Percy Street, Belfast, Co. Antrim

During World War Two, Percy Street in the Shankill area of West Belfast ran between 88 Shankill Road and 155 Divis Street. Well-kept terraced houses lined the street. A maze of side streets ran off Percy Street in both directions.

The main Shankill Road escaped the worst of the Belfast Blitz but the surrounding area suffered greatly. Photos taken of Percy Street after the Easter Raid highlight the devastation inflicted on the area.

16th April 1941

Kenneth Taylor, a lorry driver, and Auxiliary Fire Service volunteer watched as a parachute mine fell on Percy Street. He was on the flat roof of a mill on North Howard Street, a few streets away from the incident and, at first, thought a Luftwaffe pilot had bailed out. The bomb landed about 15 feet away from the entrance of the public air raid shelter.

The resulting blast was deafening and the suction as a result of the blast caused the walls to disintegrate and the shelter to collapse. As the outer walls crumbled, the large concrete roof lifted with no supporting walls providing further strength. The 30 foot long and 5 feet thick concrete slab then fell into the shelter crushing many of those inside.

Residents of Percy Street ran from their houses putting themselves in more danger as bombs continued to fall across Belfast.

Life carried on in the Shankill area and stories of the horrors on the Belfast Blitz began to circulate. Neighbours wept in the street as news broke on many of the deaths in the area.

Anecdotes tell of one man who rushed home from the Gaeity Cinema to be with his family. A warning flashed on the screen and many left the safety of the cinema to be with their loved ones. He joined his family in the Percy Street shelter and all died when the shelter collapsed.

Some residents of Percy Street and the surrounding side streets had their lives saved when the shelter filled. Some who could not get in the shelter returned to their houses, taking cover under tables or beneath the stairs.

The day after the attack, the Civil Defence Corps and Royal Ulster Constabulary sealed off the street with a rope cordon. The search for casualties continued. Wardens also patrolled the area and one of them spotted a young boy standing in his pyjamas in the debris of what had once been the shelter.

Hugh Mackie had regained consciousness to find masonry from the air raid shelter wedged against his chest. He noticed his mother and grandmother sitting opposite him on the other side of where the shelter had been. Both women had died in the position they sat when the blast struck the shelter.

In his book ‘Post 381: Memoirs of a Belfast Air Raid Warden’, Jimmy Doherty states the shelter had taken a direct hit. He estimates the casualties to be around 70 people as he recounts a personal tale from 16th April 1941.

We left the Irish firemen on the Shankill Road and went down Percy Street, the scene of the greatest disaster of the raid. A shelter had suffered a direct hit and almost 70 people were killed when it collapsed. I knew many of those who died. When I was serving my apprenticeship in that area, I had walked up Percy Street every evening. One of the women standing close by remembered me and recalled my friendship with a young girl who lived in the street. She was very pretty and often waited for me as I came out of the workshop. The older boys chaffed me about this but, as I have said, she was very pretty and I was proud that she had singled me out from the other boys. She was in the shelter when the bomb hit it. I swallowed hard and held back a tear. My memory went back to those days and my first day at work. But we had to push on, so I wished the old woman goodbye and we continued down the debris-strewn street towards the Falls Road.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records suggest that 37 people died in Percy Street that night. Two more died later as a result of their injuries at the Royal Victoria Hospital. Of those, 10 had sought refuge in the public air raid shelter. In total, 29 residents of Percy Street died as a result of enemy action on the night of 16th April 1941.