World War II bombs, in Swan lane at number 83/85 and 87, and at Sugden Avenue.

I was wondering if anyone registered on this site has a link to a page on the web containing the news report of the Pratt family being killed at number 87 Swan lane in 1941 as all 3 of the houses mentioned in the title were flattened in the bombing and our family now lives at 83…………….our daughter is doing a school project and as Swan lane is next to the school i thought this may bring it ……..excuse the pun closer to home
Thankyou
Max

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  • My nan and grandad and mum lived in a house called The Ingle in Ethelred Gardens. I remember my nan and grandad saying that their windows were blown out and another house had some damage after the bombing.

    By GARY TOWNSEND (19/12/2020)
  • At the end of the war Doris Andrews moved into a bungalow in Swan Lane with a young child. Her husband was still employed abroad after the war as an army lorry driver into the 1950s. The child went towards the town from the bungalow in Swan Lane to a private school (possibly the one run by a Miss Mason). I have a couple of old photographs of what looks like the frontage of the bungalow. I have tried to find census or other material which might pinpoint the property to no avail.

    By Evelyn Andrews (17/12/2020)
  • I moved to Wickford in 2001 with my family and am currently living in Sugden Avenue. I have been fascinated to read about the V2 bomb dropped on my road in December 1944 and in particular the comments made by Ron Conley (19/10/12) above, about a house being built on the crater. Does anyone know where this crater was, and whereabouts the bomb fell in Sugden Avenue? I would love to know more about Sugden Avenue and what it looked like before the houses were built there.

    By Antoinette (08/02/2016)
  • I think the rocket motor went to Coalhouse Fort museum in East Tilbury rather than Tilbury Fort. Although we have various artillery shells on display we don’t have any V1 or V2 parts.

    By Kevin Diver (08/10/2013)
  • It was nice to see a reported date and time of the V2 rocket that disturbed my reading of a Rupert the Bear Annual when our bungalow windows were blown in by the it’s blast from 50 yards away. When I looked out of the glass free window I did see the bungalows that had been demolished and witnessed men pulling away parts of the wreckage to rescue a baby that was only a few months old. Being that I was only 10 years old at the time, I have often wondered what happened to that baby also the folk whose homes that were destroyed. On the day all the adults and children were requested to find bits and pieces of the rocket that were scattered around the area. A lot were found. The last time I went down Sugden Avenue after 68 years for a look around to the places I remember as a kid during those war year’s. There is a house sitting right on top of the crater. I wonder if the folk know about it ?

    By Ron Conley (18/10/2012)
  • Ref the Sugden Avenue V2 rocket………when the water board was putting in new mains I believe 1980’s. I was contacted and informed that the V2’s combustion chamber had been located by the water boards excavations. This is basically the V2 rockets jet motor (power plant). I arrived as the owner had dragged the rocket motor onto his drive and had phoned a scrap dealer to come along and collect it. Thankfully I was able to convince the landowners wife of the historical significance of the find……and after a small debate with her husband the rocket motor was handed over to myself. I examined the motor carefully and the sites that fired these weapons at England were often commanded by the German SS . Locking rings of which I have two from this motor……..are both stamped with the Waffen SS eagle. It’s a great shame that Wickford has no museum of it’s own as I eventually handed this rocket motor to the Tilbury Fort Museum ….who sprayed it black and exhibited it within the confines of the fort. I researched this incident and have research details of the date it was fired and the damage that was caused…….my late Grandfather Mr. Samuel J. Wright was a Wickford Fireman who attended most of the the incidentsvthat took place in Wickford Inc this incident……where he sat with a gentleman who had a chair leg that had penetrated his abdomen causing serious injury….but the good news was the gentleman survived the incident and the war. My Grandfather passed away in 1975.

    By Trevor A. williams (18/08/2012)
  • I have a folder showing bombs and explosives from 11/39 to 1/41, dropping from Foulness to Brentwood during 39/45 war. Anybody interested please contact me.

    By bob croot (26/07/2012)
  • Re. the above. I have checked the records of air raid damage we hold. 03.12.44.12.34. 1-L.R.R. (V2 rocket) exploded in Sugden Aveue.  Casualties:Killed-Nil, seriously injured-8(5m,3f), slightly injured-16(4m,7f,5c),Total 24. Damage:Demolished-2 Bungalows,seriously damaged-6 properties,slightly damaged-130 properies.

    By Geoff Whiter (30/06/2012)
  • I am interested in finding out whether there were other sites where bombs fell in wickford and I wondered if you have had a response from someone who claims to have lived near sugden ave where a bomb fell and killed people see extract from another web site belowBased on comment from reader Bryan Robertson: “As a child I was raised just outside the Essex town Wickford. Although at the age of 4 or 5 years I do recall a V2 rocket strike located at Sugden Avenue which is about a mile or so west of Wickford. I do recall seeing the devastation created by this weapon and I understand that several people were killed.”

    By gwen britton (14/06/2012)
  • I have more information on this.

    By bob croot (02/03/2012)
  • If you want information on this landmine please contact me. I have written information, such as twenty five houses damaged and three dead.

    By bob croot (23/02/2012)
  • Parachute mines, Swan lane, 3 people dead, 20 houses damaged, 90 people homeless. Contact me for more.

    By bob croot (23/02/2012)

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