Argyle Road, Teddington
Sunday, May 20, 2012 at 4:49PM For the last decade I have lived in the leafy London Suburb of Teddington. While Teddington's history dates back to Saxon times most of what is now modern Teddington was developed following the construction of Teddington Lock in 1811 and the railway in 1863. The close knit network of Victorian and Edwardian streets that forms the heart of modern Teddington was complete by the turn of the 20th century.
For those who know Teddington well there is a conspicuously large development of much more modern buildings between Somerset, Stanley, Church and Walpole roads. I had always assumed that these more modern buildings and spaces were a result of urban renewal during the 1960s, but it turns out that it had less to do with the plans of developers, and much more to do with the Luftwaffe during the Second World War.
;)
The council work in November 2011 that started it allMy interest in this oddly 'modern block' was piqued by a council road crew and a conversation with a neighbour. In November of 2011 Richmond Council removed a drop kerb from outside the playground on Church Road. While chatting about the work to a neighbour who had lived and worked in Teddington for the last 70 years he mentioned that the drop kerb had originally marked the entrance to a road that no longer exists. He went on to reminisce about playing on the bombed out houses that had stood on the site, homes that had been destroyed, not by a bomb dropped from a Luftwaffe bomber, but by a V1 flying bomb, Germany's first vengeance weapon and the world's first guided missile built by the Nazis at the end of the Second World War. After 68 years the council were removing the last visible traces of the road the Germans had destroyed in July 1944.
Teddington seemed to have suffered more than other suburban areas of London. While it was far from the industrial or agricultural heart of the UK it did have some high value targets. In Bushy Park, just 500 metres from Teddington station, the Americans built Camp Griffiss which was to serve as the European Headquarters of the US Army Air Corp, and as the war progressed the park also served as the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force as they planned the D-Day landings. The National Physical Laboratory on the perimeter of Bushy Park was involved in military aviation research and is where Barnes Wallace conducted tests for the bouncing bombs used in the bombing raids on the Möhne and Edersee Dams immortalised in the 1955 film Dambusters.
It wasn't until recently that I recalled this conversation with my neighbour. During a recent clear out of books I found an old London street Atlas and it contained a map showing Argyle Road in Teddington, a road that should be just opposite my front door yet I had never heard of before. The Atlas was printed in 1937 so Argyle road was clearly there before the war started and it's location matched the spot where the council had recently removed the old road entrance.
;)
The streets surounding Church Road as they appeared in 1937 ;)
Church Road as it appears in 2012
While London suffered significant bomb damage in the early stages of the war the frequency of the attacks reduced as the war in Europe in expanded. As the war drew to a close the bombing attacks on the Capital started up again but now using the V1 'doodlebug' flying bomb and the V2 ballistic missile. In July 1944 one of those V1s flew over London on it's way towards Teddington. Given the rudimentary guidance system fitted to the V1 – the operators set a compass bearing and the time that the V1's pulse jet engine was to run for – it seems unlikely that Argyle Road the intended target, but Argyle Road is where it fell, and is where 40 people and an entire road met their end.
While the doodlebugs distinctive 'droning' pulse jet gave those on the ground some warning, the V2 fell to earth at such high speed that the first indication of a V2 was the sound of it exploding as it crashed back to earth. The only V2 that landed in Teddington exploded in Fairfax road in July 1944 (only a few hundred metres from the US Army Air Corp's Camp Griffiss) and led to the evacuation of 7,000 women and children from the local area.
It seems odd to me that I've lived so close to the location where over 40 people lost their lives and yet I knew so little about it. I wasn't brought up in London, or even the UK, but even my family has extremely close links to the UK during the war. (My grandfather was in the RAF and his cousin lost his life while serving in the London Fire Brigade during the Blitz). Since I re-discovered that 75 year old street Atlas I've been in contact with the National Archives in Kew with a view to looking at the Bomb Census to look at the details of the bombing activity in Teddington, and ultimately finding out more about the history of the street I have now lived on for over 10 year.
Reader Comments (14)
Ah the Bombies!
That doodle bug killed my great grandfather: Danny Gull (a copper) and nearly killed my father: Charlie Underhay who was returning from Danny's house to his home in Curch Road (where he continued to live untill he unfortunately passed away in 2010). I believe a wooden fence was blown over by the blast which protected my dad from the worst of the impact.
