Tyne and Wear HER(5852): West Boldon, Downhill Quarry, Prisoner of War Camp - Details
5852
S Tyneside
West Boldon, Downhill Quarry, Prisoner of War Camp
West Boldon
NZ36SW
Defence
Military Camp
Prisoner of War Camp
Modern
C20
Documentary Evidence
Site of World War Two prisoner of war camp. Air photographs from 1946 show 14 huts in the quarry. Nothing is visible on immediate post-war aerial photographs. NGR given for centre of quarry. Each camp was allocated an official number during World War Two within a prescribed numerical sequence, ranging from Camp 1 (Grizedale Hall, Ambleside) to Camp 1026 (Raynes Park, Wimbledon). The West Boldon camp was Camp 605. Not all of the sites were true Prisoner of War camps, many were hostels situated some distance away from the parent site or base camp. It is not known what category West Boldon Camp was. During the early part of the war there was no standard design of camp, but following the success of the 8th Army's North African Campaign against the Italian Army, during which a substantial number of prisoners were taken, many prisoners were eventually brought to Britain and held in purpose built 'standard' camps, many of which were built by the prisoners themselves.
3475
6025
NZ34756025
<< HER 5852 >> Roger J.C. Thomas, 2003, Prisoner of War Camps (1939-1948), Twentieth Century Military Recording Project
A. Hellen, 1999, Temporary settlements and transient populations, The legacy of Britain Erdkunde, 53 (3), 191-211
P. Reid & M. Michael, 2000, Prisoner of War - The Inside Story of the PoW from the Ancient World
H. Rossberg, 1992, A Prisoner in Scotland After the Battle, 76, p 38-53
J. Schofield, 2003, Modern Military Matters, Strategic Framework for Studying the Material Culture of War?
R.J.C. Thomas, 2003, PoW Camps, What survives and where, Conservation Bulletin 44, p 18-21; English Heritage, 2008, Hadrian's Wall National Mapping Project, 1403564; Aerial Photograph RAF 106G/UK/1193 4362 27-FEB-1946; http://www.boldonwm.uk/dqpow.htm