Harperley Prisoner of War Camp, co. Durham, UK
Harperley P.0.W. Camp no.93 (a brief history)
There were approximately
1500 POW camps in WW2 in Britain but only 100 were purpose built, such as
Harperley. The initial 54 buildings were constructed to MOD plans using MOD
materials and typical of many military installations around Wartime Britain. 49
buildings remain in varying states of decay; they were built to last 15 years.
Located on a hill above the River Wear approximately 250m West of the A68 & A689
junction. It was built on farmland from the Spring of 1943 by its first
occupants. Italian POW's. and the camp's life expectancy was then estimated to
be 15 years.
Harperley Camp was a purpose-built structure to house low security risk
prisoners numbering from 800 to 1500 men. It was also a headquarters camp,
eventually controlling a further 10 satellite camps across North East England.
These in turn, were run by NCO's housing in total, a further 500 POW's making
the maximum number controlled from Harperley 2000 men.
Shortly after the Italian Government had capitulated & its Army surrendered some
of the prisoners were repatriated and the remainder who did not leave were moved
to other camps, such as Bedburn and Consett.
The German POWs arrived in September 1944, three months after D-Day, 6 th June
1944. Initially, they were transported to America, Canada , the Caribbean,
Australia and New Zealand. If Hitler & the Axis Powers had successfully invaded,
the Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, did not want to supply a ready-made
army stationed in Britain, albeit under lock & key.
British guards to the North & Prisoners to the South ! The Prisoners (firstly ,
the Italians, then, secondly, the Germans) in their compound were self-governing
and catered to their own needs. The guards entered only if there was trouble,
or, they were invited in. There are no evident reports of trouble here at
Harperley.
The current owners purchased Harperley late in 2001, a vision of the past & the
future. It had to be first cleared of the 2 metre high thorns & bracken, the
green slimy concrete paths & roadway and rid it of it's resident vermin
population.
Harperley was included in the first series of the BBC TV 'Restoration '
programme, which helped to obtain funding to refurbish the interiors of the
British guards' accommodation I known now as the Garden Centre, Gift & Farm
Shops and the immensely popular Tea Rooms & 'Der Que ll ’ Restaurant building.
The 'Prisoner side ' was to be another venture by the owners possibly storing
plant & farm machinery or a poultry farm until their interest grew from the
sights and buildings they uncovered. The owners eventually placed a local
newspaper advertisement and, subsequently, were contacted by ex-POWs, ex-Guards
and local residents. One ex-POW in particular has played a prominent part.
At its height, Harperley held from 800 to 1500 prisoners and they were counted
out and either loaded onto different forms of transport, or marched, to work, 6
days a week at 7am, locally to agricultural, dam, forestry, road and other
labour consuming projects. They returned 12 hours later at 7pm. Depending upon
their skills they could earn 6d (or 2 1/2 pence) a week - British agricultural
workers could earn 75 shillings (or £3.75p). Some surviving prisoners inform us
they 'blew' their wages on things such as '...a slice of fruitcake and a bottle
of pop '. However. regulations stated POWs were not allowed to carry cash and
their wages were placed in a central fund from which they collectively
benefited. On their return from their daily work they would march to the only
entrance & exit from the 'Prisoner side' to be given"...their personal GIFT from
King George VI, three horrible cigarettes !" (Incidentally. Gift in German means
POISON !).
The API Team, along with
invited guests teams, remain proud of the fact that they were the first team to
officially investigate a prisoner of war camp in the UK. We remain the only team
to date which has been allowed the privilege of investigating Harperley,
POW Camp 93.
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