Last Friday, Sue and me went to our local community centre – Shrewsbury House – to listen to a talk by local historian and modern conflict archaeologist, Andy Brockman, about the house's secret history. We have heard him speak before, and have always enjoyed his talks.
Shrewsbury House.
In fact, the talk covered much more than the secret history of the building, and included lots of information about the role of Shooters Hill in recent conflicts.
In the run up to the outbreak of the Second World War, Shrewsbury House was selected to act as an Air Raid Precaution (ARP) local control centre, and it performed this extremely useful function during the London Blitz (7th September 1940 to 11th May 1941) and again during the V-weapon attacks (13th June 1944 to 29th March 1945).
A slide used during Andy Brockman's talk about the secret history of Shrewsbury House.
A slide used during Andy Brockman's talk about the secret history of Shrewsbury House. It shows Greengarth (No.28 Mereworth Drive) which backs onto the Shrewsbury House site. It was constructed as part of the Air Raid Precautions Control Centre and converted into a bungalow in 1950.
After the outbreak of the Second World War, Shooters Hill – which at a height of 132m/433-foot is one of the highest points around London – formed part of London Stop Line Central (Line B). This was the last line of London’s defence in the event of a German invasion. As the main road between Dover and London (Watling Street) ran up and over Shooters Hill, it was the obvious place to try to block any German advance, especially as its southern slop is covered by dense woodland that would funnel any attackers up the road. Almost all the local roads on the western side of the hill (i.e. on the reverse slope of the hill) were fitted with roadblocks and flame fougasses.
(Flame fougasses were usually constructed from a 40-gallon drum filled with a mixture of petrol and oil that was dug into the roadside and camouflaged. They were usually placed at points where vehicles would have to slow down, and when set off, they would shoot a flame 3m/10 feet wide and up to 27m/100 feet long.)
A diagram from an official publication showing how to set up a flame fougasse.
A barrage balloon – which was operated by 901 County of London Barrage Balloon Squadron – was located in Eaglesfield Park. It formed part of a line of such balloons (the so-called Field Scheme Nosecap) that were intended to protect London from aerial bombing by forcing attackers to fly at a higher altitude – and thus drop their bombs with less accuracy – or into areas where anti-aircraft guns could shoot at them.
The local Home Guard had their headquarters in the local golf course clubhouse – Lowood – just below the crest on the eastern slope of Shooters Hill. Downhill from it was a battery of anti-aircraft rockets (No.7Z Battery, Royal Artillery) which were mainly crewed by members of the Home Guard. The units that operated these anti-aircraft rockets were called Z Batteries and fired unguided solid-fuel 3-inch/76mm rockets that were known as UP-3s (Unrotated Projectile). Because they were unguided, the rockets were fired in salvos … and this proved problematic as the proximity fuzes they were fitted with were unreliable, and unexploded rocket often caused considerable damage when they ran out of fuel and fell to the ground. In fact, the Z Battery on Shooters Hill engaged a number of V1 cruise missiles and shot them down, but the unexploded UP-3 rockets that they fired ended up causing considerable damage and the battery was stood down.
The area occupied by the Z Battery was eventually cleared but the huts that had been erected to serve as accommodation for the crews were used to house prisoners-of-war. The camp was called Camp 1020 and was formed on 26th June 1946 to house up to 1,000 German POWs. Besides undergoing de-Nazification, the prisoners undertook educational and cultural courses when not being used to perform manual work. The latter included working on local farms, digging the foundations for the Cherry Orchard estate in Charlton, and clearing snow during the winter.
Prisoners at the camp were allowed to move freely within 5 miles of the camp during daylight hours, and Sundays they could attend either the Protestant Welling Church or St. Stephen’s Roman Catholic Church in Welling. They were also allowed to attend football matches at Charlton Athletic’s ground, The Valley. The camp only existed for less than a year, and POWs were repatriated during the spring of 1947.
Although Shrewsbury House was no longer needed by the ARP after the Second World War had ended, once the Cold War began it was decided that its location would be useful in a Civil Defence role, and a rectangular concrete blockhouse was built next to the existing building in 1954. It was called Woolwich Sub Control and reported to the main Woolwich Borough Control in New Eltham. It was re-designated as a Sector Station in 1965 and stood down in 1968 when the Civil Defence Corps was disbanded.
An 1934 aerial photograph of the top of Shooters Hill. The locations of Shrewsbury House, Eaglesfield Park, Lowood, and the Z Battery/POW camp are labelled. The photograph is orientated with the top approximately pointing north. © Historic England.
An contemporary aerial photograph of the top of Shooters Hill. The locations of Shrewsbury House, Eaglesfield Park, Lowood, and the Z Battery/POW camp are labelled. The photograph is orientated with the top approximately pointing westward. © Google Earth.
At the very end of his talk, Andy Brockman showed everyone a pair of very old and used Nairn boots that had been found in an obscure part of the loft space when the roof had been repaired some year ago.
Pages from a 1923 newspaper were found inside the boots, and he speculated that they were placed there by some of the builders when the current house had been constructed in 1923. This is in keeping with the ancient superstition that concealing a pair of old shoes in a building would ward off witches or evil spirits.
