PoW Camp 93, Harperley - July 2011

[mrdistopia]

During World War II prisoner of war camps were built throughout the country to house captured enemy soldiers. These were usually built with a primary regional camp and smaller satellite camps spread through the region. For the North-East of England, Harperley Camp was one of these hubs. It was built in '43 by Italian POWs and housed up to 1,400 Nazis and other assorted enemies until the end of the war.



It was one of only 100 purpose-built PoW camps in the UK and was codenamed Camp 93. Following the war the buildings lay dormant and largely undisturbed and is now one of only 5 camps within Britain that remains virtually intact. There are almost 50 buildings, all of similar functional design. The roof is asbestos and the bricks are lead-infused but I imagine the captured prisoners had bigger worries.



James and Lisa Macleod bought the place in 2001 and started doing it up with plans to convert to a restaurant. They discovered the richness of the site was more than anticipated as was it's history and plans formed to restore the site and open it as a museum attraction. A lot of credit in this effort goes to ex-prisoner Rudi Lux who's story is fascinating in it's own right. Rudi sadly died in 2005 at about the same time as the restoration funding dried up forcing the camp to be auctioned...on Ebay!

Now believed to be in the possession of a farmer who is working the site, it has several barbed wire fences, CCTV and reportedly, large dogs on guard.

Finding a discrete entrance point and, in a feat of irony that was not lost on me, I attempted to circumvent the security in order to break INTO a prison. (Okay, not technically 'breaking' in the legal sense but you get my drift).

[lennymcgra]

Great post, this place is similar to a pow camp where i live in Bridgend , South Wales ........ Some great shots there

[lennymcgra]

Bridgend is camp 198 btw

[mrdistopia]

Great post, this place is similar to a pow camp where i live in Bridgend , South Wales ........ Some great shots there

Thanks very much, Lenny. I read that this one was based on a generaly accepted national blueprint for PoW camps at the time so that would make lots of sense. These were purpose-built but there will have been many many more which were created by repurposing old warehouses etc.

[lennymcgra]

Yeah that would make sense , we had many high ranked SS officers as prisoners in our camp along with an escape tunnel where many tried to get away but were later captured, ive attached the link if your interested

http://www.islandfarm.fsnet.co.uk

[BB]

Love the interior shots! Some very moody looking ones

[Krypton]

like i said on neue, i really do love this place and wish theyd do something with it

[Clough]

That's a nice looking camp in good condition all the others I've seen are fooked, apart from edan camp of course, top marks!

[mrdistopia]

like i said on neue, i really do love this place and wish theyd do something with it

May well come to nothing but I have been speaking with someone who is looking to do just that. Might be a pipe dream but there are some interesting ideas floating around.

[ERNIE99_UK]

eden camp is a restored one which many will be familiar with. harperley was on the bbc restoration series i think.