WW2 POW Camps: whatever happened to the ones in Britain?

[Howard of Effingham]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-30398060

I know that some will have heard of and indeed visited some of these POW camp sites but all the same it caught my eye.

and thanks to the BBC's Duncan Leatherdale for an interesting bit of reportage.

[pyro-manic]

There's one very close to my parents' house in South Wales. It is now being developed, but was basically untouched for decades.

[NARSES2]

I think some of them were used as what would now be called activity centres for school trips in the 50's and 60's. ?

[dadlamassu]

The one near us became a country park.  Some of the brick buildings became community workshops until they fell apart.  Now the country park is still there and where the buildings were is a smart housing estate.

[Nick]

That report mentions Harperley camp in County Durham which was the first to be a Scheduled Monument. The owners are looking for finance or Lottery money to help reopen the museum, the Theatres Trust and English Heritage are keen to see this happen.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-16730025

Time Team did a dig of the Napoleonic Prison at Norman Cross in Cambs, lots of finds plus a report on the ivory and bone artwork the prisoners made to supplement their income.

I know of two near me in Essex. One is Hill Hall, a fine Elizabethan mansion with Renaissance wall paintings. It was a womens prison (Myra Hindley was there) until 1969 but during WW2 it was a low-security site. There is a story of one prisoner who was released in 1945 but never signed the correct forms. He settled locally on a farm but had trouble with his identity papers as he was considered a POW 20 years after the war!

Hatfield Heath POW camp is still mostly intact and has been derelict for some years. Mainly for Italian farm workers with some trusted Germans later on. There were reports in local papers of creating a museum there but nothing yet.
http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=24693

List of UK POW Camps with some 'Great Escape' stories http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/nov/08/prisoner-of-war-camps-uk

[pyro-manic]

Island Farm - mentioned in that article - is the one down the road from my parents' house.