This first hand account of wartime bombs in Stone was written by local parishioners Alan Waters and his brother in the summer of 2005, appropriately being 60 years after VE Day!
 
September 15^th 1940
 "At 1.30 in the afternoon a Dornier Do 17Z (an aircraft known as the 'Flying Pencil') was being pursued by two fighters. It dropped four bombs that straddled the Drill Hall at Horns Cross.  The first bomb exploded on the London Road at the entrance to Chichester Road, the second one, a time bomb, in Stone Place Road right near the Drill Hall entrance, and the last two dropped in the Kent Works chalk quarry.
 
The first bomb caused considerable damage, hence the different house on the end of the terrace.  The original house was occupied by Mr Priest, curator of Dartford Museum, and his sister, who, at that time, was the matron at the Gravesend Hospital.  We lived at 130 London Road and there is still a bomb splinter scar in the front garden wall, and half a front bedroom window sill is missing. 
 
In the middle bedroom, a blue silk shirt, belonging to my brother Allan, had been lying on the bed.  The blast had sucked the shirt in between the floor boards and the wall and as we couldn't get it out we later cut as much of the shirt away as possible, but a blue 'fringe' was still left.  When we visited the house a few years ago, traces of blue thread from the shirt could still be seen!
 
The time bomb 'went off' at about 3.30 pm, two hours after it had been dropped.  It brought down the rest of the ceilings and wall plaster in our house, so cleaning up started all over again.  A dish containing four eggs had been standing on the sideboard, turned upside down by the force from the bomb.  The four eggs were still whole and unbroken but the front door was half way up the stairs!
 
December 8^th 1940
11 o'clock at night, two parachute mines came down; they looked like huge cigars - very powerful.  The first one landed right on top of the two houses which was then Daften's farm, where the school playing field is now (Stone St Mary's CEP). There was no housing estate then (around Hayes Road), and the nearest houses were Cemetery house and Walnut Tree cottages.  The bomb killed the entire Daften family - nine people in all.
 
The second bomb, a few seconds later, landed in the Drill Hall grounds, right behind our house, which meant that our house sustained the worst damage.  The main roof beam was broken and the next day the roof completely collapsed.  That night it snowed and when the thaw came our staircase was like a waterfall!"
 
December 9^th 1940
Phyllis, (until her recent death a regular worshipper at St Mary's), was to be married to Cyril Smith in St Mary's church. She arrived at church to find the Rector, Dudley Brown, with blood on his hands and his surplice, sweeping up the broken glass from the shattered South aisle window that had been blown out the night before by a German bomb.  Undeterred, and in true wartime spirit, the wedding took place as planned! 
 
That shattered stained glass window was then replaced with plain glass and now, 60 years later, the congregation at St Mary's have raised money and replaced it with a brand new stained glass memorial window.  
 
Some of the other beautiful windows at St Mary's are in need of renovation work owing to the crumbling of the surrounding stonework, so fundraising is an ongoing need in order to continue the preservation of this ancient church.  If you would like to make a donation towards the St Mary's window fund or any future project please contact the Rector.

Weekly notices and information from St Mary's is published on the 'noticeboard' page here.

Part of St Mary's churchyard is to become a wildflower meadow during 2009.  More details here.