Thread by @friendschurches

On 14 March 1946 an RAF Lancaster bomber took off from Aston Down aerodrome, near Stroud, Gloucestershire, on a training flight. The pilot was Squadron Leader Reg Heber Thomas. As it climbed away from the runway, all four engines failed – totally and simultaneously.

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The pilot tried to make an emergency landing, but the aircraft stalled. It plunged towards the ground, and crashed into a large Victorian house on the hill opposite the aerodrome. The house burst into flames with a tremendous explosion.

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Both members of the crew were killed instantly. The house was Templewood, and its roof and upper storey were utterly destroyed. Templewood stood just a few yards from the church of St Mary of the Angels, Brownshill – now in our care – which was totally unscathed.

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The rather sombre analysis of the accident was this: ‘The crew did not prepare the flight properly, and did not follow the pre-departure checklist.’ The power switches were set incorrectly in the OFF position, so, as the joystick was pulled back, all four engines stopped.

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St Mary of the Angels, Brownshill (W D Caröe, 1937) started more quietly than this. But its history is nonetheless eccentric. Bertha Kessler and Katherine Hudson served together as nurses in the Great War. As a result, they both suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

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Kessler and Hudson decided to dedicate themselves to spiritual healing, combining psychiatric nursing with spiritual guidance. They took their first patient in 1923 – only female patients were taken at first.

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In 1927 they bought a house in the secluded tranquillity of Stroud’s Golden Valley, at Brownshill. Tanglewood was a rambling Victorian mansion (1891) in large grounds with commanding valley views: an ideal retreat. They renamed it Templewood Home of Rest.

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In 1936, they received their first male patient – a Benedictine priest, and two Dominicans the next year. There was pressure to have a priest on hand to serve the growing community: in 1938 Fr Darley became Templewood’s chaplain.

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When the Lancaster bomber crashed on Templewood, amazingly, no-one in the house was injured, let alone killed. Fr Darley, the spritely 64-year-old retired chaplain, shinned down a drainpipe and escaped without a scratch.

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This thread is an excerpt from a blog by Dr Alec Hamilton. To read in full, visit: friendsoffriendlesschurches.org.uk/bombers-over-b…

Huge thanks, as ever, to @fotofacade for these wonderful photos of St Mary of All Angels. Now open daily for visitors.

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