1914 – 1918
In memory of the men of this parish who gave their lives in the Great War
In his mercy
{The text is difficult to read but we think we have it right.}
The 1920s photo of the church shows the WW1 memorial in place in front of the church, facing south west. The plinth supported a tall pillar with a crucifix at the top.
The 1944 bomb that destroyed the church seems to have left the memorial reasonably intact because, in 1961, it was set up as the centre-piece of the garden. It was then destroyed by a falling tree in the gale of 1987, leaving just this plinth. The 1988 tablet that commemorated both wars must have been added to cover the scar left by the loss of the pillar.
Site: Holy Trinity Stroud Green (3 memorials)
N4, Granville Road, Holy Trinity church garden
This Peace Garden, opened on 27 March 2011, commemorates the 1944 V1 bomb, the people who died, the church that was destroyed and the subsequent reconstruction of the area.
Something here doesn't make sense. The info board talks of a single bomb which destroyed 12 houses and the church, and killed people in Granville Road at numbers 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, and 33. These are all further north up Granville Road, mainly on the east side, opposite what is now The Spinney. Between these houses and the church there were (and still are) 9 other houses, plus the church hall, none of which suffered any significant, if any, damage. Surely there must have been two bombs: one on the houses and one on the church.
At the Spinney another information board refers to one bomb destroying the houses, with no mention of the church. It includes this text: "The land where Granville Road Spinney now sits has seen many changes over the last 130 years. After being used as farmland until the 1870s, it was built upon when the railway came to North London. In July 1944 during World War II, a V1 flying bomb destroyed seven Victorian houses on the western side of Granville Road. These were replaced by Prefabs that were removed in 1980 and the area reverted back to open land." So this is talking about a single bomb which destroyed 7 houses on the west side, where the Spinney now is.
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