Remembering
Nov. 2nd, 2024 09:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphilo Remembrance Day approaches.....
And I've been looking at what happened to Eastbourne during WWII
The authorities rhought a seaside town would be safe from bombing- so children from London were evacuated here. They were wrong. Eastbourne took more bombs than any other town in the non-Metropolitan areas of Kent, Sussex, Surrey and Hertfordshire. There were 96 raids and 134 fatalities.
One of the raids took out the end of the Cavendish Hotel, pictured here with the statue of the Duke of Devonshire in the foreground
Another building to suffer was our own Friends Meeting House. The ruins are the subject of an amateur watercolour painted in 1947
The worst loss of life occured on April 3, 1943. A 250lb bomb landed on the overground shelter on Spencer Rd These overground shelters had brick walls and concrete roofs and were designed to protect against bomb blast. They were useless against a direct hit. All 39 occupants were killed.
One of the victims was Kathleen Ellen Davies. She is buried, along with her husband and unborn baby, in Langney Cenetery
Eastbourne is unusual in possessing a memorial to its civilian war dead. It was installed in the Peace Garden in 2018
Like every other south coast town Eastbourne had to be protected against a possible seaborne invasion. It became an armed camp. There was was wire on the beaches. There were guns on the hills.
In this final image Eastbourners- in and out of uniform- are celebrating the end of the European war- May 8, 1945.
And I've been looking at what happened to Eastbourne during WWII
The authorities rhought a seaside town would be safe from bombing- so children from London were evacuated here. They were wrong. Eastbourne took more bombs than any other town in the non-Metropolitan areas of Kent, Sussex, Surrey and Hertfordshire. There were 96 raids and 134 fatalities.
One of the raids took out the end of the Cavendish Hotel, pictured here with the statue of the Duke of Devonshire in the foreground
Another building to suffer was our own Friends Meeting House. The ruins are the subject of an amateur watercolour painted in 1947
The worst loss of life occured on April 3, 1943. A 250lb bomb landed on the overground shelter on Spencer Rd These overground shelters had brick walls and concrete roofs and were designed to protect against bomb blast. They were useless against a direct hit. All 39 occupants were killed.
One of the victims was Kathleen Ellen Davies. She is buried, along with her husband and unborn baby, in Langney Cenetery
Eastbourne is unusual in possessing a memorial to its civilian war dead. It was installed in the Peace Garden in 2018
Like every other south coast town Eastbourne had to be protected against a possible seaborne invasion. It became an armed camp. There was was wire on the beaches. There were guns on the hills.
In this final image Eastbourners- in and out of uniform- are celebrating the end of the European war- May 8, 1945.
no subject
Date: 2024-11-02 09:39 am (UTC)The landlady of the pub where I barmaided lived through it all and could tell a tale or two!
no subject
Date: 2024-11-02 10:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-11-02 07:40 pm (UTC)