Bomb Damage at the Guildhall Great Hall: 1941

Bomb Damage at the Guildhall Great Hall. On December 29 1940, the City and its old timber buildings suffered heavy damage during a severe night raid. Fire from the bombed St Jewry had drifted to the Guildhall's roof by 9pm. By 10.10, the Great Hall's roof was ablaze. Since the Thames was at low tide, water pressure was too weak for firefighters to be able to hose the roof. Volunteers moved dangerously along it with buckets of water, but by 10.30pm the building had to be abandoned. The colossal statues of Gog and Magog, the traditional guardians of the City of London, were turned to ash. The walls, though black with soot, remained standing. Police Constables Arthur Cross and Fred Tibbs photographed the devastation the following morning.