


Blitz Ghosts Norwich: Danger UXB
More in the Blitz Ghosts Norwich series. I’m not sure where the above picture is exactly, Originally I thought it was possibly at Harford dump, which is where most of the defused stuff ended up, or it might be the depot in Ipswich, turns out it’s in Anchor...
Blitz Ghosts – St Augustines School, Norwich
St Augustines School 1940, a posed shot for George Swain as the children enact an air raid drill, there are a few others in this series, showing twisted lines of children waiting to enter, one of the other ones lines up with the wall and some door and windows behind...
Baedeker Blitz: The Hubbards
Thomas Hubbard, Aged 52, Died 28-4-42 Norwich Garden of remembrance. Memorial cemetery. Farrow Road, Norwich. “The date that sticks in my mind is 28th April 1942 and the time 10.30 At that moment I was in the Anderson shelter in my garden on St. Martins Road,...
Blitz Ghost: Alexandra Road and Helena Road
Alexandra Road, another Norwich Blitz Ghost. A 250kg bomb took out about 4 properties, quite a precise slice, which is still very evident if you look at the row today the missing block was replaced with a more modern variant of the generic terrace, a pattern you can...
Blitz Ghosts: St Benedicts Gate
On the 28th April 1942 this was the result of a 1000kg Hermann that burst on what is now the traffic lights at the bottom of Grapes Hill. The men aren’t short, they standing in the edge of a hole that was rather wide and very deep caused by the blast a Herman...
Blitz Ghost: St Bartholomew
One of the few real reminders of the blitz on Norwich that is easy to visit is the church of St Bartholomew, Heigham, Norwich, it’s quite easy to find sitting just of Heigham Street and Waterworks Road. On the night of the 27th of April 1942 when the first of...
Blitz Ghosts – Rampant Horse Street, Norwich
Rampant Horse Street, Norwich, Seventy years on, plus a bit. The result of the second night of the main two raids 29th/30th April 1942, The fires are out, must be the modern rain. This is the scene that did for the Caleys factory the previous night, less so than...
Tom Brittan’s Blitz
In 2012, I received a few emails from a chap called Tom Brittan who now lives in France. I”ll let him recount his story pretty much unedited; he lived just off the Unthank road and vividly remembers the bombs falling and the aftermath. My most vivid recollection...
Norwich in flames
Norwich in Flames: Here are a selection of George Swain’s camera melting exploits. Originally photographed in Black and White. I colourised these, based on looking at modern colour photos of fires and then painting them in, very simply to be honest. They depict...