Stokenchurch Zeppelin raid

[gilbo139]

I’ve just been given a piece of metal , which I,m told is part of a bomb dropped from a Zeppelin on the night of 3/9/16. A very old piece of paper was with it and written on it is something like....

 

slice/piece of bomb dropped from Zeppelin on S?????? Farm Stokenchurch 3 Sept 1916

 

i,ve looked on google maps and can’t find a name of a farm that would fit in.

it looks like that night there were a number of raids from a dozen Zeppelins. 

Can anyone confirm the farms name for me ? 

Thanks Colin

[Moonraker]

I've glanced very quickly at this

 

list of Zeppelin raids

 

but can't see anything that suggests a link to Stokenchurch in Buckinghamshire, though St Albans, 20 miles away, is mentioned.

 

I do appreciate that there any raid may have been miles away and that a Zeppelin might just have happened to be overhead.

 

Have you checked contemporary  maps - farm names do change, especially with gentrification?

 

Old-maps

 

is one source.

 

Moonraker

[rolt968]

9 minutes ago, Moonraker said:

I've glanced very quickly at this

 

list of Zeppelin raids

 

but can't see anything that suggests a link to Stokenchurch in Buckinghamshire, though St Albans, 20 miles away, is mentioned.

 

I do appreciate that there any raid may have been miles away and that a Zeppelin might just have happened to be overhead.

 

Have you checked contemporary  maps - farm names do change, especially with gentrification?

 

Old-maps

 

is one source.

 

Moonraker

Or the old OS Maps at the National Library of Scotland:

https://maps.nls.uk/

RM

[gilbo139]

Thanks both......the only farm I can identify beginning with S is Studdridge farm which doesn’t seem to match up with the writing......I,m in the process of seeing if there’s any newspaper reports that may be on FMP .... Colin

[maxi]

At first, I thought it read as Sutton's, Seaton's or Southern Farm. 

Having looked up a few farms in the area, I found the following:

Greendale Farm

Berry Farm

Tower Farm

Dells Farm

Chequers Farm

Further, two roads one called Pigeon Farm Road and the other being Fowlers Farm Road are in Stokenchurch.

Not much help I know and with the M40 running next to the place, who knows what farm that road is cutting through?

[June Underwood]

I also thought it looked like Suttons Farm. Could the place name be Hornchurch rather than Stokenchurch.  RAF Hornchurch was formerly called Suttons Farm.

 

June

[maxi]

June, I think you could well be correct.

From Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Hornchurch

[gilbo139]

Brilliant........I thought the S from Sutton’s and the S from Sept were the same as the start of the place name.....hence I deducted it was Stokenchurch........I can now tell you the piece of bomb was passed to me by an old man whose Father had been a fitter in the RFC and the artifact had always been in the family......so June I think you must be spot on.......thanks all. Colin

[maxi]

Well done June. This Forum never ceases to amaze.

[Aspern]

I agree with June's decipering of the writing - but checking the records no bomb is recorded falling at Sutton's Farm during the raid of 2/3 September 1916/

 

Ian

www.IanCastleZeppelin.co.uk

[gilbo139]

Thanks Ian, I had looked through your records for that night,also the airman I believe the relic belonged to , according to service records , belonged to 36 squadron and it looks like it was 39 squadron at Sutton’s Farm ! ...Colin

[Aspern]

Yes, it was a Flight of 39 Squdaron at Sutton's Farm