The Marples Hotel and C&A Building

So I’m standing at the site of the Marples Hotel, once a busy seven-storey venue at the heart of Fitzalan Square.

On the night of 12 December 1940, it was packed to the rafters. Just before midnight, a direct hit reduced the building to rubble in seconds.

Over 70 lives were lost – the single deadliest incident of the Sheffield Blitz.

Today, nothing of the original building remains but bodies which were never recovered are tragically still buried over there below the pavement.