The Bombs at Beamish by Jack Hair

Beamish is now world famous for it's Open Air Museum and has  thousands of visitors each year. On Friday 1st May 1942 at 2.55am, the only visitors  were a German bomb crew seeking a target to offload their high explosive bombs. it was early morning, and the sky was clear.
From above Beamish the pilot would have seen the reflection from the two sets of railway lines, the lNER to Consett Steel Works,and the colliery coal line with the village of Beamish nestled in between. With the river nearby, it may have looked like a prime factory site. Whatever the reason, they dropped three high explosive bombs and then went off in search of other targets.

It was later said that Beamish was bombed solely because of the so called "Miracle of Durham" when the Gerrman bombers were unable to find the City of Durham due to a cloud of mist which rose from the river, totally engulfing the city. It was also supposed to be part of the Baedecker Bomb Raids, and that this particular raid had been foiled by British Intelligence who had cracked the German Enigma Code, They had also supposedly perfected a system whereby they could block out the German electronic target signalling device throwing them way off target, drawing the bombers away from the cities. If this was so, then Durham's miracle became Beamish's nightmare.  

Red Alert had been sounded at Blaydon at 2.33a.m. and the area had all been warned of impending air raid by siren alarms. People throughout the area were by now in their air raid shelters or under the stairs of their homes which was a regular place to hide. At 2.55a.m., one of the bombs at Beamish exploded on impact causing damage to some of the shops and houses. A second bomb was found shortly afterwards on the embankment of the colliery railway line beside a wooden footbridge, and dangerously close to the shops and houses. Local people were evacuated.

At approx. 9.30a.m. a bomb disposal squad were approaching Beamish when they were held up. While waiting, they heard an explosion up in the village of Beamish. But for the delay, thay would have been at he scene at the time of the explosion.  The area of the shops and houses near the Post Office had been cleared and roped off. Part of the rail line had been uprooted and the footbridge was badly damaged. A water main was fractured and there was further damage to the nearby shops and houses.

All that day there was great interest in these explosions with many people travelling from the surrounding areas to satisfy their curiosity. None of them was aware of the third bomb lying unexploded in a shop, with it's clockwork timer slowly ticking away. This bomb had gone through the roof of a shop leaving only a very small hole in the roof.Geoff Anderson, who lived in an appartment above Smith's shop said, that when he had been allowed back into his flat later, he looked in the cupboard for his slippers only to find there was no floor in the cupboarf. The bomb had obviously gone straight through into the shop below, and was lying there, just  ticking away.

At 9.05pm that night, people were waiting at the bus stop opposite the shops for their bus home. Children were playing in the street and Special Constable Sam Edgell was nearby. Suddenly, an explosion ripped accross the road toward the bus stop and the waiting crowd.Trees were blown down. Stones, glass and people were hurled into the air. Villagers rushed from their homes to the scene only to be greeted by a cloud of dust and smoke, temporarily hiding the horrendous scene. When the dust settled, they could not beelieve their eyes. Twisted bodies lay all around and the injured lay among the dead, too stunned even to cry out.

Jack Edgell had rushed from his home in Woodside knowing his father was on duty. The first casualty he came accross was his father Sam, unconscious, badly injured, but still alive. Jack noticed his father had no boots on. They had been blown off his feet in the blast. Women sobbed openly and tears ran down the faces of hardened miners as they found the bodies of two children. One was Clive Lawson aged nine, the grandson of Jack Lawson MP from 7 Woodside, Beamish. The other was eight year old Irene Seymour from School Tce. South Moor. She had been with her grandmother, Matilda Seymour aged 77 who lay nearby, badly injured.

