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Well, after seeing other reports about this place I decided to take a trip there to have a look myself. Early start this morning and it was a bit fresh... especially on a m/bike at 0600hrs!
I can't find a great deal of history about the place and I don't like to just "copy & paste" someone else's hard work, so I'll try and put together what I can find out.
The camp at Hatfield was originally commissioned to house Italian POW's c.1941 and there were two other smaller camps at Matching Tye and Bishop's Stortford. The camp at Hatfield Heath accommodated approximately 750 Italian POW's who, because they posed no risk as Nazi's, were collected by transport daily and taken to various areas of farmland to assist with agricultural work. By 1943, however, this had changed and the camp now housed German and Austrian POW's. Like their Italian predecessors, the POW's were also taken out of the camp each day to 'earn their keep' by working the local farmland. This must have been a welcome break for all the inmates who more than likely found POW life quite monotonous. The conditions in the camps within the British Isles were in total contrast to what 'our lads' were enduring while incarcerated elsewhere in Europe and the rest of the world.
On a lighter note, while I was looking for information about this site I stumbled across a very interesting quote from an American Government Issue pamphlet on how to behave when in mixed company with British citizens (I can provide the link for this particular source if anyone would like it). The area around Hatfield and in particular, Bishop's Stortford, saw a huge influx of American GI's in the latter years of the war and they were pretty much conditioned on how to behave whilst guests in our 'foreign land'... here it is:
Care should be taken on swearing in mixed company, the word ‘bloody’ being one of their worst swear words. Don’t call their money ‘funny money’. They sweat hard for it (earning much lower wages than Americans). Don’t mock pounds, shillings and pence. American soldier’s pay is the highest in the world. Don’t brag about the fact to the British ‘Tommy’. Don’t be misled by the British tendency to be soft-spoken and polite. If they they need to be, they can be plenty tough. The English language didn’t spread across the oceans and over the mountains and jungles and swamps of the world because these people were panty-waists.
Sound advice... the Yanks were always quite wary of the Tommy's and still are to this day!
Anyway, here are a few of the shots I managed to get from today's visit... I apologise for the 'full-on mono assault' but I am a bit of a sucker for mono and considering the type of site this is, I felt it fitting to have them in black and white. Enjoy!
I think this is the main mess hall for the British troops stationed here to look after the POW's. This looks like a serving counter.
POW116_8 by andyf30501, on Flickr
Tower block. This was empty except for a couple of large diameter pipes and valves and the upper stories are inaccessible due to the ladders being blocked. Another time maybe, the view from the roof must be worth checking out!
POW116_16 by andyf30501, on Flickr
The valve, mentioned above (tower block).
POW116_18 by andyf30501, on Flickr
A shot of the main concourse.
POW116_23 by andyf30501, on Flickr
Farm machinery inside one of the old Nissan type huts.
POW116_2 by andyf30501, on Flickr
Even grafitti artists prefer good grammar!
POW116_11 by andyf30501, on Flickr
More machinery...
POW116_21 by andyf30501, on Flickr
Solitary resident.
POW116_4 by andyf30501, on Flickr
Plenty of doorways.
POW116_19 by andyf30501, on Flickr
A badly decomposed Hillman... I think it'll 'buff out'...!
POW116_25 by andyf30501, on Flickr
This is my first post on this site so I hope everything goes ok with it. Thanks for looking and again, apologies for the 'mono-overload'... I just can't stop myself! If there are any more 'Essex-Urbexers' who fancy exploring local sites (and ones further afield), please, feel free to get in touch!
Keep safe, y'all...
U*N
I can't find a great deal of history about the place and I don't like to just "copy & paste" someone else's hard work, so I'll try and put together what I can find out.
The camp at Hatfield was originally commissioned to house Italian POW's c.1941 and there were two other smaller camps at Matching Tye and Bishop's Stortford. The camp at Hatfield Heath accommodated approximately 750 Italian POW's who, because they posed no risk as Nazi's, were collected by transport daily and taken to various areas of farmland to assist with agricultural work. By 1943, however, this had changed and the camp now housed German and Austrian POW's. Like their Italian predecessors, the POW's were also taken out of the camp each day to 'earn their keep' by working the local farmland. This must have been a welcome break for all the inmates who more than likely found POW life quite monotonous. The conditions in the camps within the British Isles were in total contrast to what 'our lads' were enduring while incarcerated elsewhere in Europe and the rest of the world.
On a lighter note, while I was looking for information about this site I stumbled across a very interesting quote from an American Government Issue pamphlet on how to behave when in mixed company with British citizens (I can provide the link for this particular source if anyone would like it). The area around Hatfield and in particular, Bishop's Stortford, saw a huge influx of American GI's in the latter years of the war and they were pretty much conditioned on how to behave whilst guests in our 'foreign land'... here it is:
Care should be taken on swearing in mixed company, the word ‘bloody’ being one of their worst swear words. Don’t call their money ‘funny money’. They sweat hard for it (earning much lower wages than Americans). Don’t mock pounds, shillings and pence. American soldier’s pay is the highest in the world. Don’t brag about the fact to the British ‘Tommy’. Don’t be misled by the British tendency to be soft-spoken and polite. If they they need to be, they can be plenty tough. The English language didn’t spread across the oceans and over the mountains and jungles and swamps of the world because these people were panty-waists.
Sound advice... the Yanks were always quite wary of the Tommy's and still are to this day!
Anyway, here are a few of the shots I managed to get from today's visit... I apologise for the 'full-on mono assault' but I am a bit of a sucker for mono and considering the type of site this is, I felt it fitting to have them in black and white. Enjoy!
I think this is the main mess hall for the British troops stationed here to look after the POW's. This looks like a serving counter.
POW116_8 by andyf30501, on Flickr
Tower block. This was empty except for a couple of large diameter pipes and valves and the upper stories are inaccessible due to the ladders being blocked. Another time maybe, the view from the roof must be worth checking out!
POW116_16 by andyf30501, on Flickr
The valve, mentioned above (tower block).
POW116_18 by andyf30501, on Flickr
A shot of the main concourse.
POW116_23 by andyf30501, on Flickr
Farm machinery inside one of the old Nissan type huts.
POW116_2 by andyf30501, on Flickr
Even grafitti artists prefer good grammar!
POW116_11 by andyf30501, on Flickr
More machinery...
POW116_21 by andyf30501, on Flickr
Solitary resident.
POW116_4 by andyf30501, on Flickr
Plenty of doorways.
POW116_19 by andyf30501, on Flickr
A badly decomposed Hillman... I think it'll 'buff out'...!
POW116_25 by andyf30501, on Flickr
This is my first post on this site so I hope everything goes ok with it. Thanks for looking and again, apologies for the 'mono-overload'... I just can't stop myself! If there are any more 'Essex-Urbexers' who fancy exploring local sites (and ones further afield), please, feel free to get in touch!
Keep safe, y'all...
U*N