That doodle bug also infamously destroyed the Willoughby (don't take spelling as gospel) pub along with its occupants. I believe the Willoughby was situated on the south side of the junction of Argyle Road and Church Road as shown on your 1937 map.The blast also destroyed most of the houses on the west side of Church Road. Cressford Lodge on the junction of Somerset Road seemed to have escaped relatively unscathed and I remember there still about three buildings left just north of the Argyle Road junction. The buildings on the east side of Church Road south of no 106 were also destroyed.
I was born in 1954 and remember Argyle Road as being fully operational but surrounded by bomb sites. I believe that nissen huts were erected after the incident but these had gone by 1960 and all that was left of them was the concrete bases. These bomb sites, affectionally known as "The Bombies", provided fantastic playgrounds for the kids of that time - far better than that new namby pampy type one that occupies the space that used to be the entrance to Argyle Road.
The nissan huts on the bomb site used to have a reddish bown screed on top of the concrete bases which was about half an inch thick which could be easily prised up and broken into good "stone throwing size peices". These were used as projectiles in many epic battles between the Church Road kids and others rivals such as the York Road kids. (Brilliant fun until one of the stones actually hits you on the head.)
The bomb site on the east side of Church Road (south of no 106) was the first to be redeveloed in the early 1960s when they built industrial buildings (much to the disgust of the local residents and us kids for loosing a big part of the bombies.
The remainder of the bombies and Argyle Road stayed until they built the current school.
I grew up in the Cottage Hospital in the 50s and early 60s which had been converted into eight flats. This is still there in Elfin Grove. This building had a rather wonderful large garden, great for us little urchins to play many exciting and imaginative games with tall trees to climb as well. On leaving the back garden by an unorthodox route there was a small road. I can't remember the name of it. this led to 'up the top' where all the neighbourhood kids would play 'tin can tommie'. Also there were terrific Guy Fawkes night displays held there (informally). This must have been part of the bomb site which affected Argyle road. The Masons Arms was a favourite wateringhole for my mum and dad at some stage. I remember loitering outside while they were in there. me enjoying a packet of crisps with the blue screw of salt and they taking other refreshment. ( I never recall them being incapeable) Argyle Road was a familiar road fully in use as far as I recall. I do not remember hearing of that particular tragic wartime event. I recall the nissan huts, Quite romantic looking habitats to my eye then. Curved corrugated iron dwellings, pretty little gardens with flowers and vegetables, carefully tended. Later my parents lived out their last years in Keeling House, council flats which I couldn't see from the road the last time I passed by. My mother said that wartime attacks never managed to damage the NPL because the navigators dropped bombs on another bend in the river in error. Reading your report it seems that they had rather more advanced methods in use. I came across your article while researching the American Air Base and Bushey Park.
Sorry this is not related to Argyle Road, but would love to contact Sue Attridge or anyone regarding their knowledge of the Cottage Hospital in Elfin grove.
When I was between 2 and 5 years old, I lived with my family in one of the nissen huts which were built on the V1 bomb site at the junction of Walpole Road and Stanley Road.
I can well recall Argyle Road, though by that time, all the houses had been cleared away.
The V1 which hit the church at the junction of Hampton and Stanley Roads was a different one to the one mentioned above.
We also visited a bomb site in, I think it was Luther Road, which was caused by normal bombing.
Our nissen hut was the first one you passed on the left, approaching Walpole Road.
I remember that the base of it was still there in the '70's.
My father told me of seeing a doodlebug fall on the playing field in Wellesley Road from the back stairs of his house in Clarendon Crescent, off Twining Avenue.
To Alan: I'm not in any way doubting anything you say, but there is something I don't quite understand. Also, others who lived around there in war or post-war years might be able to enlighten me.
You lived in a Nissen hut on a V1 site at the junction of Walpole Road and Stanley Road and you also say that the V1 which hit the church at the junction of Hampton and Stanley Roads was a different one.
But surely at that time Walpole ran all the way to Stanley Road and was separated from the Methodist church only by the width of Stanley Road. Did two V1s hit within 50 to 100 feet of each other, or have I misunderstood?
There is clearly some confusion about the bombing of Argyle Road and the surrounding area.
The Willoughby pub - on the corner of Argyle and Somerset Roads - was destroyed by a bomb on 29.11.1940 (see http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=86538149 , http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=67967430 , http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/3145190/WALKER,%20ALFRED%20GORDON and numerous other references).
Some people say that the bomb which wrecked The Willoughby was a V1 and caused many deaths.
Now, on the face of it, those two facts can't possibly both be true.
