Footsteps of WWII · Britain
St Paul's Cathedral and the Blitz, London
Memorial · Sep 1940 – Apr 1941
The story
St Paul's became the symbol of London's survival in the Blitz. On 12 September 1940 a delayed-action bomb buried itself near the cathedral; a Royal Engineers team under Temporary Lieutenant Robert Davies dug it out and removed it, and Davies and Sapper George Wylie received the George Cross. A bomb destroyed the high altar on 10 October 1940, and another holed the north transept on 17 April 1941. On the night of 29 December 1940, the 'Second Great Fire of London', Churchill reportedly ordered that the cathedral be saved, and Herbert Mason's photograph of the dome rising through the smoke became one of the war's best-known images.
What to look for
Behind the high altar is the American Memorial Chapel, dedicated in 1958, with a Roll of Honour of over 28,000 Americans who died while based in or travelling to Britain. From the Stone Gallery you see the City rebuilt where the bombed streets stood.
Plan your visit
Sightseeing Monday–Saturday, usually 08:30–16:30 (last entry 16:00). Adult about £27, booking online advised. Services are free. Times change for services and events; check the calendar before you go.
Things change, so check opening times before you travel.
Nearby sites
- Imperial War Museum London · 2 km
- Churchill War Rooms, London · 2 km
- Bentley Priory Museum, Stanmore · 21 km
- Biggin Hill Memorial Museum · 22 km
- Battle of Britain Bunker, Uxbridge · 26 km
- IWM Duxford · 66 km
All 160 sites in Footsteps of WWII →
Footsteps of WWII: Europe 1939–1945
A free field guide for your phone: the route, the maps and the stories built in, even with no signal. The whole Second World War in Europe, from the first shots at Westerplatte on 1 September 1939 to the German surrender in May 1945: Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, Normandy, Arnhem, Bastogne, Stalingrad, Berlin and the camps, in 15 areas from Britain to Russia.
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