Since Aug 04

THE BLITZ ON COMPTON MARTIN

(As told to me by Mrs Violet Uphill)

by

Alexandra Griffiths, aged 11

Mr and Mrs Tossell lived in a house at the top of the Coombe in the woods next to the quarry in Compton Martin. They had four children; Jeffrey who was 12, Reginald who was 10, Primrose who was 8, and Violet who was 5. Their house was close to the crusher which crushed the stones from the quarry. There was always white dust everywhere. Before Mrs Tossell was married her maiden name was flower which was why she gave her daughter’s names of flowers.

On Saturday the 25^th August 1940 Mr and Mrs Tossell started to get their children ready for bed. Primrose always read lots of books and newspapers. Primrose read the newspaper and had read about the German’s bombing Bristol and was very afraid. Primrose did not want to sleep in her own bedroom with Violet that night. Her mummy said “Violet will come and sleep with mummy and daddy tonight and Primrose can sleep with the two boys”.

That night there was a big bombing raid in Bristol. A German bomber flying across Compton Martin thought the quarry was an ammunition factory. He dropped a bomb on the quarry and the house where the Tossell family lived.

Mrs Tossell had to tie sheets together to climb out of her window. Violet was carried out of the house by a neighbour.

Primrose, Reginald and Jeffrey died. Everyone in Compton Martin was very sad.

The three children that died are buried together in St Michael’s Church in Compton Martin. They were given a war memorial cross by the War Office. Their names have recently been included on the list of those who died in Westminster Abbey.

The house was completely gone and could not be lived in. The family stayed with relatives in the Coombe, then they lived with their Aunty Lilly in Mendip Villas in Compton Martin before going back to live in another house in the Coombe. Violet had a brother called Roland, 9 years later.

After writing this, I have spoken to Mrs E Tovey who was also living in the Coombe at the time and she remembers being asked to go back to the bombed house in the morning to fetch Mrs Tossle’s purse. She could not find it but later in the day a bomb that had been dropped on the house exploded and she felt that she had been very lucky.