Start discovering London’s wartime past today on our website ( and our mobile app which is coming very soon). The Bomb Sight project is mapping the London WW2 bomb census between 7/10/1940 and 06/06/1941. Previously available only by viewing in the Reading Room at The National Archives, Bomb Sight is making the maps available to citizen researchers, academics and students wanting to explore where the bombs fell and to discover memories and photographs from the period.
We have combined the location of each of the falling bombs over an 8 month period of the London Blitz together with geo-located photographs from the Imperial War Museum and Geo-located Memories from the BBC WW2 People’s war archive. Clustering together lots of different data using the power of geography. In time the data will be made available under a creative commons licence and has the potential to be used in lots of different types of teaching and learning activities.
Please note that the website has been built to be compatible with the latest browser software – so if you access it with old versions of Internet Explorer (IE 7 for example) we suggesting upgrading your browser software.
Mapping the Blitz Bomb Census: Bomb Sight 
Hurray! Great work.
Will you be adding more data? This is my “local” bomb but there’s plenty of physical evidence of more local bomb damage not shown here. http://bombsight.org/bombs/29651/
Thanks so much for your interest in the project. The process of gathering the data into a usable format is very labour intensive. In fact we would like to develop a crowd sourcing element so that students and citizen researcher like yourself could participate in the process.
This looks like an amazing project (how come I don’t work on interesting things like this?)
Clicking through for more info on bombs implies that you intend to add photos etc. (indeed, some bombs may already have some, I have only tried one or two). My grandparents and mum were bombed out during the blitz and I know my mum still has the photos my grandpa took of the damage; would scans of these be of interest?
That would be interesting- particularly if you can locate where they were. We would like to find further funding and add a crowd sourcing component to the interface.
I know exactly the location and it would appear only one bomb fell there. I’ll ask my mum to look out the photos. Is there an email address they can be sent to? I looked at the main site but failed to see one.
I’m unable to get the website to load, is it just busy after the press coverage?
Hi Dee,
Yes we have been a little overwhelmed with the scale of public interest and media attention. Please be patient and try again later – we are doing our best to try and sort it out.
Kate and the team
I can see myself spending a lot a time on this site, can you tell me if there any plans for the future to extend it the other cities
Thanks so much for your interest in the project . We would like to expand to other cities if we can find funding as the process of gathering the data into a usable format is very labour intensive. In fact we would like to develop a crowd sourcing element so that students and citizen researcher like yourself could participate in the process.
Is the page down ? All,I get is code 404 page not found
Please see updated blog posts
Getting a 404 not found error 😦
Please see updated blog posts
Are these locations of where bombs actually went off, or does it include the locations
of many of the bombs which failed to detonate ? Many of which are listed elsewhere.
The original bomb census map does not differentiate if they were exploded or unexploded so they demarcate the locations where the bomb fell.
Site doesn’t work – jus says can’t find it?!!
Please see updated blog posts
I can confirm that a parachute mine destroyed St Pauls Chruch, Raleigh Road/Stanmore Gardens, Richmond on 1st October 1940
I realise that this is a few days before your census started but familys – including myself – were in the shelters across the road and the blast/fire entered those shelters – by luck the blast/fire exited by a vent and we survived. There was considerable damaged. I can still feel th blast hitting me and have a friend who remembers the fire ball.
My uncle was in an Anderson shelter in our garden – 3 doors away from the church
Thank you so much for this memory. If we manage to find more finding I would like to add the facility where you would be able to upload your memories directly as they add so much more understanding to the map.
I can’t access the site. All I get is a 404 error….Where can I find the Android app ?
Please see blog post on server issues. The scale of media interest is too much for our server – it has all be a unexpected. The app is not yet available. It will be coming soon.
Tried several times to access this site and keep getting error `not available.` I`m running Windows 8 IE10
Please see blog post on server issues. The scale of media interest is too much for our server – it has all be a unexpected. The app is not yet available. It will be coming soon.
Well done – a really useful resource!
I have a wartime bomb map of the Exeter Blitz in 1942, and would be willing to help in a similar project.
