Chosen site - Balham Tube Station

During the Second World War, Balham was one of many deep tube stations designated for use as a civilian air raid shelter. At 20:02 on 14 October 1940, a bomb fell on the road above the northern end of the platform tunnels, creating a large crater into which a bus then crashed. The northbound platform tunnel partially collapsed and was filled with earth and water from the fractured water mains and sewers above, which also flowed through the cross-passages into the southbound platform tunnel, with the flooding and debris reaching to within 100 yards of Clapham South. According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, sixty-six people in the station were killed although some sources report 64 shelterers and 4 railway staff were killed and more than seventy injured. The damage at track level closed the line to traffic between Tooting Bec and Clapham Common, but was quickly repaired, with the closed section and station being reopened on 12 January 1941. In October 2000 a memorial plaque commemorating this event was placed in the station's ticket hall.

 This is an image of the residents of Balham taking shelter in the tube station during the Blitz of WW1.










Another picture of Balham where the bomb hit, a bus driving down the road crashed into the whole where the bomb hit as well. Where the bomb hit underneath unfortunately is where the tube station tunnels is where all those people where taking shelter.

 This is a picture of what it looked like after the     bomb hit in the Balham tube station tunnels.










This is the tunnel today; unless seeing these pictures for yourself you cant image the devastation the bombings had on Balham and the residents living it in, more than 60 people died here and many more injured. If you look closely you can still see the same clock from the top picture taken after the bombings in the recent picture. I have seen this clock many times and started at it as well but I did not realise that it was the same clock from all those years ago that had survived the bombings of the Blitz of WW1