Jump to content

Zeppelin Air Raid On Bedlington In April 1915

Zeppelin Raids

By Zeppelin Raids
in History Hollow

 Share

Recommended Posts

Zeppelin Raids

Zeppelin Raids

Posted
Posted

Hello all

I am carrying out research on the air raids on England and Scotland in WW1.

A Zeppelin airship dropped bombs on and around Beddlington on 14th/15th April 1915.

I have some information on this raid, but I would dearly like to make contact with others who might assist my research. can anyone help, please, or put me in touch with a local historian (I am based in London)...?

Three bombs fell in Bedlington, as far as I am aware:

1 Two bombs fell in a field south of Land House Farm (the windows of the farm were smashed)

2 An explosive bomb fell in a field 500 yds west of the police station.

3 Other bombs fell in West Sleekburn, Bomarsund colliery, Brick Field (nr Choppington station), German House (breaking the windows of the Station hotel, Choppington), and Glebe Farm.

The remains of the bombs were collected and taken to Bedlington Police station.

I don't know the area, so I would appreciate any local information/knowledge. Do these places still exist?

Thanks

Pete Wood

bombraidsofww1@aol.com

Pete

Pete

Posted
Posted
Hello all

I am carrying out research on the air raids on England and Scotland in WW1.

A Zeppelin airship dropped bombs on and around Beddlington on 14th/15th April 1915.

I have some information on this raid, but I would dearly like to make contact with others who might assist my research. can anyone help, please, or put me in touch with a local historian (I am based in London)...?

Three bombs fell in Bedlington, as far as I am aware:

1 Two bombs fell in a field south of Land House Farm (the windows of the farm were smashed)

2 An explosive bomb fell in a field 500 yds west of the police station.

3 Other bombs fell in West Sleekburn, Bomarsund colliery, Brick Field (nr Choppington station), German House (breaking the windows of the Station hotel, Choppington), and Glebe Farm.

The remains of the bombs were collected and taken to Bedlington Police station.

I don't know the area, so I would appreciate any local information/knowledge. Do these places still exist?

Thanks

Pete Wood

bombraidsofww1@aol.com

I believe there was a bomb droped on the brick yard or a German plane crashed there, this was during the second world war. It was before my time so I dont know how accurate my statment is but there may be some of the senior members of Bedlington that can answer your questions. The brick yard was situated between the station and Barrington over towards Red row as I recall.

threegee

threegee

Posted
Posted

There is some info on this in the board archives from a few years back. Also I remember someone posting a picture (or pictures) of a crowd in a field looking at a crater - probably somewhere in the region of West Ridge.

We do intend to restore the Board's archives to the web in a searchable form, but unfortunately I can't give you any timescale.

Sw@lnalla

Sw@lnalla

Posted
Posted
A Zeppelin airship dropped bombs on and around Beddlington on 14th/15th April 1915.

I have some information on this raid, but I would dearly like to make contact with others who might assist my research. can anyone help, please, or put me in touch with a local historian (I am based in London)...?

There is some information in Evan Martins book ISBN 0 7524 0784 8, but not a lot :)

Denzel

Denzel

Posted
Posted
There is some information in Evan Martins book ISBN 0 7524 0784 8, but not a lot :)

Any news on zeppelin races? Dead heats in particular.

  • 1 year later...
Joe Rooney

Joe Rooney

Posted
Posted
what zeppelin came here? anyway theres a canny bomb crater down the burn! whats now earth ballance!

If you want bomb craters, there were about six of them starting about a hundred yards East of the Black LNER bridge. They were dropped in WW2 though, about 1941, and all fell short. Maybe they were an overshoot from an attck on Blyth shipyard!

Joe

Monsta®

Monsta®

Posted
Posted
If you want bomb craters, there were about six of them starting about a hundred yards East of the Black LNER bridge. They were dropped in WW2 though, about 1941, and all fell short. Maybe they were an overshoot from an attck on Blyth shipyard!

Joe

is that the black bridge by the bank top pub? if so which side of the water are they on? blyth or bed?

Joe Rooney

Joe Rooney

Posted
Posted
is that the black bridge by the bank top pub? if so which side of the water are they on? blyth or bed?

Hi Monsta,

They fell in an irregular line on the North (Bedlington) side of the river. Two fell up in the slake, while the other four fell in the river downstream from the railway bridge.

At low tide, all six craters, which were quite wide, were clearly visible. But since that was some 66 years ago, I doubt that they would be noticeable now. Maybe up in the slake, but not in the river anyway.

A bomb disposal squad turned up, looked at it, had tea, and then left. So I guess they were satisfied that all had exploded. Or maybe they didn't fancy wading into that grey stinking slake!

By the way, on the original topic of a Zeppelin raid, there were some neighbours of ours had a socalled picture of the Zeppelin raiding Bedlington. Apparently they were flogged as real pictures of the event. But even to gullible kids like us, 10 and eleven years old they were painfully crude forgeries. A Zeppelin superimposed on a postcard of Bedlington!

One of my uncles told me that the story going around at the time, was that they came to bomb the Bedlington Iron Works. I doubt that the Germans were dumb enough, not to know that it had closed down in the 1860's or so!

Joe

  • 2 weeks later...
Sw@lnalla

Sw@lnalla

Posted
Posted
Hi Monsta,

They fell in an irregular line on the North (Bedlington) side of the river. Two fell up in the slake, while the other four fell in the river downstream from the railway bridge.

At low tide, all six craters, which were quite wide, were clearly visible. But since that was some 66 years ago, I doubt that they would be noticeable now. Maybe up in the slake, but not in the river anyway.

The council's used this area as a rubbish dump back in the late 50's, on both sides of the river. :(

  • 1 month later...
Carole

Carole

Posted
Posted
A Zeppelin airship dropped bombs on and around Beddlington on 14th/15th April 1915.

There is a copy of a postcard showing this Zeppelin over Blyth on the Northumberland Communities wesite - check this link:

http://communities.northumberland.gov.uk/005594.htm

Mind you, the website does point out that it looks suspiciously like a fake because no-one in the street is taking the slightest notice of the huge airship going overhead.

  • 6 years later...

Create a free account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing


×
×
  • Create New...