Please be aware that my list of PoW camps is NOT a definitive list. In the years I have been researching Island Farm, I have never been fortunate enough to find such a list. The previous list is one which has been painstakingly pieced together over the years using all manner of varying documents.
I often receive emails from people who recall the presence of a camp but very rarely its name, number, or exact location. However, due to the frequency of such emails, I thought that I would add the email accounts to this web page in the hope that it might help somebody locate a camp or come forward with some additional information.
The following are examples of such camps which have been brought to my attention, but it is unclear whether these were PoW camps or used by the military:
Was there a PoW camp at Grazeley Green, near Reading, Berkshire? NGR SU678673?
PoW camp 88 was at Mortimer (Little Park Farm), so was 2 or 3 miles from Grazeley Green; similarly Camp 135 at Spencers Wood (Stanbury House), again several miles away. The only other PoW camps recorded as being in Berkshire are Camp 7 at Ascot, Camp 25 at Farncombe Down, Camp 43 at North Hinksey, Camp 246 at Pangbourne, Camp 652 and Camp 693 both at Didcot, and Camp 1001 at Thatcham.
Of course, the question is—were there other PoW camps that are not on the list? Grazeley had the appearance of a PoW or army camp, but was it? Perhaps it was an army camp, or maybe the huts were constructed at the time AWRE/AWE (Atomic Weapons Research Establishment) was built to accommodate the workers. So far, I've drawn a blank on all these possibilities.
Back in the late '50s, access was available from the south and from the north. I'm 99.99% sure that I've located the right place, but it is now completely different. No huts remain as it is just a playing field, but the concrete north-south road is still there. Someone reckons that it was an Italian PoW camp, but I've found no proof of this. It is next door to a farm and I am wondering if it was accommodation for prisoners, or ex-prisoners, working there.
About a mile south of Condover, Shropshire, there was an RAF training airfield during WWII, and part of the western end of this was used to house German prisoners, at least at the end of the war. What I don't know is how long this site had been in use during the wartime. The entrance to the camp site was at OS Map Ref: SJ 4908 0423.
I can remember visiting this camp after the end of WWII whilst former German prisoners were still housed there awaiting repatriation. The prisoners were used as farm labourers in the area. My home at that time was within walking distance of the camp site.