World War 2 Air Raid Damage in Batley: Part 5 – O to P

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 fifth 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 starting with the letters O to P.

One note of caution, although many house numbers remain unchanged from that period, some may have undergone re-numbering in the intervening years. 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 2 – C to F see here.
For Part 3 – G to J see here.
For Part 4 – K to N see here.
For Part 6 – Q to T see here.

Footnotes:
1. In this section of the list the ‘Description’ column is largely blank. The implication is these are houses, not business premises.
2. This building was also on a separate form where the only column relating to damage was “Indiction of Extent of Damage to Contents”. Other buildings on this form suffered complete destruction, so the implication is this was the fate of No62 too. It seems to be a form reserved for those buildings which suffered serious damage.
3. These buildings were on a different form where the only column relating to damage was “Indiction of Extent of Damage to Contents”. It seems to be a form reserved for those buildings which suffered serious damage.
4. 88 Purlwell Lane is squeezed in the list between the row entries for numbers 88A and 90. However no damage details have been included so it is unclear if these have been omitted, or if the damage is the same as for either 88A or 90.