This is a sponsored article on behalf of St Paul's Cathedral.
Ever heard of the St Paul's Watch?
While many Londoners were taking shelter during nightly bombing raids on the capital in the Blitz, these brave people were facing the danger head on, in the name of protecting St Paul's Cathedral.
A new, open-air exhibition situated alongside Wren's masterpiece tells the fascinating story of this group of volunteers (both men and women), the destruction they witnessed — and the disasters they prevented. Saving St Paul’s: The Watch and the Second World War is free to visit, and uses first-person accounts and archive content to honour the Watch.
The volunteer group, led by Godfrey Allen, nicknamed "the St Paul's Terrier", stood guard in the Cathedral day and night as bombs rained down and the surrounding buildings burned. They leapt into action to put out any fires which threatened the building, often having to race across the Cathedral's rooftop, or down dark tunnels and enclosed roof spaces, to do so. Not something most Londoners would fancy doing during peacetime, let alone with Luftwaffe bombers droning overhead.
Did you know that the Cathedral took two direct hits from explosives, in October 1940, and April 1941? The latter saw a bomb crashing through the roof before detonating, and piercing a hole in the Cathedral floor, through to the Crypt below. Unthinkable, irreparable damage could have been done, had the Watch not been on hand to prevent fires spreading. The free exhibition thrusts incredible moments such as this into the spotlight.
To complement the exhibition, St Paul’s Cathedral has released a free film, The Heroes of St Paul’s, which delves deeper into the work of the Watch, even exploring the hidden roof spaces once used by the volunteers.
Saving St Paul’s: The Watch and the Second World War is free to visit, and open to everyone. Find it in Cathedral Gardens until October 2025.
