THE DESTRUCTION OF STOWMARKET CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH 1941
Researched and written by Steve Williams

It was a dull drizzly day with low cloud, just before midday on  Friday 31 January 1941. A lone German, twin-engined, medium range bomber (opinions are split as to whether it was a Dornier Do 17 or a Junkers 88) flew in low under the cloud from the Combs Ford end of town firing its guns as it passed over parts of Lime Tree Place, Ipswich Street etc. It then swept round over part of Regent Street and curved up toward Cherry Tree Road and the Cemetery before heading back to the town. Again it strafed buildings as it passed  along Bury Street and the Market Place,  making people duck for cover. A few people remember seeing the bomb doors open and a stick of five or six bombs tumble out and fall in a synchronous arc. At least three bombs landed within the reasonably stout walls of the Congregational Chapel, one landed in a garden directly behind the old London Meat Company building and one fell at the back of a house in Kensington Road just as a lady (Mrs. Farrow) had entered her front door from seeing her son off at Stowmarket Station after being home on leave from the Royal Air Force. Mrs. Farrow’s unfortunate arrival home at the wrong time was the only fatality. Many people have said that if the bomber had been a few feet higher or a bit further north it could have devastated the entire main street with many more deaths and injuries. Speculation about what the target was abounded. Many thought that it was aiming at the telephone exchange in Kensington Road, just yards from where the last bomb landed. Others  thought that the church was the target because it was believed the Germans knew that soldiers were often billeted in the old Gothic-style churches. Intelligence that was not far out, as the Berkshire Regiment that was encamped in the town did use some of the church rooms for leisure and recreational activities such as billiards and darts etc. but fortunately nobody was in the building at that time. There was also some concern for Gertie and Arthur Grimwood, who were the caretakers and Miss Pegg, the organist who would normally be in the church at some time during the day, but luckily not at that moment.
Directly after the bombing a Union Jack was placed on the site with the message ‘Bombed but not Beaten’ this was later replaced by a large wooden cross which stayed in position long after re-building work began. Church services were subsequently held for a short while in the Corn Exchange and then in the Regal Cinema until the new church was completed in 1956. Many wooden items such as fruit bowls, candlesticks, breadboards and stools were made from the chestnut tree that had stood in the forecourt of the church and are still in existence bearing a small brass plaque stating ‘Timber from chestnut tree. Stow^mkt Cong^l Church. bombed Jan. 31 1941’.
I have collected and collated the details of events from forty-three people who contacted me regarding that day and will be getting the completed project published in the not too distant future.

As a result of his research Steve Williams has now published a book on this subject for full details click here

I  know Steve would be glad to hear from anyone with information or memories of the event. To email him Click Here 

STOWMARKET HISTORY AND HERITAGE
2007
email neil@stowman.plus.com