That is because the first V1 did not land on London until 13.06.1944 (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V1_flying_bomb ). In fact the V1 which landed on Argyle Road did so on 24.07.1944, 6 weeks later (see http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=67969899 and http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/14/a3251314.shtml ).
The only way that both could be true would be if the Willoughby was severely damaged, with loss of life, on two occasions (at least!), in 1940 and 1944. But this seems seriously unlikely. After the first bombing - which must have caused massive damage, because many lives were lost - there would not have been sufficient resources, in the middle of a fight for national survival, to rebuild the pub in four years, especially as the Abercorn was there just across the road.
The most likely explanation, it seems to me, is that the Willoughby was destroyed by "normal" bombing on 29.11.1940. Then, in 1944, a V1 hit another part of Argyle Road. There is some evidence for this (see http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=67969812 and take note of the words "Harriet Kate Hoare, who died in a V1 attack on the previously blitzed Argyle Road.")
This site http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_house_did_the_doodlebug_fall_on_in_Argyle_Road_Teddington_1944 suggests that it fell "at the rear of east side" which would be where either the school building or the playing field is/was before its recent (2010's) expansion.
I was having trouble with my worms when I wrote the last comment! Of course, The Willoughby was at the Junction of Argyle and Church Roads not Argyle and Somerset.
I would be pleased to be contacted by you Annabella Godwin but don't know how to proceed to make that possible. Sue Attridge
Hi Sue,
annabelle@womentalking.co.uk
I've just come across the piece concerning the Willoughby Arms public house and it's destruction. My father lived in Teddington 1939-45 working at Hawker Aircraft in nearby Kingston upon Thames. He told me on several occasions that he had been in a Teddington pub in 1944 which was destroyed by a V1 shortly after he left. I was also told there had been great loss of life at the pub & surrounding area. The reason this has always stuck in my mind is that my father was settling down to a long drinking session at the pub when he felt a sudden urge to go home. The pub was apparently destroyed some 10 minutes after he left. This - and fate - played on his mind for years thereafter - especially as he lost numerous colleagues & friends. Anyway, whether it was the Willoughby Arms or not my father was crystal clear in the telling of his story about the pub being hit by a V1. He was an aircraft development engineer, knew about VI's & never a fanciful man.
Just to say thank you for bringing back fond memories of the bombies! By a happy coincidence I arrived at your site having bumped by chance into two other Stanley Road school classmates just a few weeks ago. One of the many happy recollections we had was playing (exactly as Charles describes!) on the bombsites and hurling massive projectiles at each other --- in a friendly way of course... also of climbing up into the still-under-construction office blocks in the early 1960s and playing amongst the beams of what seemed like a skyscraper..
Yes, and as Charles rightly points out, Argyle Rd was there still. I used to walk down there every day to school from Waldegrave Road. Another sign of the times - I would either walk (on my own) as a six year old through the cemetery to school, or my favoured route was down Linden Grove, through those lovely old hand-cranked level crossing gates and into Argyle, Somerset, Church Roads taking the opportunity to create some friendly havoc with classmates such as Charles, Alan Haynes and several others. So another small historical detail - you used to be able to drive through Somerset Road / Linden Grove into the main road.
One point of interest regarding bomb damage - the blast radius was considerable. Where I lived in Waldegrave Road was some way away from the blast centre (two roads and the railway itself in between) but many or all of the windows on our side of Waldegrave were blown out, and even into the sixties and seventies, whole swathes of plaster would still fall off the walls having been weakened by the explosion.
I have many other reminiscences of Teddington in that era but I'll stop there for now and just say thanks again.. and finally, it was wonderful to see and read Charles comments, if he and any other Stanley Road friends from that era would like to get in touch I'd be delighted!
Googling teddington lock 1944 your site came up. My dad was ARP(?) on teddington lock. He told me about the bomb falling on Warner bros in Broom Road & all the fish killed. He said people were taking them home in buckets. Does anybody know about a poor man on his bike going across the lock gate in the dark to the middle. He fell in & nobody found him until the morning?
Googling teddington lock 1944 your site came up. My dad was ARP(?) on teddington lock. He told me about the bomb falling on Warner bros in Broom Road & all the fish killed. He said people were taking them home in buckets. Does anybody know about a poor man on his bike going across the lock gate in the dark to the middle. He fell in & nobody found him until the morning?
Ah, found another website that said a bomb landed on the apron of teddington weir in October 1940 causing a reduction in water levels & Trowlock Island cut off. Guess this must have been when the fish came up.