# South Lane POW Camp near Widnes



## tom83 (Apr 8, 2009)

Hi all,

Ive been meaning to go to South Lane for a while, ans I finaly got there, and what an experience its been. Full of suprises, and the police.

First of all Id scouted the entrance a few weeks ago, theres a large T shaped tower and a large warehouse visable, unfortunatly this is all that remains of the POW Camp, besides a few concrete floors, where buildings had once stood.

BUT........ When you walk behind the large main building, I was amazed to see an almost complete Anti-Aircraft Battery, complete with bunkers and gun placements. Unfortunatly the bunkers are now filled with water but they are there to see, under the thick undergrowth. 

I will put the pictures of the AA Battery on a seperate post. Here are the pics of the POW site.

The Tower...












The Large Warehouse, where I think the POW's were kept.


























































Unfortunatly, before I could take anymore photo's or go upstairs, the Police arrived and told me to get lost, which I found to be quite rude.

I havent got any history on this site, but when I get it, I'll post it.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the pics


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## the_historian (Apr 8, 2009)

Good report, Tom. Cheers. 
Looking forward to the ack-ack battery pics too.


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## shatters (Apr 8, 2009)

tom83 said:


> Unfortunatly, before I could take anymore photo's or go upstairs, the Police arrived and told me to get lost, which I found to be quite rude.




Rude maybe, but at least you live to fight another day.

Phil


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## Foxylady (Apr 8, 2009)

Very nice find, Tom. Don't think I've seen a tower like that before.
Look forward to reading a bit of history about the site and seeing the AA emplacement.


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## Monstertriker (Apr 9, 2009)

brilliant - been past that hundreds of times on my way to work when I was in that neck of the woods, but always wondered what the smeg it was .............now I know!

Do you think anyone could get up the tower?


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## tom83 (Apr 9, 2009)

Hi Monster,

Unfortunatly the Police arrived before I could get upstairs in the Warehouse, and examine the tower, they literally caught me as I walked out into the sunshine on the ground floor, red handed so to speak.

There is a wooden board on the ground floor of the tower, covering the doorway, but the 1st floor door is open and the ladder looks to have survived the weather quite well. I was told it was a water tower for the site, but I personally think its way too small to be one, and I think it would have had a gun placement on the top looking over the POW's. I've got an afternoon to look it up, so hopefully Ill find some old pictures, and Ill post them on here

Tom


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## Monstertriker (Apr 9, 2009)

Brilliant work Tom, great pics.
My father in law (always lived in Widnes) told me that there were a lot of Italian POW's in Widnes, and they used to be put out to work in the local farms and gardens.


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## tom83 (Apr 10, 2009)

Thanks Monster,

Your Father in law is right, it sounds like the POW Camp in Ormskirk, my Great Uncle was a prisioner there, and he was sent to work on local farms, where he met my Great Aunt, and after the war he returned to England and married her.

Its nice to hear about these happy endings, in such a horrible time in history.


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