While digging test pits in our search for a medieval site we unexpectedly came across some in situ remains of a prisoner of war camp.
We were fully aware that some wartime buildings were in our area of interest and we'd previously encountered rubble associated with them. Newspaper advertisements such as that below show that structures, equipment and building materials from the camp were sold off in 1953, so we were slightly surprised to find part of a brick floor still intact. However, it soon became apparent that what we had was in fact a lower layer. Traces of the upper layer were still attached to the concrete foundations in places showing that some bricks had broken as they were being removed so it was probably not thought worthwhile to attempt removal of the rest.
Being comparatively recent features, POW camps were neglected in the second half of the 20th century and only now are they being studied in detail. A list of known camps can be found at: https://www.ww2pow.uk/
