Walderslade WWII POW Camp

[Smiffy]

The camp is clearly visible on Google Earth by using the timeline slider, it's also visible via Heritage Maps.

[Arthur Paternoster]

I recently acquired the attached card from a German POW at Walderslade Camp. I wondered if anyone could tell me exactly where the camp was, please.

The camp was situated at the rear of the field opposite the The Hook & Hatchet pub now called The Poachers Pocket, after the war the camp was used for housing families waiting for Council House homes,
 I attended the the school in Dargets Road in the mid to late 1940s with two brothers from there. The big house mentioned as the Commandants (now demolished)house opposite the Working mas Club was occupied as I remember by a Doctor Nadre (maybe German). I believe eventually it became a vicarage,

[stuartwaters]

My Wife and I nearly bought that house in the early 2000's.

I'm pretty sure that a number of the POWs housed in the camp settled here after the war. I remember a conversation with the old boy who used to have the barbers shop on Gillingham Road opposite the post office there when he told me that he first came to this country as a POW and stayed after the war.

[Stewie]

Knew I had seen this document before, perhaps this might help?

[Stewie]

This is a picture of the building that I was advised was the camp commandants house for the camp at Walderslade. Curiously, my mother used to talk of the camp which was still there post war and she referred to them as Italians. My father says that post war, the the POW's were employed building the roads for the nearby Wayfield estate.

[MartinR]

Well that fits in with King George Street/Road.  The 1947 1:25,000 OS map shows nothing but (presumably) open fields there.  The overlay image (ESRI World Image, 2013) appears to show crop markings, but these could be due to other factors.

[Stewie]

I thought it was on the playing fields opposite the Poachers Pocket public house. I was told that the camp commandant’s house was a bit further along Walderslade Road at the junction with Sussex Drive, just before the road descends towards Walderslade village.

[MartinR]

References put it in King George Street, but thereby lies a problem, there is no such road.  There is a King George Road which in 1947 only ran from Walderslade Road to Gorse Avenue.  There's nothing obvious on the map, it might have been in Weeds Wood (which is now build over with the Yarrow Road area) but I'm afraid it's anyone's guess.  The Overlay maps are available at https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16.2&lat=51.34695&lon=0.51745&layers=219&b=1&o=100

[gperfett]

I recently acquired the attached card from a German POW at Walderslade Camp. I wondered if anyone could tell me exactly where the camp was, please.