Kirmington POW Camp ~ Prisoners of War in Lincolnshire
I recently visited the Prisoner of War camp at Kirmington in Lincolnshire - a grim but fascinating sort of place which no doubt reflects the nature of such places.
I hope to find out much more about it - can you help
POW Camp 292a is in Kirmington , Lincolnshire, and sits right beside Humberside Airport, as is now, or home of the Lancaster Bombers of 166 Squadron during World War II.
I went here with Chris Keyworth who was acting as guide and all round good egg. The weather actually did justice to the spot I felt, it was cold, damp and overcast - the bleakness shows through in the photograph I think.
I’m now in need of help, serious help. The sentence above I wrote an hour ago - one hour researching and virtually nothing !
English Heritage say the exact location is not known but then this isn’t the first time EH have left me scratching more than my head !
I read on an obscure site a mention of POWs using former WAAF quarters near the church.
What have I got below ? ? ?
[later edit] What we have here in as ‘Orlet Hut’ and this was known as a ‘Displaced Camp’
Kirmington POW CAMP 292a ?
I should really like like to pin down some history for this place and would appreciate any information anybody has got because I’ve failed miserably in my research.
I would also be very keen to hear from anybody who can shed some light on daily life and the routines in and around the camp
Do you know anyone who stayed there or indeed was a guard or such like ? If you do please do leave a comment.
My apologies for this thin article and I hope to be able to redress the situation with further research and perhaps a little help from those of you out there
All the best
Rod
[Later edit] Please scroll down and check the ecomments for more information including original plans !
the dinosaur said,
February 4, 2010 @ 9:06 am
Rod, I’m no expert but I’ve seen a lot of disused R.A.F. airfields in Lincolnshire and these seem a standard design for them, probably meant to be blast proof, distinctly different from POW accommodation more typically made of brick and wood. It would fit in though that you read the POWs were kept in former WAAF quarters. The POWs may have been kept there to work on the airfield, a common practice, Italians prisoners were employed and considered low risk.
Rod said,
February 4, 2010 @ 10:08 am
Dino,
that’s both very interesting and very useful and excellent theory.
I think you could well be on to something
Best
Rod
Rod said,
February 4, 2010 @ 1:58 pm
Chris,
that’s more than a interesting - great link !
It seems we’re right and right then !
WAAF barracks originally that were later used for prisoners of war ?
I noticed the other pictures up there as well Chris, nicely identifying the other structures we saw - I’ll be writing those up asap
Great stuff
All the best
Rod
David J. Smith said,
February 5, 2010 @ 8:14 pm
Chris, fascinating read. I’d like to visit the old POW/WAAF barracks. Could you tell me exactly where they are situated please. I’ve had a look on Google maps and I can’t see them.
Regards
Dave
chris keyworth said,
February 5, 2010 @ 8:20 pm
dave if you want the guided tour let me know and i will show you around.
regards
chris
Rod said,
February 6, 2010 @ 8:23 am
Chris,
that’s brilliant - great find !
They are Orlet Huts at a ‘dispaced camp’
Great stuff
Regards
Rod
David J. Smith said,
February 6, 2010 @ 10:12 am
Chris, that’s great, thanks. Maybe we could do ‘Miss Venus’ on the same day, and then I’ll treat you to a ‘full english’ at Barneys Cafe.
Regards
Dave
chris keyworth said,
February 6, 2010 @ 11:43 am
dave sounds like a plan we will try and get it in then back end of this month….
regards
chris..
philip said,
April 2, 2010 @ 8:06 pm
hey rod,
since my grandfather was a pow there n the 40s, i went to kirmington 2 weeks ago,as i mailed you. it was great. there seems to be a former pow-camp in brigg, which is seven miles away - the watchtower is still there. maybe it was called kirmington during wwII?!
in kirmington itself we couldn’t find that much - the people in the pub had no idea and one woman on the humberside airport told me to go to brigg. the churchwarden hadn’t the faintest idea as well… nevertheless it was quite cool to see the village where my granddad pend 3 years of his live…
thanks for your mail and best wishes
philip
Rod said,
April 3, 2010 @ 8:11 am
Hi Philip,
pleased to got but sorry to hear you didn’t find the huts above
They are definately in Kirmington, perhaps CK, one of our erstwhile contributors, may have a grid reference.
