Marjory moved to Bristol in 1937. She and her family lived close to Underfall Yard during World War II and witnessed the impact of the Bristol Blitz on the boatyard and the surrounding area.
In these recordings, Marjory describes her personal experience of the Blitz, including an air raid shelter at the yard and the destruction of Underfall Cottage. Content warning: These recordings contain descriptions of military violence and fire damage.
The Air Raid – Marjory recalls the first air raid that she witnessed.
The Shelter – Marjory describes Underfall Yard during the Bristol Blitz
Bristol was a target for the German Luftwaffe between 1940 and 1944, due to the importance of its harbour and industries to the war effort. The casualties were devastating, with 1,299 people killed and over a thousand people injured. Large sections of the city centre were destroyed or damaged by incendiary bombs.
If the locks or sluices had been bombed, the Floating Harbour was at risk of being completely drained or flooding the city. This lead to precautionary changes to the harbour around the start of World War II. For example, the lock at Bathurst Basin, connecting the harbour to the New Cut, was blocked off and eventually shut for good in 1952.
Although Underfall Yard survived the Blitz, the areas immediately surrounding it were severely damaged, as Marjory illustrates in her story. In addition, if you walk past the yard’s Pump House (now the Visitor Centre and Cafe), you will notice small notches in the brickwork of its walls on the slipway side. It is believed that these marks came from gunfire by enemy planes.
This interview was recorded in 2015 as part of the Oral History Project, coordinated by Underfall Yard Trust. Our thanks to Marjory, as well as the volunteers who supported the project and “Voices of the Yard”.
Read more about Underfall Yard’s Recovery and Reinstatement Project…
Transcript – The Air Raid
The very first air raid in Bristol, I’d been out to um Canford with a friend to put flowers on her mother’s grave. I said good night to her. She lived in Winford Place up in Clifton and I stood at the top of Chapel Hill and I thought isn’t that pretty? And there was this circle of lights coming down very gently. ‘Course, they were lights from aeroplanes. Lighting up the area to see where to drop their incendiaries and their bombs. And I didn’t realise what they were you see? And next thing I hear is [hissing sound] swooshing of the incendiaries coming down. I run like hell down Hope Chapel Hill, through into Dowry Square past the roads of Denmark, and you know there’s a fuel house just past the roads of Denmark? And one of them had the front door open and I dashed in and I – there was an old girl, one each side of the fireplace with a glass of stout in their hand. And I said do you mind if I sit here a minute, I’m frightened because the guns were now going off. And they said, they weren’t a bit perturbed. They said alright, sit there. They weren’t a bit worried.
Transcript – The Air Raid Shelter
MARJORY:And off course during the war they had an air raid shelter in the Underfall Yard and we used to use it sometimes. We were in there one night and the tide came in and rushed straight through the air raid shelter. Well we pulled our feet up and we had to yell come and help us come and help us because the tide was coming in. And a man with high boots, you know, waders, he carried us out one by one.
INTERVIEWER: Was it in the middle of an air raid?!
M: Yes, yes
I: Were you not frightened?!
M: Not half! Yes, yes
I: Were you more frightened of the water coming in than of the air raid?
M: Yes, more of the water. It came in with such a big rush, you know? It wasn’t a trickle of water.
I: Was that to do with the water because of the tide or of the bomb displacing?
M: Of the tide, yes.
I: And what sort of size was the air raid shelter? How many of you were in it?
M: Oh it was quite long. It was about as long as this room so it was quite long
I: So that’s about 20 ft?
M: Yes, yes
I: What was it like inside?
M: Oh very bare. It just had a wall inside. You could have lain on top of the wall and some of the youngsters did lay on top of the wall. And of course when the water came in we were sitting on the seat and we got up on the seat and sat on the wall so that you know we were out of the way of the water.
I: Oh goodness me. Do you remember where the shelter was?
M: Yes. You know where the double gates are on Cumberland Road? It was just down below that. You know where the car park is? It was just below the car park. It was over to the right of the car park. It was quite near. There was a cottage there called the Underfall Cottage and that went up in flames with (?) dropped on the cottage. And my aunt and her children lived in there and they had to move in with us in here. During the war. And the timber yards all went up, you know next to the Yard. Um. (?) I think it was. I always get mixed up. I think May and (?) were down the road where the(?) is, you know where the flats are? That was all timber yards. It was either (?) or May and (?) was the timber yards up there. God what a sight that was. All in flames. And it was heart breaking for my aunt and her family to see their house burning. And my cousin she was getting married and she had all her bottom drawer stuff in there. And they dashed in and they were throwing it out of the window onto the pavement you know, to try and save as much as she could.
I: Oh dear
M: Oh gosh. Yes the Underfall Yard was close to danger but that didn’t go up in flames.