The casualties were checked one by one. Mrs Palmer had broken her shoulder. Audrey Lumley, Dodie Dobson, Alec Walker, Mrs Barker and many others were hurt. Gwendoline Hannant aged 17 of Delacour Street, Stanley was found dead. Ten year old Sylvia Spence of Bloemfontein was found severely injured close to her mother Elizabeth Spence who also had terrible injuries. The body of Special Constable Robert Reay aged 61 of Urpeth Hilltop was found in the buildings. He had been helping with repairs to the shops. The dead and injured were carried to Pit Hill Farmhouse. The less seriously injured were treated on the spot. The more serious were taken to the Emergency Hospital at Chester le Street, and some of these were sent on to specialist hospitals. Mrs Spence and Mrs Seymour died the next day, and by Monday, the death toll had reached eight  with the deaths of Sylvia Spence and Sam Edgell. Seven were seriously injured and 28 others needed hospital treratment. Many others had minor injuries mostly treated on the spot or by their home doctor. It is also worth noting that on that faefull day Margaret Duffy of Stanley had been visiting her brothe Arthur Dempster at his home in Wallsend when they also died with others due to enemy boming at Wallsend. The funerals took place over the next few days after the explosions, but little was mentioned in the local press at that time. It was a question of security.  

I decided to research this disaster several years ago after I was unable at a history talk to answer the question of how many were killed  in these explosions. I was very fortunate in that many of those involved that day were still alive, including relatives of those who were killed. In my small book, The Bombs at Beamish, I have included their own personal recollections of that day. I also include an account of the Miracle of Durham and the Baedecker Bomb Raids. Copies of this book are in Stanley and South Moor libraries plus the Durham Library for reference purposes only. I list below a brief glossary of some of the staements I took.

The Spence family.
Joyce was 13 at the time and remembersstanding with her family at the bus stop. They  had travelled down to Beamish to check on a family friend. She had no recollection of the actual explosion. Her first recollection was waking up in Chester le Street Hospital. She lost a finger and had several head injuries. She still has a piece of shrapnel in her leg. She was in hospital for a month, and was so ill at one point, her father was sent for. She knew nothing of her sister and mother being killed until after she was released from hospital. 

Ethel could not talk very well when I interviwed her but she  had been very badly injured with her left ankle almost severred. She had many injuries and was in hospital until the following September. 

Elizabeth was a short distance away from the bus stop with her sister Violet when the bomb went off. and the scene was terrible. When the dust settled she tried to reach her family but was stopped. They later found them at the farmhouse. She said  her  mother was almost unrecognisable and only identified by my father the next day by her broad wedding ring. Her father died within one year of the disaster supposedly of a broken heart.

Ivy Riley Cousin to the Spence's. My mother, sister Betty and I walked down from Greencroft down to my grandparents at Blemfontein. We decided to walk with our relatives the Spence's down to Beamish to see if the Walker family needed any help. After visiting them I went to the bus stop but have no recollecxtion of the explosion.My first memory after it was of lying on the ground and saying "my shoe is missing". I was taken to the farmhouse with the others and was laying on a table with my legs dangling over the edge. My aunt, Mrs Spence lay below, unconscious with serious head injuries. I was 12 at the time and my sister Betty was 10. 

James R Healey  he had only been going out with Gwen Hannant  for a very short time and that day he and Gwen had gone down to Beamish to see if Gwen's friend Audrey Lumley and her aunts were ok. At that time, Jim had his call up papers to go into the RAF in his pocket. After looking at the bomb damage and a walk round the village, he, Gwen and Audrey waited outside Lumley's shop until they saw the bus coming up from Beamish Club. His next recall was lying totally covered in rubble, brick sand debris.He felt as though the stone dust completely filled his body. His body and legs were trapped but he managed to free his head. He heard a voice say "there's another one here". As they began to free him, he remebers saying "there's someone else beneath my feet, get her out". The three men who found Jim were Craghead Colliery deputies, Bob Abbott, Matt Davidson and Matt Young. out on an evening walk, they had arrived at the scene just as the explosion occurred. After treatment, Jim was transferred to Winterton Hospital with serious leg injuries. He stayed there for several months and was then called into the RAF. I was the first person since that time to talk to Jim of the details of that day at Beamish, and it brought all the memories flooding back.