Hope you enjoyed your Lincolnshire trip overall Philip and many thanks for leaving the comment
All the best
Rod
carl said,
April 10, 2010 @ 9:11 am
hi, we live on the airport fence (stonecroft farm)and know the local bunkers well but can not place the pow camp? have you a reference that would give us a clue?? regards carl
Rod said,
April 10, 2010 @ 9:26 am
Carl,
thanks for the comment and welcome to the site. This is one for Chris Keyworth - I think of him as the
‘Human GPS’
If you visit the site please do drop a comment and let us know of your visit and thoughts
Best
Rod
chris keyworth said,
April 10, 2010 @ 11:30 am
Carl
oddly enough me an Rod walked the foootpath round your farm on route to new banetby when we visited this site the grids for the POW camp are TA 1070 1140 enjoy your visit
regards
chris
chris keyworth said,
April 10, 2010 @ 11:47 am
Phillip
Really Sory i didnt get back to you i must have missed you post somwhere down the line the one you speak of at Brigg is part of the same camp but not located in the same area the one at Brigg or to be exact Bigby was the main camp and had you visited in 2008 it was still extant and clearly vissible most of the building survived until recently when the site was sold off and torn down ( criminal in my minds eye) whilst you where in Kirmington near the church you would have been so close if only there was somone who knew about it you would have found it.
regards
chris
chris keyworth said,
April 10, 2010 @ 1:33 pm
ok ive made a decision what i am going to do is a walk through at Kirmington it will be one sunday in June i will take anyone who is iterested for a walk around the surrounding area, a guided tour hopfully i will get some of the villagers to come along for the walk and in future as the word spreads about the sights that are in kirmington it will make it easyer for visitors to find what they are looking for and build awareness…
regards
chris
exact date to follow…
History Hunter said,
April 11, 2010 @ 1:11 am
That’ll be worth taking a day off work for. I have found the majority of things mentioned on Google Earth in and around Kirmington….including the POW camp!
I shall wait for the date with anticipation!
Who knows, Monsignor Keyworth, you maybe able to show them things on the HUY site too
Rod said,
April 11, 2010 @ 9:14 am
Chris
exact date to follow
Don’t pick an F1 Sunday
Best
Rod
Graham C said,
April 15, 2010 @ 11:23 am
Would you like a copy of 11 Communal site-map emailed to you to complement the Airfield Archaeology photos
Rod said,
April 15, 2010 @ 11:47 am
Graham,
welcome to the site - I would love that - many thanks - contact details top right hand side of pages
Regards
Rod
Rod said,
April 17, 2010 @ 9:21 am
Update - maps added
We are very grateful to Graham for sending in the Kirmimngton airfield plans above for the
No 11 Domestic Site
Superb !
All the best
Rod
History Hunter said,
April 18, 2010 @ 12:50 am
Any chance of having all the other domestic sites in detail too? Useful for overlaying on google earth to see if anything remains in crop marks etc
ROGER said,
April 18, 2010 @ 7:36 am
Hi I over look the old WAAF buildings from my house that are in the photo`s,Iam unaware that they were used for POW`s I was told that pig`s were kept in them for a time after the war, Weelsby woods in Grimsby was a POW camp,one of the old building was the ice cream shop for many years. Roger
Rod said,
April 18, 2010 @ 9:08 am
Roger,
thanks for the comment and welcome to the site.
Thanks for the confirmation and the information about the livestock - an interesting addition
All the best
Rod
History Hunter said,
April 26, 2010 @ 4:22 pm
Is there any chance anybody has a detailed map of site 6 next to the fork in the road? I took a walk round it today and would love to know what all the different buildings are/were.
Veronica said,
May 25, 2010 @ 12:10 am
I recall visiting these huts vin the eary 60,s they were located down Haborough Lane at Kirmington
Rod said,
May 25, 2010 @ 7:29 am
Veronica,
thanks for sharing and welcome to the site - hope you’ll return
All the best
Rod
tony said,
August 14, 2011 @ 8:19 am
Hi Rod just seen this thread about kirmington no 11 site is there any chance of getting copies of them, i am in the process of photographing all the sites around kirmington and it would be a great help….
Rod said,
August 14, 2011 @ 9:03 am
Hi Tony,
I’ve only got what you see above I’m afraid, sorry about that
Regards
Rod