History
During World War II, the UK operated around 400 Prisoner of War (POW) camps, housing captured soldiers, sailors, and marines. One of these camps was located in Hatfield and was known as High Hall or Camp 116. Established during the Second World War, it could accommodate up to 750 prisoners at a time and was considered a non-Nazi camp. Over its operation, it housed approximately 1,500 Italian, Austrian, and German POWs. Many of the prisoners worked on local farms, contributing to the wartime agricultural effort. In addition to the main camp, two smaller satellite sites were also set up nearby in Matching Tye and Bishop’s Stortford.
The Explore:
When I arrived at the entrance to the site there were sounds of chainsaws in the sparse woods nearby, I hung around for 10 minutes trying to determine if the workers were acutely in the campgrounds or the neighbouring field. I decided I might just have to hide from them if they were nearby so I quickly got into the closest building under cover of the chainsaw sound. Once I was in I took a close look and they were definitely in the adjacent area but close by.
Once I was in the main area of the camp I relaxed a bit but it still felt quite exposed being so close to houses with little tree cover, so I stayed inside the buildings as much as possible
I wanted to do this site before it's gone forever and it seems like that day is coming pretty soon. Several buildings have completely collapsed and a couple I'm surprised are still standing with almost all the walls blown out.
I saw this in the partially collapsed wooden hut, not sure what it is, an old transformer?
E
The old cars were one of the main attractions left as the buildings were bare. I didn't see any historical graphite from prisoners that I have seen others mention, could have just missed it or those areas may have fallen
During World War II, the UK operated around 400 Prisoner of War (POW) camps, housing captured soldiers, sailors, and marines. One of these camps was located in Hatfield and was known as High Hall or Camp 116. Established during the Second World War, it could accommodate up to 750 prisoners at a time and was considered a non-Nazi camp. Over its operation, it housed approximately 1,500 Italian, Austrian, and German POWs. Many of the prisoners worked on local farms, contributing to the wartime agricultural effort. In addition to the main camp, two smaller satellite sites were also set up nearby in Matching Tye and Bishop’s Stortford.
The Explore:
When I arrived at the entrance to the site there were sounds of chainsaws in the sparse woods nearby, I hung around for 10 minutes trying to determine if the workers were acutely in the campgrounds or the neighbouring field. I decided I might just have to hide from them if they were nearby so I quickly got into the closest building under cover of the chainsaw sound. Once I was in I took a close look and they were definitely in the adjacent area but close by.
Once I was in the main area of the camp I relaxed a bit but it still felt quite exposed being so close to houses with little tree cover, so I stayed inside the buildings as much as possible
I wanted to do this site before it's gone forever and it seems like that day is coming pretty soon. Several buildings have completely collapsed and a couple I'm surprised are still standing with almost all the walls blown out.
I saw this in the partially collapsed wooden hut, not sure what it is, an old transformer?
E
The old cars were one of the main attractions left as the buildings were bare. I didn't see any historical graphite from prisoners that I have seen others mention, could have just missed it or those areas may have fallen
