Tag Archives: may blitz

History

The Bombing of St. Luke’s

January 27, 2011 – 09:00

Today St. Luke’s Church still stands prominently at the top of Bold Street, on the corner of Berry Street and Leece Street, as an enduring symbol and reminder of the tragic destruction caused by the Blitz in the Second World War.  The church was hit by an incendiary bomb on Monday 5th May 1941 and the ensuing fire was described by the Liverpool Echo as “magnificent“.

Sadly St. Luke’s could not be saved.  The city was burning as a result of the prolonged attack by the Luftwaffe; fire fighters and relief workers were already stretched to the limit.  In the early hours of Tuesday May 6th local residents who were sheltering in the nearby basements of Roscoe Place reported hearing the great bell fall from the tower.

The interior of St Luke's looking towards the altar

st luke's church liverpool

Photographs above © R Brown and J Parry 1931

A fantastic example of neo-gothic architecture, St. Luke’s had been the focus of community life for those who lived an worked in the area for just over a century.  It had taken John Foster and his son nearly 30 years to design and build, yet it took the Luftwaffe a single night to destroy it…

st luke's church bomb damage

A burnt out shell, commonly known locally as “the bombed-out church“, it was bought from the Church of England by Liverpool City Council in 1968 and became a garden of remembrance to commemorate the thousands of local men, women and children who died as a result of the bomb attacks on their city.  It remains one of Liverpool’s best loved landmarks.

For more information visit historian Jonathan Wild’s informative website devoted to St. Luke’s Church.

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History

The Story of the Rotunda Theatre

January 24, 2011 – 10:00

Because of it’s pivotal position at the junction of Scotland road and Stanley road, the Rotunda was an important local landmark since it’s construction in 1860.  Sadly the building was completely destroyed during the Blitz.  But such was it’s presence that even after the war, those who remembered it would still refer to ‘the Rotunda‘ when giving directions to passers-by in Bootle!

rotunda theatre bootle

The site at the junction of Scotland road and Stanley road was built in 1860 and was originally a public house.  In 1866 the proprietor introduced plans for the re-siting of the entertainment on a more extensive upper floor where a larger stage was constructed at the Scotland Road end of the building.  The largely musical fare was then supplemented by sketches.

After further reconstruction with the addition of a gallery, the establishment was opened as the Rotunda Theatre on 23rd November 1869 with a Grand Concert!  Two days later on 25th November, a performance by specially engaged first class artists commenced at precisely 7.00pm.  On that evening it was reported the exterior of the building was brilliantly illuminated by fireworks, and there was also a grand magnesium balloon ascent prior to the opening.

The Rotunda was destroyed by fire in 1877, but was happily rebuilt in a grander style with principal elevations to Stanley Road and Scotland Road connected by a curved corner, surmounted by a dome at the end nearest Scotland Road.  The grand reopening of the new Rotunda Theatre took place on Friday 20th December 1878 and over the next sixty years the various directors of this theatre continued to advance the reputation of the Rotunda as one of the leading centres of melodrama in the provinces.

program rotunda theatre bootle

The Rotunda was destroyed by german bombing on 21st September 1940, but the shell remained standing until 4th May 1941, when fire, bomb blasts and shock waves during the May Blitz caused the walls to finally collapse.  This was quite common, frequent stories were reported of people being injured by falling debris whilst returning to their homes following the ‘all clear’.

4 May 1941 Rotunda Theatre Bootle

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Events

Introducing the largest Blitz 70th anniversary event outside London…

January 21, 2011 – 17:00

In the warm, late afternoon sunshine of May 1st 1941, the Heinkel bombers of Hitler’s mighty Luftwaffe took to the skies once more.  This time their target was Liverpool.  Just hours later at 10:15pm the first bomb fell on Wallasey and the air raid sirens began to wail.

This wasn’t the first time Liverpool had been targeted during the Blitz, but nobody could have foreseen this would be the start of seven days intensive bombing designed to destroy Liverpool’s docks and crush the spirit of her people.  What would forever be remembered as the “May Blitz” was about to begin.

By the end of this long week, almost 700 aircraft had dropped nearly 900 tonnes of high explosives and well over 100,000 incendiaries.  1,453 people had been killed in Liverpool, 257 in Bootle, 28 in Birkenhead, 3 in Wallasey and thousands more had been seriously injured.  4,400 houses were destroyed in Liverpool with 16,400 seriously damaged and 45,500 slightly damaged.  Approximately 51,000 people had been made homeless in Liverpool and another 25,000 in Bootle where it was estimated only 15% of the local housing stock remained.

May 1941 Liverpool City Centre

Out of all this terror and destruction, the spirit of the blitz emerged.  It has gone down in history as a spirit of straightforward stoic courage and endurance: a refusal by the people of Britain to collapse into the hysteria or madness expected by the enemy.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of that terrible week, and so presents an opportunity for us to remember those who lost their lives and also celebrate the enduring morale which kept the British people going during such testing times.  All funds raised during the weekend will be shared between two registered veterans’ charities; the Royal British Legion and D-Day Revisited.

Visit us again for frequent updates about the schedule of events which are designed to be fun for all the family.  In exactly 100 days we will launch the Liverpool Blitz 70 event which we hope will help to spread awareness about what happened and give the people of Merseyside a jolly good weekend of nostalgic blitz-themed entertainment!

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