free hit counter
POW Camp 116, Hatfield Heath, Bishop's Stortfotd, Essex (March 2014) | Oblivion State Urban Exploration

Post a thread

Post a thread in one of the forums

Browse the forums

Browse threads and contribute to reports

Contact Staff

Contact the team

POW Camp 116, Hatfield Heath, Bishop's Stortfotd, Essex (March 2014)

upright_ninja

Oblivion State Member
OS Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2014
Messages
42
Reaction score
0
Points
6
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.

13195899404_286ff30df3_b.jpg


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!

13195877024_4ccd43d3db_b.jpg


POW116_16 by andyf30501, on Flickr

The valve, mentioned above (tower block).

13195871764_6c1c2534bc_b.jpg


POW116_18 by andyf30501, on Flickr

A shot of the main concourse.

13195565895_9bf2df075c_b.jpg


POW116_23 by andyf30501, on Flickr

Farm machinery inside one of the old Nissan type huts.

13195917144_e74b95b582_b.jpg


POW116_2 by andyf30501, on Flickr

Even grafitti artists prefer good grammar!

13195599395_f8e2230361_b.jpg


POW116_11 by andyf30501, on Flickr

More machinery...

13195570815_823da3a172_b.jpg


POW116_21 by andyf30501, on Flickr

Solitary resident.

13195618575_a081e422a3_b.jpg


POW116_4 by andyf30501, on Flickr

Plenty of doorways.

13195575895_617bce5d35_b.jpg


POW116_19 by andyf30501, on Flickr

A badly decomposed Hillman... I think it'll 'buff out'...!

13195559125_a8e97f30d7_b.jpg


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

 

Lara

Full Member
OS Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2013
Messages
2,157
Reaction score
43
Points
48
Love the black and white, cracking first report there, thanks for sharing :)

:comp

 

skeleton key

Full Member
OS Member
Joined
Jun 26, 2011
Messages
4,213
Reaction score
31
Points
48
A great write up there and the Monos working fine here and well as some nice shots.

A location from my old neck of the woods

Thanks for the share (y)

 

Silent Night

Full Member
OS Member
Joined
Dec 16, 2012
Messages
648
Reaction score
2
Points
18
that's a cool 1st post mate, great b&w shots, cheers for the share (y)

 

cunningplan

Oblivion State Member
OS Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2014
Messages
139
Reaction score
2
Points
18
You've done well to capture what is there and your shots are great, I personally really like the 3rd one down (y)

 

woody

OS Member
OS Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2014
Messages
45
Reaction score
0
Points
6
nicely done U*N the cobweb shot is really nice :cool:

 

upright_ninja

Oblivion State Member
OS Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2014
Messages
42
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Thanks guys, really appreciate the feedback! I've only recently started getting to grips with Urbex and my only regret is not discovering it when I was younger! Climbing walls and fences seems a bit of a daunting task when you're in your forties!

U*N

 

Nelly

O.S Friend AAA
OS Member
Joined
Jan 7, 2011
Messages
1,653
Reaction score
3
Points
38
Nice little first report mate, mooched this a couple of times and it steeped in so much history

 

silverainbow

O.S Friend AAA
OS Member
Joined
Sep 11, 2010
Messages
843
Reaction score
7
Points
38
Very cool indeed, great bit of history and a stonking set if pics, what an awesome first post, thanks for putting the effort in to make your first post something really different !

(y)

 

klempner69

OS Member
OS Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2013
Messages
462
Reaction score
89
Points
43
Age
66
Forties?Pah!!..Excellent report that man.

 
Top