Syd Wears    he was 9 at the time and had been staying with his sister Elsie and her husband at South Urpeth Farm. He was travelling back to Stanley with Ella and Tommy Coyle, Tommy Weatherspoon and Lee Dodd. The buses were crowded so they decided to walk to the next stop at Beamish Post Office. When they got to Beamish Village, they decided to have a look around and were in the area of Peggy's Wicket when the bomb exploded only yards from where he and Tommy stood. Tommy had injuries to his left hand and Syd had three cuts on his head. The shoe laces had been blown out of his shoes and all the buttons were blown off their clothes. After treatment he returned to Urpeth Hall Farm with his sister on the tractor. That night they listened to Lord Haw Haw on the radio saying German bombers had bombed Twizel Rail Junction Yards
.
Audrey Lumley - lived at that time with her aunts in their shop on Station Road, Beamish. They were awakened by the air raid sirens during the night. She was 18 at the time. The first bomb brought the window shutters down and they were evacuated from the house and shop by the ARP Wardens to the shelter at the back of the shop. The second bomb exploded at 9.00 am and the front of the shop was badly damaged. People spent most of that day repairing the buildings.When Gwen and Jim called down, they all went for a walk and later returned to the shop to wait for their bus. Audrey saw the bus coming up from the club and her next memory was in hospital with head injuries and shock. Her aunt had been blown into the sitting room by the blast but was unhurt. Jack Draper later told them he had seen the hole in the roof and was convinced there was a third bomb, but nobody would listen to him.

A W Grindle   on that day, he and his aunt were visiting the Lawsons. Clive Lawson, his friend,  took him to see the bomb damage and they played on the rubble until it was time to leave. He and his aunt were walking back to West Pelton and as they passed the saw mills, there was a bang and a black cloud lifted over Beamish. He met his Dad who was an ARP Warden. It was him and Sam Young who had found the second bomb on the railway. he was on his way up to Beamish where he and Sam helped in the rscue. Sam pulled Audrey Lumley out of the rubble.  Sadly his friend Clive was killed.

Jack Jarvis   he has been annoyed ever since the tragedy because he always knew three bombs had been dropped and not two as was believed. Had they liostened to him there would have been no deaths. That night, he had been on air raid warning duty at Beamish Colliery Offices just above the railway crossing. he had received a call to sound the air raid siren and the area became noisy due to the anti aircraft fire. As he collected his steel helmet from the manager's office, he heard three bombs coming down making quite a whistle , and thump thump thump as they landed. When his shift ended at 9.00am he went down to the village to see where the three bombs had landed.He was stopped by the Air Warden who said only two bombs had landed. Jack insisted there were three but the Warden told him to get off home. Later that evening, while at East Stanley,  he heard the third bomb explode down at Beamish. He said to himself, "there goes number three".. If only the Warden had listened.

Raymond Selkirk    on the night of the explosion, Raymond was camping out with 2nd Chester le Street Scouts at Finchale Priory. They lay in their tents watching the flashes of  anti aircraft guns through the tent canvass. Several guns were sited at the west of the Abbey  at the ammunition dump. They watched a stick of bombs fall accross the woods. The bomb craters could be seen in the woods for many years after. One elderberry tree, aided by the nitrates in the explosives drenched soil , grew at ten times it's natural rate. Raymond never accepted the story of the Miracle of Durham and said in his opinion it was a natural phenonenon

Eric Lee   He and others were on duty based at the Methodist Chapel when the third bomb exploded. They ran as fast as they could up to Station Road. They found Jack Draper many yards from his parents shop where he had been trying to clear up the damage after  the earlier explosions.  He had been blasted out of the shop by the explosion. and was in a dazed state when Eric found him.

 

Kath Donaldson   in a letter to me, she wrote of while working in a care home for the elderly, two of the people she worked with remebered the "Miracle of Durham". One of them worked as a volunteer fire fighter  whose job it was to save the Cathedral.

