Prison of war camp in high green

[allsystem 10]

There were german prisoners there for a short while , until 3 of them did a runner ,they were caught about a mile down the road by a local bobby ,

On the net you can do a search and it shows a map of the camp which can be overlaid over the current houses to show where it once was .

[Keith43 10]

I am a child of Potter Hill camp. born there, Wadsworth Road

 

Dear Basalt

Pleased to meet you and talk to every one around that "time frame" who lived there

I should have called myself babyboomer43 ha !I cannot remember much about the place ( 19 steps down to a front door at some house in Highgreen) but the pictures and google help to recollect memories

In the future I would like to go back, Have you any fond memories of the camp?

Keith43

 

---------- Post added 31-05-2015 at 18:34 ----------

 

I am a child of Potter Hill camp. born there, Wadsworth Road

 

Dear Basalt

I wonder if you or any one out there went to the 105th Scout group down Horse Packers Lane Highgreen I was only a cub there

Keith43

[Basalt 10]

Hi Keith

Sorry don't have too many memories of the camp as I was very young when we lived on it. I do remember the footpath to Greengate Lane which was called the snicket and parents who worked at Chapeltown would walk up to the camp from the bus stop, we kids would go to meet them. Our garden on Wadsworth Road had a stream running through it as did others adjacent. The bathrooms were always cold as only the main front room had a coal fire and there was a wooden shed in most gardens to keep the coal in. Gardens were mainly lawns. Shopping was done at Greengate Lane Co-op or Cawley's on Wortley Road and carried home. Many residents of the camp moved to the Council's brand new Bevan Way / Burns Drive estate at Burncross when it was completed around 1960/61, it was called "The New Estate".

Edited June 4, 2015 by Basalt

[Keith43 10]

Hi Balsalt

Thanks for your informative reply

Very interesting. I am the same ,memories of this place and Highgreen are just a "fog" after being away from the place for such a long time

Cheers Keith43

[Gillykins 10]

Ecclesfield parish council have got an archive co-ordinator who is in the process of building an archive website using information from all the local history groups in the parish. She has got a blog on the home page of the parish website on which she will be informing people of different events and exhibitions. History groups from High Green, Grenoside, Ecclesfield and Chapeltown are involved and over the course of the next eighteen months you will be able to see photos and information on the website.

[Keith43 10]

Thanks Gillykins

Sounds very interesting I must look up the Ecclesfield parish website and may be learn a little bit of my roots . All I have is a picture of me in. Tin pedal car. Outdoor tin baths etc from Potters Hill Italian Pow camp

Did you come from that area Highgreen in the 50s?

Bye. Keith43

[Gillykins 10]

No I'm an incomer - only lived in High Green for 30 years! The Archive has a picture of a young boy in a tin pedal car which looks like it is made out of an old bath - wonder if it is you? You will have to look out for it as more photos are loaded on there.

[Keith43 10]

Hi Gillykins

Thanks for the " lead ". Could be me. I had Curley black hair in those days

That would be turn up for the books

Ok so where do I look ? I. think I got into that site once not bookmarked it Can you give me an idea Maybe Archive Sheffield

I will let you know if I find myself ha!

Keith 43

[Gillykins 10]

If you go to the Ecclesfield Parish Council website there is an archive blog on the homepage and the archive co-ordinator is in the process of creating a history website so the photographs will be appearing over the next 18 months.

[Keith43 10]

Ok thanks. I found the website and blog. Great. Must keep an eye on it

Keith

[Sandy Steer 10]

If you Google there's lots of info out there. Have just found "wikimapia.org" which shows a map and says about Potters Hill, " some camp structures and facilities were used after the wars end for public housing. By the early 1960's this was no longer the case and all that remained were concrete roads and some foundations. Traces of the camp have been completely eradicated by more recent development that started in the late 1960's".

Also http://www.movemoresheffield.com says "Potters Hill (also called Bracken Hill) camp was erected on fields near Barnes Hall in 1940 to accommodate up to 1500 people made homeless by the war. During the war Italian prisoners and American servicemen were billeted there. After the war it was used to house Dutch refugee children and later homeless families from Sheffield were settled there. Eventually developed as a housing estate".

 

Potters Hill was a separate camp to Bracken Hill Camp.

IN 1956 I attended Bracken Hill School which was where you went for your first secondary school year, prior to moving into the second year at High Green. Most of the ruins of the camp were still in place. I also remember my father and mother having to go to the camp early 1950's when my father was out of work so some social office was there then. My mother used to tell me the Italians used to wander about Chapeltown during the daytime and the local women used to knit hats, gloves and socks for them. There was also a camp near Ecclesfield Grammar School where we used to play as children.

[cuttingedge 10]

Sandy Steer, I think you are a little out with your dates we were one of the first to move into Bracken Hill camp in 47 we lived at 135 mckenzie Rd and were one of the last to move out in 54 by that time most of the camp had been knocked down,Jimmy Childs was the contractor and they did not take a lot of knocking down.I went to Burncross School, my sister who is 4 years younger than me went to the camp school first then to Burncross, then from there to Greengate school. The office you are on about was across from our house, and that bordered the school playground. There was a man worked in that office that my dad said they could not get rid of so they had to give a job I will not put his name on here.