Location:
Outside Marks and Spencer Plc
122 Lewisham High St
Lewisham SE13 6JG
UKNIWM Ref: 39113
OS Map Ref: TQ 783 757
Map: Memorials of Lewisham Map
Type: Plaque 1: Bronze plaque set into pavement, Lewisham Market entrance to Marks and Spencer.
Plaque 2: Aluminum maroon and white circular plaque on wall of M&S
Inscription:
Plaque 1://This plaque commemorates
the fifty-one people
killed by a VI flying bomb
which landed on the
Market Place in
Lewisham High Street
on the 28th July 1944.
Installed by the generous
support of
Marks and Spencer.//
Plaque 2:
In Memory of the
51 people who died
and the many injured
as a result of the V1 rocket that landed here
28 July 1944
Supported by M&S
Wars Commemorated: Second World War
Ceremonies:
Originally a plaque [Plaque 1] remembering the wartime tragedy, which resulted in 51 local residents losing their lives and over 200 seriously injured, was set in the pavement outside Marks & Spencer in Lewisham High Street. Sadly over the years with people walking over it the wording has faded and, following requests from local residents, a new one [Plaque 2] was erected on the wall outside the store. The original remains in the floor but the words now are hard to read. This plaque was unveiled during a ceremony held on 28 July 2011, by Heidi Alexander, MP for Lewisham East and Councillor Alan Smith, Deputy Mayor of Lewisham. Lewisham
Council and the Marks & Spencer store in Lewisham High Street jointly funded the new memorial.
Publications: Flying Bombs Over England, H.E. Bates, ISBN: 1-872337-04-X / 9781872337043 (UK edition), Froglets Publications Ltd, 1994
Blake, Lewis; Red Alert The Story of South East London At War, 1939 – 1945. Published by the Author, 1992 pp159-160
Blake, Lewis; Bolts from the Blue, S.E. London and Kent Under V” Rocket Attack, Published by the Author, 1990
Names: Click here for details of the incident and a list of those who died
Do you have more information on the people named on this memorial or the memorial? If so click here to contribute information.
by Local History and Archives Centre, Lewisham and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence