Map showing bomb damage around Gwendwr Gardens during WWII

 Note: The damage corresponds to the area of the dog park and play area, and of new housing on Trevalion Rd. The houses on the Talgarth Rd were removed for road widening. There was widespread damage in the West Kensington area on the night of 20 February 1944

About: The attack on London between 1939 and 1945 is one of the most significant events in the city's modern history, the impact of which can still be seen in its urban and social landscapes. As a key record of the attack, the London County Council Bomb Damage Maps represent destruction on a huge scale, recording buildings and streets reduced to smoke and rubble.

The full set of maps is made up of 110 hand-coloured 1:2500 Ordnance Survey base sheets originally published in 1916 but updated by the LCC to 1940. Because they use the 1916 map, they give us a glimpse of a 'lost London', before post-war redevelopment schemes began to shape the modern city.

The colouring applied to the maps records a scale of damage to London's built environment during the war - the most detailed and complete survey of destruction caused by the aerial bombardment. The original maps are at the London Metropolitan Archives.