Hatfield Heath POW Camp - 116 Aug 2015

Derelict Places

Help Support Derelict Places:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

jsp77

Veteran Member
Veteran Member
Joined
May 25, 2015
Messages
955
Reaction score
3,154
Location
Hertfordshire
Here we go my first post, so please be kind.

Hatfield Heath POW Camp - 116 this was explored with a non-member.

History.

Prisoner of War Camp 116 was set up in 1941 to house Italian prisoners of war.
However from 1943 it mainly held German & Austrian Pow's.

From a Harlow Star article in 2008:

Many people may not be aware that the area we now call Harlow was once a place where captured soldiers were sent to work the land.

German and Italian troops caught during the conflict had the opportunity to break from the incarceration of prison camps to feel some sense of normality working on the farms which dotted the area.

The work was totally voluntary and the lifestyle quite enjoyable in comparison to the life British POWs endured in German hands.

There were a lot of Italians at the main camp in Hatfield Heath, which was built for about 750 people. The camp was non-Nazi, so it was classed low-risk and there was a War Agricultural Committee which arranged for Land Girls to pick up prisoners and take them to allotted farms and then take them back again.
There were also two satellite camps, one in Matching Tye and one in Bishop's Stortford, which were on a smaller scale and the prisoners at the Matching Tye camp were sent to work on land which is now Harlow.

50fca80f-9e9c-4566-9478-9430a81b0900_zps8xnsn59c.jpg

IMG_4348_zpsrggu1dwz.jpg

IMG_4259_zpsjxgnqvfa.jpg

IMG_4219_zpst7c34k6m.jpg

IMG_4307_zpsprya7ghf.jpg

IMG_4297_zpsnb2yqtml.jpg

IMG_4268_zpsxhtsovdj.jpg

IMG_4232_zpsgssqknhz.jpg

IMG_4228_zpsf8q8fhcs.jpg

IMG_4305_zpsscp28l6r.jpg

IMG_4325_zpsmshpyab8.jpg

IMG_4190_zpsejtmc0gc.jpg


All in all a good few hours out, hope you enjoyed my first report.
 
Lovely report and pics, Thanks for including a bit of the history of the site, that's always a bonus, I enjoyed looking, Many Thanks.
 
Thats good stuff... The panels of those huts, concrete or worse I wonder?
 
Nice report , some of the Italian or German POWs used to make items like model ships or toys made out of scrap materials they used to sell or exchange them for food or clothing. Some of POWs meet their future wives though such trading and stayed on after the war had ended in 1945.
 
Thats good stuff... The panels of those huts, concrete or worse I wonder?
Look very much like Asbestos cement panels, but some look like asbestos insulation board (AIB), be careful out there guys, this stuff is not good for you. Ive been removing it for 20 years.
 
Thanks for the kind comments, will try and get some more posts loaded up in the next week or so.
 
Nice report :)
I went here a few months ago and was not expecting it to be fenced off and surrounding trees cut down.
I didn't go over the fence as there were a few houses around, wish I did now.
A local man did say they were planning on knocking it all down, no idea how true that was.
Thanks for sharing :)
 
They will have to knock it down in the not too distant future because, as stopsy pointed out, it's constructed from asbestos boards which are not restorable or maintainable.
 
Thanks, we was there for an hour and a half, a few cars went past but no problems.

It would be a shame to knock it down, but whilst its there enjoy it before its too late.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top