Published: Thursday, 21st March 2019
A rare chance to see both the Norwich and King’s Lynn bomb maps on display.
Discover the threat to Norfolk during the Second World War. Part of the Norfolk Record Office ‘Bombing and Blackout’ events, hosted in the Stone Hall at King’s Lynn Town Hall on Wednesday 3 April from 6:30pm.
Following a short introduction from the Borough Archivist about the bomb maps, you can see the real things.
In September 1940 the Government wanted to collate information relating to bomb damage sustained during raids. This 'Bomb Census' originally only covered the major cities of London, Birmingham and Liverpool but by 1941 it was required across the whole of the UK.
The King's Lynn bomb map shows that the town was not heavily bombed. It does however show the locations and impact of the bombs that did hit the town.
Trainee archivist Luke Shackell explains: "We are delighted to get the map out and talk people through the key points, the history surrounding it and its links to other records held by the National Archives. It really is quite fascinating. The map's size is nearly 2ms by 3ms.
“The bomb map was catalogued by the Borough Archives in 2017 where researchers have been able to access it. When it last went on display in 2018, during the 1940’s Lynn event, hundreds of people were very interested to see it.”
Also find out about air raid shelters in King’s Lynn. New research will be on display showing plans of the air raid shelters built in King’s Lynn, their exact design and the list of locations where they were intending to build more.
This is a free event to find out more about the history of the town, focusing on the Second World War. Pre-booking is not required.