Betty Witty    she referred to St Cuthbert's Mist as Cuddy's Mist. Before enrolling in the WRNS, she was a part time air warden in Durham City. When the alert sounded on 1st May 1942, she reported to the ARP  Post at 59 Hallgarth Street and was instructed with another warden to patrol in the area around the Science College, the New Inn, Church Street and New Elve. It was a brilliant moonlit night, and from Church Street they had a wonderful view of the cathedral. The night was intensely cold and they could hear the sounds of the German airplanes. Betty insisted she could tell the difference between our planes and the Germans. While walking around 100 yards down Church Street, she noticed that a thick mist had entirely covered the cathedral and the river surrounding it.  They listened nervously as the German planes passed over. Some time later, the mist lifted and we realised this mist had prevented the German pilots from seeing their targets. Betty said, many people from Durham, and she is one of them, believed that St Cuthbert sent the mist to prevent his cathedral from being bombed.

Charlotte Thompson   she went with her baby daughter Hazel and her mother in law Beatrice Thompson to see her niece Lily Calvert of Eden Place, Beamish. Lily was not in so they went to the bus stop to come back home. Most of the crowd at the bus stop had been to Beamish to see the bomb damage. Charlotte's father's aunt, Zena Palmer and her friend from Fern Ave South Moor were there. While waiting for the bus, Irene Seymour asked Charlotte if she could hold baby Hazel. When she saw the bus coming up from Beamish Club, she took the baby back from her. Right then there was a huge roar and explosion and everyone was thrown high into the air. The next thing she remembered was the air raid warden shaking her and asking if she was ok.  She thought she had lost her foot and asked where baby Hazel was. As it turned out she had only lost her shoe. Hazel's eyes needed bathing and her mouth was full of dust from the explosion. The warden told her of a lady nearby who had a baby and that she would make her a bottle of milk. Charlotte's head was badly cut and her clothes were torn to shreds. She asked after her mother in law, and apparently she had been placed with the dead, until they discovered she was still alive. When she  returned home, Dr Benson came to see them and asked Charlotte's mother if she could care for them as the hospital was full. Her father had been to the cinema in Stanley the night of the explosion and a message on the cinema screne asked him to go to Beamish. He went to check on his family and then went to Chester le Street Hospital where his mother was seriously injured. She thought Charlotte and Hazel had been killed and he had to take them down to the hospital to prove they were still alive.
This statement was taken in February 2004. 

Margaret Weddell   she was 17 at the time of the explosion and lived at Beamish Sawmills where her father was head storekeeper. He was Thomas Weddell. She believed their's were the only two houses in Beamish which did not have air raid shelters. When the bombs fell, her father told them to get under the table.At  that time she was a senior girl guide.That day, she and her friend Sylvia went to the shop at Peggy's Wicket to help sort out. Her father had earlier noticed a hole in the roof of the shop. At 8.55pm. they set off home for a meal and left their bikes at Pit Hill Farm. They had just arrived home when the explosion went off. Her sister was married to Mrs Batey's son . Mrs Batey was known as the Florence Nightingale of Beamish because of her activities that day. The dead bodies were placed in the turnip shed at Batey's Farm    Had they stayed at Peggy's Wicket a further five minutes that day, they would surely have been among the dead or injured.
This interview took place in 2006.

there was great bravery shown by the people of Beamish that day. Almost every house in the village was damaged with doors windows and roofs all affected by the bombs. The local people and those visiting only had thoughts as to how they could help those in the explosion with no thought to their own safety. There are not many of the original people still in the village, but those who are know what I am talking about. there is now a memorial in Beamish to those who lost their lives, and there is a brief service of remebrance held there in November each year on Remembrance Day Sunday. All are invited.

I have further interviews and statements, but this is only a summary of the event. If I have missed out your statement, please don't be offended. As they say, It's all in the book.

                                 Regards to all who have helped.    Jack Hair