Bomb Damage Gallery

St Pauls CXP01_01_086

St Paul's Cathedral, St Paul's Churchyard, City of London. A view looking south-west across a bomb damaged landscape towards the Church of St Verdast-alias-Foster with St Paul's Cathedral beyond.
The Church of St Verdast-alias-Foster was rebuilt by Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of London in 1666. In the Second World War it was gutted by fire during the Blitz in 1940-41 and was later rebuilt after the war with work starting in 1953. St Paul's Cathedral survived the bombing raids but other buildings in the area were completely destroyed by high explosives and incendiary bombs

© Historic England Archive

St Bartholomews Heigham, 1942 AA42_03745

St Bartholomew's Church, St Bartholomew's Close, Heigham, Norwich, Norfolk. St Bartholomew's Church viewed from the south showing bomb damage.
The medieval church of St Bartholomew was destroyed in a German bombing raid on the 27th April 1942. The raid was the first Baedeker Raid on the city of Norwich. The Baedeker raids or Baedeker Blitz was a series of air raids undertaken by the Luftwaffe in a tit for tat exchange initiated by the RAF bombing of Lubeck in March 1942. The name derives from the popular pre-war tourist books known as Baedeker Guides, which listed British sites of cultural or historic interest. Only the church tower now remains

© Historic England Archive

Cow Lane Coventry, 1941 AA42_00357

Baker Billing and Crow's Charity School, Cow Lane, Coventry. The front elevation of Baker, Billing and Crow's Charity School on Cow Lane showing the entrance to Pressings Limited Cow Lane Works. At the time this photograph was taken the former school had been converted for commercial use, in which it continued until demolition in the 1960s. A number of the windows are broken or missing, probably as a result of bombing. Coventry City centre was devastated by air raids on 14th November 1940. The raids left the cathedral in ruins and destroyed much of the historic fabric of the city

© Historic England Archive