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The Most Blitzed Village in Preston District

The Most Blitzed Village in the Preston District

Becconsall - The Most Blitzed Village Preston


I recently visited the Old Church of All Saints in Becconsall, which is now in West Lancashire, but used to be in the Preston Rural District.  I had gone there to take some photographs to upload to the Historic England Missing Pieces Project on their website.  The building is listed on the National Heritage List for England (NHLE). 


The Old Church of All Saints in Becconsall, listed on the National Heritage List for England
The Old Church in Becconsall is listed on the National Heritage List for England

 

Whilst the church was on my list, the main reason for visiting the Old Church was to have a look at the gravestones. A trip like this would normally be to perhaps look at the graves of specific people with historical interest.  However, on this occasion, it was to examine the condition of the gravestones in the north west corner of the graveyard and explore their history.  


Bomb damage to a number of the gravestones at the church
Bomb damage to a number of the gravestones at the church


Bomb damage to a number of the gravestones at the church
Bomb damage to a number of the gravestones at the church


Whilst researching a handful of World War II bombings that happened in the Preston area of which, to my knowledge, there are only three, one of them led me to Becconsall.  There were several images on the Preston Digital Archive showing bomb damage to a number of the gravestones at the church.  The first photograph on the Preston Digital Archive that caught my attention shows Bomb Damage at Becconsall on 15th April 1941.  It is courtesy and copyright of The Lancashire Evening Post.  There are a selection of them, which I have linked to below, and included in this post.


Bomb damage to a number of the gravestones at the church. The first photograph on the Preston Digital Archive
Bomb damage to gravestones at the church - Preston Digital Archive 




Headstones badly damaged by shrapnel from one of several bombs
Headstones badly damaged by shrapnel from one of several bombs


On further investigation, I discovered that a number of the headstones, towards the front of the old Becconsall Church, were badly damaged by shrapnel from one of several bombs dumped by the a German war plane on its return from a bombing raid on Liverpool before it was shot down.


Headstones badly damaged by shrapnel from one of several bombs
Headstones badly damaged by shrapnel from one of several bombs



The following information comes from a Hesketh and Becconsall Village History website, that has sadly since disappeared.  However, I was able to find the page in the Internet Archive.  The link is below.

HESKETH BANK CLAIM (quoted from the 'Post') Recalling past history, a Hesketh Bank Air Raid Warden claims his village as the most blitzed village in Preston district and probably the whole of Lancashire. We certainly remember those nights in 1941. Fourteen (some say fifteen!) bombs dropped on the Brow and around, damaging Mr McFord's farm buildings, and making nice little holes all over the place but injuring no one. Then three weeks afterwards four more dropped near the old church, killing, alas! some cattle and damaging the old church and several gravestones, but again injuring no one. It is worth while recalling the bomb splinter which tore through the door of Mr Stephen Wareing's house, passed through a wooden partition and a budgie cage, finishing up in the mantelpiece, again harming nobody, not even the little bird. But all this and other episodes we must leave to the future Hesketh-with- Becconsall historian. 


https://web.archive.org/web/20080123102149/http://www.heskethbank.com/history.html


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On leaving the church and heading back to Hesketh Bank, I walked over an old PDWB inspection cover.  This was placed by the Preston and District Water Board, a predecessor of the North West Water Authority, which was formed by the amalgamation of eighteen local water boards.


A PDWB inspection cover that was placed by the Preston and District Water Board
PDWB inspection cover placed by the Preston and District Water Board


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Further reading and sources of information


When WWII crashed into rural Lancashire
Local historian Geoff Wright concludes his fascinating look back at WWII bombing of Southport - Southport Visiter 21st July 2016

https://www.pressreader.com/uk/southport-visiter/20160721/282626032034468

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U3A’s Local History Group Brings War back to Hesketh Bank
Becconsall U3A May 21st 2016

https://becconsallu3a.org/archive/u3as-local-history-group-brings-war-back-to-hesketh-ban/

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Bomb Damage at Becconsall near Preston, April 15, 1941.
Images courtesy and copyright of The Lancashire Evening Post via Preston Digital Archive

https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=22711538%40N07&view_all=1&text=Becconsall

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Hesketh-With-Becconsall Church
Damage to grave stone caused by shrapnel from a bomb during World War II
Lancashire County Council Red Rose Collections

https://redrosecollections.lancashire.gov.uk/view-item?i=268968

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The Old Church of All Saints in Becconsall as listed on the National Heritage List for England. 
Historic England.

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1361852 



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Location: 92 Becconsall Ln, Hesketh Bank, Preston PR4 6RR, UK

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