Podcast: Petworth Boys School Bombing

Petworth Cemetary or the clumbing remains of it.

Jimmy Hastel and Richard Vobes, the Bald Explorer, are off to Petworth to explore the history aspects of this wonder old market town for an exciting video that will be coming soon to these pages.

In this podcast, Richard and Jimmy are having a look round a graveyard. Why, you might well ask? It is actually a sad story. During the second World War a lone German bomber had crossed the channel and was trying to either ditch its load or aim to damage the beautiful Georgian property, Petworth House. Well, it missed, and one of the bombs apparently hit a tree and was deflected to a near by boys school. The result was dreadful.

The mass gave of the victims from the Petworth School Bombing.

It was the 29th September 1942 when the Petworth Boys School was totally destroyed and 28 children were killed along with the head master, Charles Stevenson and assistant teacher Charlotte Marshall. Many were badly injured.

The mass grave is a poignant sight with his stone memorial at one end dedicated to the lost souls of the school children and teachers. Shamefully, the rest of the cemetery has been mostly abandoned with no one willing to claim ownership and therefore responsibility for looking after it all.

Newspaper cutting from 3rd October 1942 - with kind permission from http://www.gravelroots.net

Jimmy and I ventured in to find the graves and the crumbling chapel hidden within. Have a listen to our adventure.
You can check out the fabulous website that has more information at Gravelroots.

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