Exploring Lodge Moor Camp, Sheffield

Former purpose-built prisoner of war camp built in 1939, which was cleared in around 1949 before being planted as woodland in 1958. Built to house 11,000 prisoners, making it potentially the largest camp in the UK, extensive ruins remain including bases for accommodation huts, ancillary buildings and parts of perimeter fencing.

The area has a long history of military use, having been used as a temporary army camp from 1910 to 1914 and then on a permanent basis by different regiments from 1914 (then known as Redmires Camp). An airfield at the site, initially used from 1912 for exhibition flights, was used in 1916 by a home defence unit tasked with defending against airship attacks. Between 1917 and 1919 the site served as a prisoner of war camp and in the years after the war as a hospital. The site was redeveloped as Lodge Moor Camp in 1939 to detain prisoners of war, including a large compound surrounded by a secure perimeter and containing six regular rows of buildings including dormitories, ablutions, and mess halls. West of the main compound was a less regular range of buildings accommodating the soldiers and administration functions serving the prison. A large area of temporary tented accommodation was added to the west of the administration area during the height of its use. After the war, the site served as a transit camp for displaced civilians, including a large number of Ukrainians. The camp was closed in 1949 and subsequently cleared before being planted as woodland in 1958. Most of the site remains as woodland with a section, within the former ancillary compound, forming a Gypsy and Traveller site.

Sources: Price, D. 2018. Welcome to Sheffield: a migration history; ASE Ltd, 2007. Redmires Camp Plantation, Sheffield: desk-based assessment and level 2 archaeological survey; Thomas, R. 2003. Twentieth Century Military Recording Project: Prisoner of War Camps (1939-1948); 'Camp 17 - Lodge Moor Camp, Redmires Road, Sheffield, Yorkshire' available: https://www.ww2pow.uk/; Hanspn, J. 1995 Sympathy, Antipathy, Hostility: British Attitudes to Non-Repatriable Poles and Ukrainians after the Second World War and to the Hungarian Refugees of 1956, PhD thesis, Sheffield University; 'Aerial Photo - RAF_58_B_41_VP1_5253' available: https://historicengland.org.uk/images... and various photos available: https://www.picturesheffield.com/.