The next time you find yourself in Holcombe Village, maybe after a fortifying drink at the “Shoulder of Mutton”, it’s worth looking on the other side of the road for some of the indelible evidence of an aerial visit to the village by the Imperial German Flying Corps on the night of 25^th /26th September 1916.

Leaving the pub’s main entrance, turn right and walk past the first entrance to the car park, to the second car park entrance (technically on Chapel Street, which leads on to Rawson’s Rake).

Immediately opposite, you will see the house at 3 Helmshore Rd. Take a look at the windowsills, doorway surrounds and the pockmarked wall on the right to see evidence of damage from the bombs dropped by Zeppelin L21, which was on its way to cause 13 fatalities by bombing Bolton (though they thought they had attacked Derby).

For the armchair archaeologist, a quite rewarding way to visit the site virtually is to:

• find Holcombe village on “Google maps”;
• then click and drag the “little yellow humanoid” from bottom right of your screen to the junction of Chapel Lane and the main road (B6214)
• you can now spin round to see the façade of 3 Helmshore Road – zoom in if you wish.

Here is a photo of some of the damage:

You may be interested in accessing the website from which the above information about the L21 Zeppelin was obtained, which also has a fabulous “blended” photograph of the bombed property both “then and now”, as well as further information about the raid. It is available at:

More information, and a fuller photograph of the whole façade as it was left after the raid, as well as evidence of bomb damage to the village school from the same raid can be found here.

Also, for interest, the following website suggests that the Imperial German Flying Corps were inspired to develop air balloons after the use of air balloons – for aerial surveillance – in the American Civil War.  Also here.

Chris Ainsworth

8 January 2021