What is a bomb crater?

What a bomb crater is

Craters are usually circular with a raised rim of thrown-out soil, and they often occur in lines where a stick of bombs fell or in clusters around a target. Many were filled in soon after the war, and those that survive are mostly in woodland, heath, moorland and pasture. Historic Environment Records in Kent, Lincolnshire and Suffolk record wartime craters still visible as shallow circular earthworks on Environment Agency lidar, although some records cannot tell whether a crater came from enemy bombing or from later bomb disposal. Military training areas also contain craters from artillery and mortar fire.

How bomb craters look on LiDAR

A bomb crater shows as a circular hollow with a raised rim, typically several metres across, often one of a line or scatter of similar hollows. Sky-view factor and negative openness show the hollow as a dark disc, and positive openness picks out the rim as a bright ring. A local relief model shows shallow, partly filled craters on level ground.

See LiDAR visualisations explained for what each method shows.

What can look like one

Bell pits, quarry pits, marl pits, shake holes and robbed barrow mounds can look like bomb craters. A line of evenly spaced, rimmed hollows that crosses field boundaries without regard to them is typical of a stick of bombs.

Protection

Bomb craters are rarely designated, but many are recorded in local Historic Environment Records.

Examples on the LiDAR

Where they are

Counties with the most bomb craters that have a page here.

More examples