Shops were on fire and gas pipes had exploded in the road after bombs landed in on The Moor - memories of the Sheffield Blitz 80 years ago

“I remember looking up and seeing the red reflection of the burning city in the sky and the sound of exploding bombs.” Some of the vivid memories which have lasted a lifetime for an eight-year-old boy who lived through the Sheffield Blitz.
Burtons on The Moor after the BlitzBurtons on The Moor after the Blitz
Burtons on The Moor after the Blitz

Michael Dalton was living at Gleadless on the outskirts of Sheffield with his sister, mother, aunt and father who was not fit to be called

up for active service. The family were from Derbyshire but moved to Gleadless to keep everyone together.

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He said: “When the air raid warning sirens sounded we had to go down the garden and sleep in the shelter which was cold and damp. Dad made a hand pump and we took it in turns to pump out the water.

Atkinsons (left) after the blitz. The shot is taken looking up The Moor towards the Town Hall.Atkinsons (left) after the blitz. The shot is taken looking up The Moor towards the Town Hall.
Atkinsons (left) after the blitz. The shot is taken looking up The Moor towards the Town Hall.

"I remember looking up and seeing the red reflection of the burning city in the sky and the sound of exploding bombs.”

Although this was a frightening time Michael explained how he saw the events: "We had a searchlight in the field at the bottom of our garden. This was all very spectacular for an eight-year-old to see.

"On the worst night of the Blitz we couldn’t get in the shelter because it was flooded and walking back to the house I remember how beautiful everything looked. It was as light as day due to the thousands of flares in the sky even though it was in the middle of the night.

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"The next few days we saw a number of German planes on trailers being towed through Sheffield. We collected shrapnel even though we were told not to.”

In the days after the Blitz, the scale of the reconstruction operation gradually began to unfold. Here is The Moor under a sprinkling of snow.In the days after the Blitz, the scale of the reconstruction operation gradually began to unfold. Here is The Moor under a sprinkling of snow.
In the days after the Blitz, the scale of the reconstruction operation gradually began to unfold. Here is The Moor under a sprinkling of snow.

Michael says he saw houses on the Arbourthorne estate with white patches on the roof where incendiary bombs had burned.

“I remember going up The Moor in the city centre and seeing C&A store completely blazing and holes in the centre of the road with flames from the gas mains shooting up.

"We went to St Theresa’s school on Prince of Wales Road there were three bomb craters down the tram lines which ran down the centre of the road.”

The family then decided city life was too dangerous so walked from Gleadless back to their home village at Hathersage.

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