PoW Camp 60 Lamb Holm

In about every PoW Camp occupied by Italian PoWs a chapel was built. On closure of the camps it was normal to sell off PreFab buildings. The Chapel at Camp 60 was saved in Orkney was made into a museum.

Location

Lamb Holm, Orkney KW17 2SF

Site Visits

June 2019

Material

DSLR Photos

Description

This and PoW Camp 34 were used to hold Italian PoWs that were used to build the Churchill Barriers. These Barriers  served to both restrict the passage of enemy submarines and thus protect the Royal Navy Fleet Anchorage in Orkney, but they also served as a roadway to link the Islands together.

This camp unlike Camp 35 is remember and is the site of an “Italian Chapel”.

Italian PoWs were known as very religious as well as avid lovers of beauty. At most camps with a long term presence the PoW would typically create a garden complete with statues and convert a basic hut set aside for religious worship into an elaborate church. Two of Chapel have survived into modern times, here at Lamb Holm, the other at PoW Camp 70 Henllan Bridge in Wales.

The Chapel here in Lamb Holm is at a high state of preservation and it along with memorials and a visitor centre are advised as a major tourist attraction on Orkney.

In addition to the preserved Nissen hut used by the Chapple the bases of a number of the other huts have also survived


Camera Images of the site of former PoW Camp 60 Lamb Holm