Lampmead and Lenham Roads are quiet residential streets coming off Lee High Road, they are mainly Victorian terraces. There are also several infill homes built by the London Borough of Lewisham,or its forerunner. There is a story behind their presence in the early 21st century streetscape – they are the indirect result of a V-1 rocket attacks which hit the junction of Lampmead and Lenham Roads on just before 5 am on the morning of 22 June 1944.
Running Past has covered several of the almost two hundred V-1 and V-2 rocket attacks on Lewisham, including the ones on Lewisham High Street, Lewisham Hill and Hither Green’s Fernbrook Road. They are important to remember both in terms of the death and injuries caused to ordinary Londoners whose stories often get forgotten, but also in terms of their impact on the urban landscape – both in the short-term and longer term.
Six died as a result of the attack on Lenham and Lampmead Roads and no doubt many more were injured. Those who lost their lives were James Joseph Carroll (20) and Patrick Leonard (26) who died at 34 Lenham Road; Hugh William George Harvey (59) who died at 6 Lampmead, Joseph Daniel Barry (55) died next door at number 8, his neighbour Alfred William Roedear (64) died at no 10 – his wife Annie appears to have survived, and Flora Borthwick (37) perished at 12 Lampmead.
What is perhaps surprising is that of those who died only one, Hugh Harvey, who was a groundsman and coach at the outbreak of the war living at 6 Lampmead Road, had lived there when the war broke out (1). It is worth remembering that the private rented sector was still dominant at that time – accounting for almost 60% of homes – security of tenure, while perhaps slightly greater than it is now, was still limited. In Lewisham these landlords included some of the bigger builders in the area – WJ Scudamore and James Watt.
During World War 1 there had been profiteering by some residential landlords which had led to rent strikes and unrest which threatened to undermine the war effort. These had been repeated in the East End of London in 1938 and 1939. In this context, full rent control was introduced early in World War 2. However, this seems not to have led to a stable community in this part of Lee – similar issues were found with the Lewisham Hill V-1.
The V-1 would have exploded on impact and a blast wave rippled out from the impact point, effectively creating a vacuum in the centre – the combined impact was to both push and pull buildings leading to large numbers of collapses. The impact was often spread over quite a wide area with total destruction in the centre with much less damage on the outside. The map below produced by the London County Council during the war (2) shows this well – the darker the hand-colouring, the greater the damage.

Key: black=total destruction, purple=damaged beyond repair, dark red=seriously damaged (doubt if repairable), light red=seriously damaged (repairable at cost), orange=general blast damage (non-structural), yellow=blast damage (minor)
By the time the Ordnance Survey cartographers surveyed the area in 1949 (see below & note 3), the debris had been cleared and the site filled with 14 prefabs – a small part of attempting to deal with post-war housing needs.
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We live in one of the houses that was badly damaged and was rebuilt in the Victorian style in 1948/9. The cellar is still Victorian. You can see the difference in the rebuilt houses and the originals if you look at the windows and the brick work around the windows.
That’s really interesting! It seemed to happen a fair bit – there are several houses in the area from the LCC Bomb Damage maps that are shown as uneconomic to repair but survived. About 15 years ago we nearly moved to Sydenham, one of the houses we looked at was rebuilt so from the outside you have to look very hard indeed to see the differences. Inside was very different – the then owners had decided to rebuild it 50s style – there were loads of period features from that era!
I was wondering whether you carry out guided walks of the area? I know a few people who would be interested . Best wishes Colin
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Hi Colin
I did a few in 2018 – for QWAG, the Blackheath Society and the Hither Green Festival. I expect that I’ll re-run the HG Festival one sometime during May and I have offered to do a walk(s) as part of the Manor House Gardens Festival this year – a loop around the edge park. I’ve agreed to do that walk with the Lee Manor Society too, while we haven’t fixed the date yet, I expect it will be one June evening when nights are long. I am also doing a talk on Old Road for the LMS AGM in September.
Thanks for asking – will try and remember to let you know via Twitter when things are firmed up.
Paul
That would be great. I have been doing history walks with City Lit and thoroughly enjoyed them. It would be good to see something closer to home and as I say a few of our friends would be interested.
I think walks are the best way to ‘see’ local history particularly when looking at how the urban landscape has evolved.
Hi
My family lived in Lampmead Road at 29 one of the Victorian houses (built 1885) coloured light red in the map from the mid 1950s to 2012. It was badly damaged by having the front and roof completely blown out leaving the rear of the house structurally defective. I believe it was repaired in September 1946. My Mother’s family lived in Lee from around 1900 (Brightfield Road) and my Father’s from circa 1914. They never mentioned the fact that it was a V1, I thought it was a number of HE bombs that fell in 1940/1, strange.
John
Hi John
That’s really interesting! I don’t think that it was a HE bomb there, there is nothing on the Bomb Site map which shows anything during the Blitz (although there could have been damage in 1943). It could have been different on Lenham Road, where things were a lot more confused by multiple bombings.
Paul
http://bombsight.org/#16/51.4577439974/0.00635686514704
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Hi! I’m researching family history. It is thought that my Great Grandfather lived at 7 Lenham. I’m currently planning a trip to London (I’m from the states). How do I know if that property is a rebuild or original Victorian? Thank you, I found the article very interesting.
7 Lenham Road is still there, the numbering starts at the Lee High Road end. You can see it on StreetView. It’s towards the back of double photograph too. The damage shown on the map is not just from the V-1, the damage to your great grandfather’s house may well have been from the Blitz (the aircraft attacks) rather than the V-1. When did he live there? Thanks for your kind words by the way.
I live at 11 Lenham Road which was rebuilt after the war in the style of the Victorian original house. So was my next door neighbour’s house at number 13. Number 9 was partially damaged by the V-1 bomb but was repaired. As far as I can make out number 7 is intact and original.
When our house was rebuilt they didn’t get some features right. In particular the windows and brick work above the windows don’t match. Otherwise, it could easily be mistaken for the original Victorian house.
Thanks for posting that Colin
I lived at 28 lenham with my mum dad and sisters ,they were built 1966 ,we lived there until 2009 when my mum passed , i live canterbury now.regards Terry
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