By Philip Sedgwick

THERE is no argument that the Yorkshire Dales have contributed their share to Britain’s wars; indeed over 300 of its men still inhabit ‘some corner of a foreign field’.

Prior to the Second World War, Bolton Castle in 1644 was the last occasion this part of the world experienced serious conflict. This changed one night, when Leyburn came under attack, this time from the air.

Retired teacher Edward Mason recalls: "The air raid siren sounded about 9.45pm; it was a bright moonlit night, our home and the whole of Leyburn could be easily distinguished.

“My father suggested that he and I should go for a walk to see or hear if anything was going on; we walked down the crescent when we heard an aircraft approaching.

“The dark shape flew directly over our heads and I said: ‘It looked like a Beaufighter,’ but at that very moment there was a huge explosion. Almost immediately there was a second explosion, then a third. “

“Had there been a fourth it would have just about been on top of us. The aircraft had gone before the first bomb went off.”

Father and son were both showered with earth, stones, and shrapnel. After a pause they picked themselves up and ran home. Debris, and soot was everywhere; their house in Thornborough Crescent had three windows blown out and holes in the roof. A sizable piece of shrapnel was still in the back yard, having passed through the shed roof and his bicycle.

Next morning Master Mason set out on a quest for souvenirs and came across a 20 feet crater guarded by a policeman. Believed to be an unexploded bomb, this turned out not to be the case.

The Beaufighter turned out to be a German Junkers 88; young Edward Mason was not the first to confuse the two.

Ten-years-old on the outbreak of hostilities, Tommy Chapman’s wartime experience started with the nightly ritual. He explained: “My mother was boiling some milk, which happened every evening at 9pm.

“We heard a loud bang and the next thing soot came down the chimney and was everywhere. I remember her holding a milk pan full of sooty milk looking astonished.

“Later when we went upstairs, a large piece of debris had landed on my sister Hannah's bed having crashed through the ceiling. I wasn’t scared though.”

Nearby in Preston-under-Scar, Albert Calvert was alerted by the sound of aircraft. He said: “I knew they were German aircraft by the ‘drum-drum’ throbbing of the engines. We went outside, but couldn’t see anything.

“There was terrific noise when we heard an explosion but I wasn’t frightened as we lived near Preston quarry, which when it blasted, the whole house shook. Next day a friend and I cycled over to look at the hole.

“Later in war I was at Reeth when a Mosquito crashed and Dutch pilot died I was very scared then.”

Pauline Hustwick (Wilce) lived opposite the Sandpiper with her parents. She recalls: "I remember hearing aircraft going over, which was quite rare. There were loud bangs, so it was under the stairs.

“Next morning all our windows were broken, the taped-up glass looked like Christmas decorations.

“Dad kept a Lewis gun under the table, every week he would demonstrate to the Home Guard how to strip it; I could probably still do it now.

“At the time it was terrifying, we had never seen anything like it. It was some time before the windows were repaired, and it was very cold.”

Royal Academy artist Sonia Lawson was staying with her grandparents. She said: “ My grandmother was bedridden, so my uncle and I were in her bedroom one evening, keeping her company.

“ Suddenly a massive explosion cut the air, then another, then three more, one after the other. The four of us in the bedroom were silent.

“ I was rigid with shock, but after the third bomb I leapt out of the single bed, silent in my white nightgown, stood to attention like a statue, riveted to the spot. Mac, my dog jumped trying to hide under the bed. Then the episode was over.

“ Next day we found the bombs had missed Leyburn and had fallen just off the outskirts, up Moor Road on Hill Top Farm belonging to Frank Webster and his wife. The farmhouse was safe, but plaster had fallen from the ceilings.

“Frank found their elderly retainer standing amid the rubble screaming her head off. Frank said to her “Is ta hurt? “ She replied “No.” Therefore, he abruptly rejoined “ Well shurrup then,” and she did.

Ms Lawson recalls the damage was limited a number of broken shop windows, including McCombie Metcalfe’s, now the Cooperative store.

Betty Close (Archer) had been to a cinema screening with her friend Mary Scovell (Bowes) and recalls the air raid siren followed by a loud bang and the incident was the talk of the town for some time afterwards.

Author Bill Norman has written several books on the air war over the North East. Having met many former members of the Luftwaffe, he believes it unlikely Leyburn was deliberately attacked.

He explained:” Early in the war targets tended to be along the coast. After the fall of France there were an increasing number of raids inland.

“The Northeast was a dangerous place for the Luftwaffe; they had no idea Fighter Command rested squadrons in northeast and as result often sustained high losses.

“Teeside was ringed by a number of decoy sites designed to fool them into dropping bombs on the countryside.

“Aircraft returning from Belfast or the Clyde or lost and unable to reach their intended targets would be low on fuel. As they did not want to return with a full load, dropped their bombs in the middle of nowhere.”

The minor raid on Leyburn does not appear in any official records and cannot be dated although most witnesses favour sometime in 1943.

While most of the visible scars have faded, one relic remains. Digging in his garden in 1960s Arthur Hesp’s spade stuck something solid. Once uncovered, a 12lb lump of metal turned out to be the rusting remains of one of the bombs dropped on the town.

The souvenir now takes pride of place at the annual 1940’s weekend display; a poignant reminder of the night the war came to Wensleydale.