Prisoners of War
Heinrich, Ernst, Willheim – Germans
Possano, Guieppe, Bruno – Italian
Leonid, Geoarge, Boris – Russia
Marton le Moor Millenium Book 2000
Prisoners of War (POWs).
The first POWs at Ripon seem to have been Italians (ref.8), captured in the North African campaign.
They were held in the Racecourse Camp at Ripon, which was designated camp number 121 (ref.15).
Later, this camp seems to have also held German POWs since it is described as a ‘German working
camp’.
The camp at Ure Bank, also known as Redlands, was used to house German POWs during the war.
Ure Bank was given two different camp numbers, these being 178 and 247 and it had 101 huts of
different types (ref.15).Camp 178 is described as a ‘base camp’ whilst 247 was a ‘German working
camp’. The double numbering may reflect the use of the camp at different times and is not
uncommon.
A number of huts survived at Ure Bank until the 1980s when they were cleared to extend the
caravan site which had been established on the site; they had been refurbished for use as a shop,
shower blocks and games room. Some of the concrete hut bases have been used for caravan
hardstanding (ref.14).
The position regarding the numbering and administration of the POW camps is confusing. Scriven
Camp outside Knaresborough was also given the number 121, probably when it too housed Italians,
and may indicate that Scriven was administered from Ripon at that time. From 1946 however, when
Scriven housed Germans, it became camp no 211, a base camp, which itself administered various
small POW hostels in the area, including that at Great Ouseburn. Additionally, after the war, some
Germans would have lived on the individual farms where they worked; most POWs and Displaced
Persons appear to have worked as agricultural labourers before the last man was repatriated in
1949. By the end of the war, more than 400,000 Germans were being held in POW camps on the
outskirts of British towns and by 1946, these prisoners accounted for 20% of all farm labour in
Britain (ref.16).
The POW hostel at Great Ouseburn, which was formerly the village workhouse, is still standing on
the road between Green Hammerton and Boroughbridge, and is currently used as aseed store,
screened from the road by trees.
References
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Ripon Gazette, undated, Harrogate Library archives
www.visitripon.org
Archives, Harrogate Library
Bruce B. Halfpenny: Action Stations 4, Military Airfields of Yorkshire 1990
Unreferenced newspaper cutting, Harrogate Library archives
National Gallery of Canada
Durham County Archives, 18th DLI at Ripon 1915.
Ripon Gazette 1 September 1989
Ripon Gazette 24 May 1985
Letter from Lt.-Col J.E. South, REHS, 15 August 1972
Ripon Gazette 29 January 1988
www.airfieldinformationexchange.org
Ripon Civic Society
www.wartimememories.co.uk
Roger J.C. Thomas: Prisoner of War Camps (1939-1945), English Heritage 2003
Juliet Gardiner: War on the Home Front, Imperial War Museum
Kevin Earl
Claro Community Archaeology Group
2013
West Yorkshire Archive Service
Morley 2012
Newby Estate Records
16 Oct 1944 – Letter from Dale to War Dept Land Agent re POWs hunting rabbits in Estate woods
16 July
POW
asking
gardens
1945 – Letter from Dale to
camp at Ripon Racecourse
of prisoners may be
available to help in Newby