VILLAGE HALL HISTORY 1939 to 1945

Click here for Village Hall History – 1945 to 1960

Houghton during the Second World War

A village wide black out was put in place straight away and within days, Houghton residents were once again opening their houses to welcome those displaced by war – in this case evacuees rather than refugees as in 1914. Initially there were 52 in total, of whom 18 were children.

Houghton was subject to two attacks during the war. The first occurred in 1940 when a plane dropped a number of incendiary bombs in W. G. Davis’ ‘Gravel Hole’ field down Stretton Lane – thereafter always known as “The Bomb”. Apart from making a large hole in the ground it caused no lasting damage.

On the night of Saturday, 15^th March 1941. Six high explosive bombs were dropped on the village proper. It seems unlikely that Houghton was deliberately targeted but the effects were nevertheless devastating. Two cottages on what is now the site of ‘the new rectory’ (16 Main Street), were completely demolished while a third building, Mrs Plummer’s store next to The Black Horse, was damaged and subsequently had to be pulled down. Other houses in the village had their windows blown out.

The morning after the raid