Cambridge at War: A New Permanent Display Exploring the Second World War
Written by Beau Brannick, Collections Officer
As a social history museum, the Museum of Cambridge holds a large collection of objects relating to the Second World War. The collection ranges from gas masks and ration booklets to activity books bursting with ideas to keep the family occupied during a blackout. Normally kept in the store, safely tucked away in boxes and acid-free tissue, we have created a permanent display in the Museum which looks at what it was like during the Second World War in Cambridge, specifically those left behind.
One part of the display explores bombing and blackouts, and what the people of Cambridge did to help out. Blackouts were a defence measure that was put in place on 1 September 1939, just two days before the war was declared. The measures were put in place to help protect against German bombers, as the Air Ministry forecasted that Britain would be in danger of wide-scale bombing at night.
Bombings in Cambridge caused devastating damage and loss, with the first air attack happening on a narrow road in the heart of the parish of St Matthews. Vicarage Terrace, 9 months after the start of war, was the site of the most serious civilian loss of life in the UK at that point in the war of June 1940.
Thought to have been targeting aerodromes in East Anglia, two high explosive bombs were dropped, destroying houses 1 – 6 on the road, and badly damaging 7 – 10. Nine lives were lost, and ten badly injured, with only the Unwin family at number 7 surviving as they sheltered under the stairs, protecting them from the falling roof.
Another bombing attack on Cambridge was on Mill Road bridge on the 30th of January 1941, when a German bomber came into Cambridge at a low level from Ely. The bomb burst in the Corporation store yard and hit several houses on Mill Road, leaving ten injured and two dead. On display in the Museum is a bomb fragment which was found in the garden of 167 Gwydir Street.
Gwydir Street is just a road away from Mill Road. Shrapnel, which are small pieces of metal from the bomb that come off during an explosion, is usually the culprit that kills or injures people during a bombing. Shrapnel can travel up to 3,000 feet per second, in all directions from the explosion.
It is remarkable that this fragment survived the war, as it would be quite challenging to identify what you are looking at if you found it on the street or in your backyard. Moreover, for many, thinking about keeping this piece of metal would perhaps not be the first thought that comes to mind if they picked it up. Whilst the bombing on places like Vicarage Terrace and Mill Road bridge will not be forgotten, this small bomb fragment allows the Museum of Cambridge to tell the story of wartime in Cambridge visually.
Come and visit the Museum of Cambridge, open every day except Tuesday, 10 am – 5 pm, Sundays 11 am – 4 pm. Find out more on our website at www.museumofcambridge.org.uk