36 and 37 Ipswich Street, Swindon

Image: © Brian Robert Marshall Taken: 27 Sep 2008

In contrast to many other towns and cities in the UK such as Bath, Bristol, Coventry, Exeter and of course London, Swindon largely escaped the attentions of Hitler’s Luftwaffe between the years of 1939 and 1945, largely but not completely. During those years, occasional attacks took place, usually by isolated raiders. In the intervening years all the significant destruction that was caused has been repaired. However, there is still evidence of what happened in those troubled times and the legacy remains in the form of houses that were rebuilt after the war in a style that is similar to but distinct from the originals. At around 20.00 hours on 19th December 1940 a lone German bomber, type unknown, started a bomb run on railway sidings between Station Road and Beatrice Street, Swindon. The plane was flying in a north-westerly direction. Bombs fell amongst rolling stock and caused relatively little damage. The sidings have long since gone and the area comprehensively redeveloped. A major road, Great Western Way, has taken the place of the railyard. It can be seen in this image http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/618258 Further bombs fell in Beatrice Street http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/377752 and then Ipswich Street, where numbers 39 and 40 on the south side were destroyed and the houses either side, 38 and 41, must have been severely damaged. There were fatalities in Beatrice Street but not in Ipswich Street, although people were trapped there for a time. Both streets are typical late Victorian or Edwardian terraced houses. After the war numbers 38 to 41 Ipswich Street were rebuilt. This image shows numbers 36 (to the right) and 37 Ipswich Street which, I presume, were not sufficiently damaged in the attack to warrant rebuilding and which retain the basic characteristics of the original houses underneath the rendering. As built, the bay windows had flat roofs behind a fairly elaborate parapet. These were prone to leak and many were replaced with sloping roofs. Number 36 has had this treatment; 37 has not. At the extreme left of the image is part of number 38, rebuilt after the war http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/985000 The historical information above was extracted from a monograph ‘Swindon Air Raids in World War 2’ by K Walter published privately in 1998, a copy of which can be found in Swindon’s Central Library.The historical information above was extracted from a monograph ‘Swindon Air Raids in World War 2’ by K Walter published privately in 1998, a copy of which can be found in Swindon’s Central Library.

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