Bomb Church Alley

One of the most instantly recognisable buildings on the High Road is St Mark’s Methodist Church, which sits just south of St Loys Road on the High Road. This wasn’t the first Methodist church on or near this site. There had been two Wesleyan chapels previously – the first was built in 1817 by local Methodists a little further up the road on a site opposite Bruce Grove. The congregation wanted a bigger chapel and so in 1860 a new chapel to accommodate 1,000 was planned. It was built on the current site of St Mark’s. 

(The newly-built façade of St Mark’s c.1938. Noticeable is the older building from the previous chapel behind, which was structurally damaged in WW2. From the collections and © Bruce Castle Museum and Archive)

The steeple of the 1867 church stood high over the High Road. But it became unstable by 1937. 
The Art Deco design and build of today’s St Mark’s came about after the original church's steeple and frontage was demolished in 1938. 

(View of St Mark’s Church on the High Road in 2002. From the collections and © Bruce Castle Museum and Archive)

There was further structural damage to the rear of the church and some of its school buildings at the back in 1940 during World War 2. But the damage to nearby St Loys Road was far worse. An incident report from 1940 documents the dozens of houses that were flattened as a result of German bombings in the area. Temporary prefab houses were put in place in St Loys Road after the war. 

(The temporary prefabs in St Loys Road, c.1950. From the collections and © Bruce Castle Museum and Archive) 

There is a small unnamed alleyway that runs between St Loys Road (near the High Road) around the rear of the Methodist Church, going under the railway line through an arch before meeting Forsters Road at the other end. Following the impact of the WW2 bombs on this area, this alleyway became known to local children as 'Bomb Church Alley'. And the name has stuck!