# Hatfield Heath POW Camp - 116 Aug 2015



## jsp77 (Aug 23, 2015)

Here we go my first post, so please be kind.

*Hatfield Heath POW Camp - 116* this was explored with a non-member.

*History.*

Prisoner of War Camp 116 was set up in 1941 to house Italian prisoners of war. 
However from 1943 it mainly held German & Austrian Pow's.

*From a Harlow Star article in 2008:*

Many people may not be aware that the area we now call Harlow was once a place where captured soldiers were sent to work the land.

German and Italian troops caught during the conflict had the opportunity to break from the incarceration of prison camps to feel some sense of normality working on the farms which dotted the area.

The work was totally voluntary and the lifestyle quite enjoyable in comparison to the life British POWs endured in German hands.

There were a lot of Italians at the main camp in Hatfield Heath, which was built for about 750 people. The camp was non-Nazi, so it was classed low-risk and there was a War Agricultural Committee which arranged for Land Girls to pick up prisoners and take them to allotted farms and then take them back again.
There were also two satellite camps, one in Matching Tye and one in Bishop's Stortford, which were on a smaller scale and the prisoners at the Matching Tye camp were sent to work on land which is now Harlow.






































All in all a good few hours out, hope you enjoyed my first report.


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## The_Derp_Lane (Aug 23, 2015)

This is great stuff.  Thanks.


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## krela (Aug 23, 2015)

I did enjoy it, thank you.


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## smiler (Aug 23, 2015)

Lovely report and pics, Thanks for including a bit of the history of the site, that's always a bonus, I enjoyed looking, Many Thanks.


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## Bones out (Aug 23, 2015)

Thats good stuff... The panels of those huts, concrete or worse I wonder?


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## Sam Haltin (Aug 23, 2015)

Nice report. Interesting history and your photographs are spot on.


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## ironsky (Aug 23, 2015)

Nice report , some of the Italian or German POWs used to make items like model ships or toys made out of scrap materials they used to sell or exchange them for food or clothing. Some of POWs meet their future wives though such trading and stayed on after the war had ended in 1945.


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## Mikeymutt (Aug 23, 2015)

Great first report there mate


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## flyboys90 (Aug 24, 2015)

For a first report you captured it just right,cracking shots and write up.


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## stopsy (Aug 24, 2015)

Bonesout said:


> Thats good stuff... The panels of those huts, concrete or worse I wonder?


Look very much like Asbestos cement panels, but some look like asbestos insulation board (AIB), be careful out there guys, this stuff is not good for you. Ive been removing it for 20 years.


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## Cowieb (Aug 24, 2015)

Very nice good history and research.


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## fluffy5518 (Aug 24, 2015)

Loving it mate ! Really good pics too !! Great post !


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## jsp77 (Aug 24, 2015)

Thanks for the kind comments, will try and get some more posts loaded up in the next week or so.


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## LadyPandora (Aug 25, 2015)

Nice report 
I went here a few months ago and was not expecting it to be fenced off and surrounding trees cut down.
I didn't go over the fence as there were a few houses around, wish I did now.
A local man did say they were planning on knocking it all down, no idea how true that was.
Thanks for sharing


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## krela (Aug 25, 2015)

They will have to knock it down in the not too distant future because, as stopsy pointed out, it's constructed from asbestos boards which are not restorable or maintainable.


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## jsp77 (Aug 25, 2015)

Thanks, we was there for an hour and a half, a few cars went past but no problems.

It would be a shame to knock it down, but whilst its there enjoy it before its too late.


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## jammy (Aug 26, 2015)

like that, just my sort of thing....


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