PoW Camp 231 Redgrave Park PW Hospital

Regrave Park was used as US Army Air Forces General Hosptal 65. The PoW Camp and Hospital have gone but it is commemorated by a memorial marker

Location

Redgrave Park, Redgrave, Diss, Suffolk, IP22 1RT

Description

Site Visits

May 2019

Material

DSLR and Drone Photos
UK Foreign Office Inspection Report
UK War Office Diary

OS Aerial Map view shows a cleared field of the size and shape of a former PoW along with woodland and fields at Redgrave Park Farm.

During WWII Redgrave Park housed a war time US Army Air Forces 65th General Hospital. This hospital was made up of Prefab and temporary buildings located within parkland close to Redgrave Hall Farm and would have been similar to the Hospitals at RAF Cosford and RAF Hospital Nocton Hall Reserve Hospitals. The hospital was also used to treat PoWs – Hence it’s secondary name of PoW Camp 231.

Both the Hospital and PoW camp have now gone and have been replaced in modern times with woodland on the edge of field used to graze sheep. Although the site has gone it has been commemorated by a memorial marker to the Hospital at the entrance to Redgrave Park. As the site contained a field full of sheep between the site and the roadway and owing to rain the photos taken where limited to ones taken from the driveway through Redgrave Park. Opposite a lake running through Redgrave Park was PoW Camp 56 Botesdale. The remains of this camp in the form of  water tower can be seen from Redgrave Park and were included within the images taken.


Camera Images of the site of former PoW Camp 231 Redgrave Park PW Hospital


Extracts from UK Foreign Office Inspection Report from UK National Archives Kew and Memorial Marker:

FO 1120/183 PoW Camp List 20Feb47 inc PoW Hospital
US Redgrave Park 65th Genral Hospital