On April 2, 1916, two German Zeppelin bombers were spotted making their way along the British coast.
They were part of a campaign of air raids targeting British installations, including dockyards, as well as civilian targets. The big, lumbering airships carried a big payload of bombs and while both sides had airships, none were as feared or as efficient as the German Zeppelins.
It was night time and the sky and the land were both dark. All the lights in town had been turned off to avoid giving the German bombers a way of getting their bearings, but the lights of a nearby railway station were still burning, which may have acted as a beacon for the airships. One could hear the engines of the big zeppelins but they were invisible amid the darkened sky.
The people of the town of Togston could see flashes in the distance, and the rumble of exploding bombs, as the zepellins dropped their bombs on nearby towns. Then it was their turn.
The machines passed over main street and dropped their loads before turning out to sea and returning to their bases across the channel. This time the people of Togston were lucky: the bombs did some damage, breaking windows and knocking down some ceilins but the bombs missed whatever the zeppelin bombardiers were aiming for. One bomb landed in parcel of open land, leaving a large crater, which became the center of excitement in this small town.