Prisoner of War Camps

Each Prisoner of War camp in Britain was allocated an official number during WW2, ranging from Camp 1 (Grizedale Hall, Ambleside) through to Camp 1026 (Raynes Park, Wimbledon). Based on data from English Heritage, the camps located in the North East were:

"It is frequently not appreciated that the majority of PoW camps remained active in their original role until 1948. After this date many were removed for a variety of reasons, chief of which were post-war reconstruction and the reclamation of agricultural land. However, a large number of these sites, particularly the purpose built ones, were handed over to the administration of a number of county agricultural committees who ran them as hostels for farm workers. Many of these farm workers were the very same men who had been held in them as prisoners, but who elected to remain in Britain rather than be repatriated. These hostels often continued to function as such well into the late 1960s and early 1970s." (English Heritage, 2003)