PoW Camp 288 Gilling

This is an interested site in that it consists of a grange and farm buildings that have now been converted into a house in its own right. This site of former PoW Camps 4 and 288 contains a number of hut bases in different locations giving an indication to the size of this camp with some basses being landscaped into a garden.

Location

Hartforth Grange, Comfort Lane, Gilling, Yorkshire

Description

Site Visits

August 2019

Material

DSLR and Drone Photos

On visiting this site, I initially meet the owner of Hartforth Grange who showed me the location of two remaining Hut Bases in the field to the South of the house. She then introduced me to the gentleman living in what was farm buildings to the West of the Grange and has since been converted into a large house.

The gentleman living in the converted farm buildings explained that they had over the years a number of returning German and Austrian PoWs who also commented that the camp also had a small number of Italians one of which was the camp barber. The gentlemen showed me a number of hut base in the field to the west of the buildings as well as a number of hut bases directly to the south of the buildings that had been landscaped into the garden and that these buildings were reported to be latrines. As the remaining hut foundations were in the grounds and a request had been made for privacy there are NO close images of the Grange, or the converted farm buildings that make up the second family home on this site.

The gentleman explained that British Officers used the Grange for their ow accommodation with the farm buildings where he now lives being used for multiple purposes. He also explained that English Heritage had actually visited the site and took a number of photos whilst compiling their own report; despite this they located the camp on the East of the site were as in fact it was to the West and the South.


Camera Images of the site of former PoW Camp 288 Gilling