Monthly Archives: July 2022

In my post Batley’s First Air Raid – The Night of 12/13 December 1940, I wrote about the areas of Batley hit.

Since then I have pinpointed many of the affected buildings, houses and addresses, including a general summary of the damage inflicted on each property.

This is the second post with these details so you can identify if your home was part of this event in our local history; or if a home associated with your family history was affected. It covers street names from C to F.

One note of caution, although many house numbers remain unchanged from that period, some may have undergone re-numbering in the intervening years (e.g. potentially Deighton Lane, looking at the current numbering/house names and cross-matching to the house names/numbers on the air raid damage list, and also looking at OS maps for the period).¹ The numbers here are as they were during the war, not as they are today. Other houses have long gone.

Also, though hundreds of addresses are listed, I am aware from my earlier research that this is not the complete inventory – there are areas of Batley hit that night which are missing from the list.

Some final points to be aware of. I have detailed the information exactly as it was written, so the damage inventory columns are not consistent. For example ceiling damage sometimes comes under ‘contents’, at others under the ‘generally’ heading.

It is also clear this is not the complete story of damage inflicted. I am aware some buildings did suffer substantially more than is listed for them in the space-limited columns – for example gable ends needing rebuilding as a result of the air raid.

And, to my mind, the list of contents ruined does appear suspiciously light. For example it is hard to believe that crockery and furniture in the majority of houses was undamaged given the structural damage listed. Again has space played a part? There are exceptions – in one detailed entry for an address in another post, although the contents were not listed in the space provided, they were an add-on insertion at the top of the page. It is hard to believe that contents in the majority of entries for other houses suffered no similar damage. I believe it is likely that individual household forms were completed initially and the information then collated and condensed on one form covering all addresses, meaning layers of detail being missed in this overall summary.

Anyway, good luck with locating your home. Don’t forget to scroll across the table to get the full details – there are columns detailing the property description, address, and an indication of the extent of damage (i.e. roof, walls, floors, contents and general damage). And do check my website as I continue to add more posts listing affected houses.

For Part 1 – A to B see here.
For Part 3 – G to J see here.
For Part 4 – K to N see here.
For Part 5 – O to P see here.
For Part 6 – Q to T see here.

Footnotes:
1. In these cases more detailed house history research is required.
2. This building was on a different form where the only column relating to damage was “Indiction of Extent of Damage to Contents”. Other buildings on this form suffered complete destruction. It seems to be a form reserved for those buildings which suffered serious damage. In an earlier post about Batley’s First Air Raid it is noted that a two-storey Rag Warehouse off Bridge Street belonging to J. E. Etherington Ltd had a stock of wool destroyed. Bridge Street backs onto Caledonia Road, so the entry on this form may refer to that building.