Graves of some of the 173 victims of the Bethnal Green Tube disaster. On 3 March 1943, as the British press had reported a heavy RAF raid on Berlin on the night of 1 March. The air-raid Civil Defence siren sounded at 8:17 pm, causing an orderly flow of people down the short flight of steps into the underground booking office area. At 8:27, an anti-aircraft battery a few hundred yards away in Victoria Park launched a salvo of a new type of anti-aircraft rocket. The weapon was secret and the unexpected, unfamiliar sound of the explosion caused the crowd to surge forward towards the shelter, a woman tripped on the stairs, causing many others to fall. Within a few seconds 300 people were crushed into the tiny stairwell. 172 people died at the scene, with one more dying in hospital later; 62 of the dead were children.
Relatives visit the graves regularly, many following an annual memorial service, with a larger event every ten years
Please donate to the Stairway to Heaven memorial
An Olympic surface to air Missile battery has been proposed for the water tower on top of the Bow Quarter, the former Bryant and May match factory, scene of the bitter industrial struggle by matchgirls led by Annie Besant
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| Former Bryan and May match factory with water tower, site of missile battery |
The locations of the WW2 ansd Olympics missile batteries are remarkably close (see map below)
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