:

Finally, here is a close-up of the houses closest to the High Street: