Italian POW Camp (WWII) in Lodge Moor

[Greybeard 10]

Originally posted by Cols

GB

This is a good web site to try out.

http://www.old-maps.co.uk/

Col

Cols

 

Yes, that's the site I was looking at....trouble is you can't generate a link to a search result.

[Mary 10]

Thank you to all who posted a reply to my inquiry.

 

Are there any older folks who might remember what the building looked like in 1942?

 

My father remembers being housed in a "castle". The POWs slept on the 3rd or 4th floor and were called to the 1st floor for meals by the ringing of a bell. He remembers that half of the "castle" was in ruins. In the front was an orchard enclosed by a stone wall. The back was a pasture with cows. He cannot remember if this was the Lodge Moor site or one somewhere else. I'm hoping that some older folks can confirm or deny the info above.

 

Thanks again.

Mary

[Tony 10]

That's not Lodge Moor. From what I know it was wooden huts, and there is certainly nothing that could be remotely described as a Castle in the area.

[snowboarder 10]

definitely not Lodge Moor, no castles in the area at all. However, there were number of big old houses that might have looked a bit like castles, ie some had turrets. These were all bombed out in the 2nd WW, such as THE RIDGE, situated on the road I used to live in, aptly named THE RIDGE after the old house. Perhaps some local large houses were used by the army at this time, especially the ones hit by bombs. THE RIDGE for example was half demolished by a bomb in WW2, and had to be evacuated. Fascinating to finf out more.

 

THE CAMP itself was all wooden huts yes, and surrounded by a wall on the North side, which is still there, and barbed wire fencing along the perimeters which roughly co-incide with the wooded area which has grown since the 1940's....the woods were not there originally, I think it was a plantation job a bit later.

[Cols 10]

I've just had a walk over the hill by the observatory. What's with all the caravans beside the plantation. Is it a caravan club meet or have the travellers moved in ?

[Tony 10]

That's the posh gypsy camp. It's been there as long as I can remember.

[Cols 10]

I know about the gypsy camp, but last night there were dozens of caravans in the field behind the Sportsman pub. You know the field that people fly kites on etc.

[Tony 10]

Hmmm no idea - I wonder if it's a rally? They were't there when I took the dog up there early last week.

[Funke88 10]

My brother and I played up there when we were kids. I was scared to go in and thought that we would get into trouble for trespassing. My brother would scare me all the time that ghosts would come out and run us off. He said that we could go up and search for bullets and dead bodies. Creepy place when I was a kid. Then I remember them opening it up for "travellers" Can't remember the year they let the gypsies come but it must have been in the mid 80s. Anyway, the locals up at Lodgemoor protested (of course) and all the posh houses invested in security alarm systems for their houses. We all thought that one really bad winter up on the moors would send them packing elsewhere. Living in a caravan surrounded by snowdrifts can be brutal up at Lodgemoor even for the locals. But when I visited home last year the gypsies were still there and it's still a scary place!

[Cols 10]

Mary

I've just returned from the library and after a couple of hours I found a picture of the camp in one of the local history books. If you pm me with your email address I'll get it to you. It's only a small photo (4x3") but it gives you idea of the place and the countryside that surrounds it.

 

Col

[Mary 10]

Col,

 

I have tried the "pm" but I'm told that I cannot use it because I don't have 5 posts.

 

Mary

[Tony 10]

It turns out that the campsite behind the Sportsman is a dog agility rally (is that the right word?). Not had a chance to go yet - the dog's shattered after this mornings walk