WW2 stretcher railings information board on Dog Kennel Hill

[DulwichSociety]

Join Southwark Council and the Dulwich Society on Saturday 19 February at 11am to mark the unveiling of the new information board which commemorates the use of WW2 stretchers as railings on the East Dulwich Estate. Meet on the corner of Quorn Road and Dog Kennel Hill near East Dulwich Station. More on the railings here: https://www.dulwichsociety.com/journal-archive/97-2013-autumn/915-dulwich-world-war-ii-commemorative-plaques and here: https://www.dulwichsociety.com/journal-archive/117-winter-2017/1587-a-villager-s-notebook. Also a short BBC News piece here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-london-40960344

(Admin I appreciate this is a What's On but it's also local history so hoping it can stay here).

[Guest]

Dare we enquire who the person(s) from Southwark Council will be which you have omitted to mention?

[heartblock]

Sadly Southwark Council removed them - another piece of history taken away with no consultation or consideration...

[DulwichSociety]

I don't know who is going to be there from Southwark Council but I will find out.

[Sue]

heartblock Wrote:

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> Sadly Southwark Council removed them - another

> piece of history taken away with no consultation

> or consideration...

😡

[Cora]

Yes I noticed they had gone.... What a shame. As you say, a piece of history just gone....any reason?

[heartblock]

There are a few left on one of the roads in the estate (Quorn Rd), but why they were removed from DKH the main road baffles me, but glad the Dulwich Society is doing this unveiling.

[KidKruger]

Weren?t these stretchers intended for the event of a major incident at one of the blocks of flats where multiple casualties result ?

If so, what is the provision now - or is there no need for some reason (and what is that reason) ?

[Zak]

My understanding is that they were general WW2 surplus supplies and hadn?t been sourced for use specifically in relation to any possible event in the flats.

[heartblock]

Yes WW2 stretchers, very simple design, always loved walking past these on my way to DH station or Sainbos.

[KidKruger]

But they must have been installed at the flats? location for a reason, fencing can be erected anywhere so why around a block of flats with hundreds of residents if that wasn?t the intended purpose ?

Fir example, they?d be of limited use for an emergency in Camberwell.

[Nigello]

As for their removal - perhaps they did not fit with current building/safety guidelines, or perhaps someone thought they were tatty or perhaps someone thought it not a good thing to, in their mind, "glorify" the war and best to let it lie...?

[Jenijenjen]

?Some 600,000 were made for use across the UK. And with a surplus of them after the war, many were ingeniously used outside new housing estates after they fell out of use by Civil Defence in 1962.?

?Cllr Mark Williams? On the East Dulwich Estate for example, as part of improvement works, we have removed fencing where it was in a very poor state due to extensive rusting and disintegration, but have preserved four of the fences outside Badminton House.?

https://www.southwarknews.co.uk/news/calls-protect-fences-throughout-south-london-used-stretchers-ww2/

[Zak]

As a matter of interest, there are also stretchers in use for fencing on Queen's Road.

There were clearly a lot that needed putting to good use!

[Penguin68]

The use of the stretcher parts for railings after the WWII closed was (in part) a recompense to the community for the old cast iron railings that had been removed across the country as scrap metal for war use. In fact they were never properly utilised (rather like the aluminium saucepans taken for aircraft manufacture). There were of course lots of stretchers in major cities used for civilian casualties during bomb-raids - so by the war's end far more than were needed for normal civilian needs. Their re-use was an elegant solution to using surplus material without having costs of remanufacture into something else. Late 1940s and 50s repurposing/ upcycling, in a way.

[DulwichSociety]

This event is still going ahead tomorrow at 11am so we hope to see you there. Southwark's mayor and local councillors are hoping to be there too. The stretcher railings were deteriorating badly so had to be removed, we are glad a couple are still there to help tell the story and we hope our information board will add context.

[Borderlands]

My father who grew up in Wood Green during WW2 was visiting here in the 1990s and spotted these on one of our walks. And was delighted they had survived - up to that point. He told us they were very basic (but heavy to carry) stretchers and huge numbers had been made in case of civilian casualties but were not needed. He saw them used this way as fencing on LCC (London County Council) estates in his beck of the woods too.

His view was that things were so tight economically postwar that this was considered a really inspired use for them. Nothing wasted.

DulwichSociety Wrote:

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> This event is still going ahead tomorrow at 11am

> so we hope to see you there. Southwark's mayor and

> local councillors are hoping to be there too. The

> stretcher railings were deteriorating badly so had

> to be removed, we are glad a couple are still

> there to help tell the story and we hope our

> information board will add context.

[DulwichSociety]

Fantastic! As both your father and Penguin68 have noted, a very good example of recycling.

[Zak]

A couple of pictures,for anyone who is interested,taken at last Saturday's unveiling of the new information board about the stretcher fences on Quorn Road.

One of the info. board itself & another of the guy from the Dulwich Society giving a background talk.

Hopefully when they're opened they can be enlarged - the stuff on the info board is quite interesting.

[Borderlands]

Many thanks for photos. Hope the display survives!

Anyone interested in looking for WW2 bomb damage in the area (and London) might like to take a look at:

https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/history-and-heritage/london-metropolitan-archives/collections/london-county-council-bomb-damage-maps

Sorry for the very long link.

There's also a book of them by Laurence Ward ISBN:9780500518250. It's quite pricey but is probably available from the library.

Zak Wrote:

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> A couple of pictures,for anyone who is

> interested,taken at last Saturday's unveiling of

> the new information board about the stretcher

> fences on Quorn Road.

>

> One of the info. board itself & another of the guy

> from the Dulwich Society giving a background talk.

>

>

> Hopefully when they're opened they can be enlarged

> - the stuff on the info board is quite

> interesting.