Excellent concept! Unfortunately can’t access at the moment due to weight of traffic but will definitely be coming back later.
I know that such information exists about Ipswich (maps and photos) and would love to help – No idea where to start however. Please keep me posted if you need help.
Thanks so much for your interest in the project . We would like to expand to other cities if we can find funding as the process of gathering the data into a usable format is very labour intensive. In fact we would like to develop a crowd sourcing element so that students and citizen researcher like yourself could participate in the process.
Just searched for my area in Carshalton, Surrey but the bomb markers are labelled as “Roundshaw” which is in Wallington – over two miles away.
Many Thanks for your comment. The geocoding of the bombs comes form Open Street Map. So if you spot any errors, please go the the Open Street Map Project http://www.openstreetmap.org/ and make any updates.
Hull was the second most bombed city in the country.
Hull was an integral dock hence the German’s determination to destroy it.
My uncle Alec was a Humber Pilot and he helped food boats avoid subs.
My Nana’s street was bombed, luckily she had been evacuated to Barton-on-Humber for safety, along with my great, great Aunt.
I really wish someone would do this sort of thing for Hull.
Thanks for your interest in the project. We would be interested in expanding the project to the other British and European cities (eg Koln, Dresden) that were bombed but will need more funding, so we are on the lookout. Watch this space. We have started this project in London because of the sheer volume of data.
This is a remarkable peace of historical research. Congratulation to all that was involved in its conception, and that you were able to acquire funding. We have been trying to get funding for the work we have been involved in at Convoyweb but so far without luck. I look forward to its development.
Thanks for your positive comment – the team have worked very hard and have been a little overwhelmed and excited by the scale of interest in the project.
Are you planning on locating bomb-sites through the UK at all?
Thanks for your interest in the project. We would be interested in expanding the project to the other British and European cities (eg Koln, Dresden) that were bombed but will need more funding, so we are on the lookout. Watch this space. We have started this project in London because of the sheer volume of data.
Reminds me of being in London during the beginning of the Blitz. I returned only to be ‘bombed’ by V1s and V2s. Then off to the country again, Ipswich. But the Germans followed me there with V1s launched from Heinkels! Do you intend to branch out to cover V1s and V2s dropped on London? A great job and a lot of work! Thank you for the memories.
Thanks for your positive comment – the team have worked very hard and have been a little overwhelmed and excited by the scale of interest in the project.
I think you may find this interesting and eerie. It is about the bomb in Friern Road SE22. I was not born then but my parents house was 125 Friern Road. My eldest brother was a baby then and according to one of my aunt’s my mother would never go to a bomb shelter but just hide under a table with my brother. That is except one night when she insisted to my aunt that they go to a shelter as she felt uneasy on that occasion. They went to a shelter and that bomb came down and I believe it was directly opposite the house. I believe my aunt also said that an ARP got killed by it. Unfortunately my mother and aunt are now dead and my brother was only a baby so I cannot furnish better details. But it seems that someone was looking after my mother that night.
Paul (Born in 125 Friern Road)
Dear Paul, Thank you so much for this memory – mother’s intuition I wonder.
If we manage to find more finding I would like to add the facility where you would be able to upload your memories directly.
Have you checked out this site:- http://www.flyingbombsandrockets.com
It would be interesting to see also bombmaps from the victims side in Germany, Perhaps Dresden, Bamberg, Frankfurt, Heilbron and so on.
It’s a very interesting project on your side but id did only reflect one side of this war. The first Bombs where with a huge count of aircrafts where flown by a british bomber staff against Wilhemshaven, I think, but no one is thinking about the people living there. It doesn’t matter if they are Germans or not. War did not have winners at all most of the people. Winner side and looser side are looser at all.
The process of collecting and processing the data is very time consuming so we had to choose a city to start with.
I would very much like to develop the project to include other British Cities and European ones if the data are available in the archives, and the archives would be interested in working with us. We shall do our best to apply for more funding and hope we are successful – perhaps even look for a European Grant but this process takes a long time.
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