GREAT DAMAGE DONE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 92, 19 April 1941, Page 10

GREAT DAMAGE DONE

TOLL OF BIG RAID

HISTORIC BUILDINGS

LONDON, April 18.

Among the London buildings damaged in recent enemy air raids are St. Paul's Cathedral, the City Temple (the well-known Congregational Church), Chelsea Old Church, Chel* sea Royal Hospital (the historic home of the Chelsea Pensioners), Guy's Hospital, Christie's auction room, and Self ridge's store.

St. Paul's, which was bombed in a previous raid, when the high altar was damaged, received a direct hit on the north transept Tons of masonry were

blown out of the floor beneath, many statues were mutilated, and nearly every window, some dating back to Sir Christopher Wren's time, were shattered. The walls of the north transept are pitted with deep holes and a gallery around the transept is broken. The damage was increased by the blast of a second bomb which fell in a neighbouring street. The Great Dome, the Whispering Gallery, and Nelson's Tomb are, however, untouched. The cathedral'is temporarily closed, but it is hoped to continue ordinary services in the crypt.

An observer noted among the debris the marble slab with the famous inscription which is Wren's memorial, "If you seek* a monument, look around you." The bombed and desecrated cathedral is now a fitting monument to Nazidom.

Only the walls are left of the City Temple, which has been ravaged by fire. , Five fire-watchers in Chelsea Old Church were killed when a bomb struck the building. The church dates back to the 14th century, and contains the tomb of Sir Thomas More, the author of "Utopia." It is now a mass of ruins.

The infirmary of the Royal Chelsea Hospital was bombed and severely damaged. The oldest inhabitant, a man named Rattray, aged 101, was killed. Seven other pensioners, besides four women nurses and one male nurse, were killed.

A three-storey wirig of Guy's Hospital containing the courtroom which dates back to 1759 was burnt out.