Balham Underground Station

Image: © Richard Rogerson Taken: 5 Nov 2009

Balham is located on the Northern Line between Clapham South and Tooting Bec stations. It has entrances on the east and west sides of Balham High Road linked by a pedestrian subway. The surface buildings were designed by the architect Charles Holden. The station opened on 6 December 1926. During the Second World War, Balham was one of many deep tube stations designated for use as a civilian air raid shelter. At 20:02 on 14 October, 1940, a 1400kg semi-armour piercing fragmentation bomb fell on the road above the northern end of the platform tunnels, causing a large crater into which a bus then crashed. The northbound platform tunnel partially collapsed and was filled with earth and water from the fractured water mains and sewers above, which also flowed through the cross-passages into the southbound platform tunnel, with the flooding and debris reaching to within 100 yards of Clapham South. Sixty-five civilians in the station were killed, according to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC). http://wapedia.mobi/en/Balham_tube_station

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