London is full of hidden traces of its past – so much so that many people walk right by pieces of history without even realising. Even what looks like an ordinary fence can sometimes be a relic from wartime Britain.
In some parts of South and East London, the railings outside of council estates used to be WWII stretchers to carry civilians injured during air raids.
More than 600,000 were produced during the Blitz. They were made from cast iron, designed to be simple to stack, store, and clean.
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During the war, Air Raid Precaution wardens would use these to rescue civilians from bomb sites. But once it was over, London was left with a huge surplus of stretchers.
However, many estates also lost their original metal railings due to the war effort. So, in the 1960s, the London Council began using the leftover stretchers as estate railings.
You can still spot them today in places like Brixton, Peckham, Dulwich, Deptford, Oval and all across East London. Some estates have even formed local groups to help protect them from rust and removal.
I found a set recently outside Rowley House in Greenwich. If you look at them closely, you can still spot the curved handles, and the little feet that once rested on pavements during rescues.
Once you know, you can’t unsee it. You’re suddenly standing in front of a piece of history that helped carry people to safety in the darkest days of the war.
The stretchers were once part of a life-saving mission, carried by ARP wardens who patrolled blacked-out streets. Those same wardens handed out gas masks, reunited families, and responded to bomb damage in real time.
Now, these stretchers have a quieter job: holding up ivy, bordering estates, and catching the eyes of the curious few who stop to look. But for those who know their story, they’re not just bits of metal – they’re a living memorial to London’s wartime resilience.
To watch more videos and read more stories from our London’s Hidden Secrets series, see the topic page. As part of the project we have explored the clues that remain of the Roman road to London, and met the gas lamp lighters who light the city’s Victorian lamps by hand every night.
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