Pingley camp
Photos - 35.
Where - Lincolnshire.
Visited - June 2007.
Posted - 7 July 2007.
Categories -
urbex, military.
During WWII, a prisoner of war camp was built on the outskirts of Brigg, in Lincolnshire. It was used to house around 750 Italian and Germany prisoners. There were 35 huts on site - 23 for prisoners and the remainder for guards.
During the 1950s, the role of the site was drastically changed - it was used as a holiday camp. Well, a farming-holiday camp for the local farm. People would book in for a week, have a bit of a holiday and work on the farm. It closed during the 1980s. Some parts are still used by the farm to store machinery, but it is in a rather bad state.
Water Tower
The first thing you see when entering the camp is the huge water tower. It was also used to store items like towels and boots.
Buildings
The huts were of a standard pre-fab design and built by the prisoners in 1942/1943.
Interiors
Inside them was unusual. Some had been totally stripped. Some in original condition. And some covered with gaudy wallpaper from the 1970s. It was unusual to see the contrasting interiors!
A few baths, beds, toilets, chairs and other fittings remained.
Bits
There were lots of old bits lying around. Books from 1943. Suitcases. Old shoes. Egg records. Allsorts. It was like a minature museum.
Art
Several rooms were covered in prisoners' art - ranging from Goofy to Nazi chickens, via raunchy ladies.
Your Comments
View newest comments first
Posted 2 August 2007, 02:50 From CopySix
Great location - quite pleased to see some effects still at Pingley.
Posted 23 August 2007, 11:20 From The green tiger
What were these records of?
Posted 29 September 2007, 22:20 From Tania Hodgson
Fabulous art - has anyone contacted the local museums to let them know it's there, maybe it could be preserved?
Posted 24 October 2007, 12:10 From Björn Björnsson
A superb site, a must for evry military historian.
Posted 28 January 2008, 18:00 From joao franco
I happen to have spend around 6 months there, in 1965, as a foreign student on holiday, staying at the so called then Pigley Farm Hostel, do farm work to pay for my board and lodge and learn the language, visit the country and just be among other teenagers from around the world.
Those 6 months have helped me tremedously in the slow process of learning a foreign language and certainly have contributed a lot to the professional career I have followed.
I have great memories of this camp, and I have visited it again in 1998 and again in 2004.
Is there anyone out there that has also spend a vacation there in that year?
By the way I am from Portugal and my name is Joao Franco
Posted 29 January 2008, 00:10 From Harry Thorpe
Just out of curiosity I typed 'Pingley' into google tonight and found all these references to and photos of pingley farm pow camp. Amazing. My name is Harry Thorpe and the camp was built on my fathers farm in 1943. In 1981 my brother and myself took on the farm and in 1986 I farmed the farm and the camp with my wife.
In 2006 my wife and I sold the bulk of the farm and moved to the Lincolnshire wolds. I still own the camp and some land each side of it. A developer was granted planning permission in June 07 and will v shortly take ownership of the camp's core site and plans to redevelop it.
I am sorry that some will find this upsetting but the camp has become v derelict and is dangerously dilapidated.
I do have though many photos of the camp and some of its people taken by myself since about 1979 and some others from the mid 50's on, that I found after my father Jim Thorpe died in 2004 the day before his 90th birthday.
My plan one day when work and time allows is to try and put a photo history sequence of the camp/farm together in a photo book but in the meantime if anyone cares to contact me by email I will try and forward some copies of yhe more intersting photos, either by email or hard copy to a postal address.
Some names of residents from the past:
Major Charley Spasic, Warden, cruelly murdered in 1974
Johnny Dunne, camp handyman
Louie Carotti, worked on the farm, lived on the camp
Dragoslav Antic, as Louie
Stacko Dziedic, cook (poss suspect spelling of name!!)
Zabo, joiner
Bert Bryers
Harry Watt (glaswegian)
Jack Mitchell
Ken Binns, worked on the horse drawn coal cart of my uncle Jonny Thorpe
Arthur Binns, brother to Ken
ps, greetings to Joao Franco. Iremember you calling in at the camp in 98 on uk tour on your black honda goldwing! You were from Lisbon?
pps, I have a list of names and addresses that were left by about half dozen visitors mostly ex german pow,s/ postwar refugees
My email address is he,thorpe@googlemail.com
Posted 30 January 2008, 22:50 From LEE ROBINSON
i have just done the same as you harry googled pingley camp this place looks amazing im from scunthorpe myself i might just pop down and have a look at it before it gets redeveloped
if you could email me some of those pics harry it would be great
leerobinson1975@ntlworld.com
Posted 15 February 2008, 10:20 From joao franco
Harry
Nice to hear from you and the news about Pingley Farm camp future.
I have a few pictures myself and will be glad to contribute to the work you have in mind to accomplish.
What I would love to do is to be able to get in touch with some of the boys and girls that spent time there as foreign students or permanent residents during the summer of 1965.
After my visit on a black Honda (by the way a VFR800 not Goldwing) in 1998 I visited you again in 2004 this time driving a car, with my girl friend and met you briefly at home and you were kind enough to give me some copies of old phtographs of the camp and people there.
I remember you mentioned your plans to, one of these days, get yourself a good Jaguar and drive down to the Southern Coast countries with your family for a long deserved holiday. Make sure you call on me while in Lisbon when you accomplish that.
All the best Harry
Joao
Posted 27 February 2008, 08:20 From betty
Spent 2 weeks in 1954 on a farming holiday with 3 friends. What fun we had. We would have good meals made for us that we ate in the dining room. We slept in huts. we were all English. In those days you could go to places all over England, Scotland and Wales to go on farming holidays. As I had done a potato picking holiday with my school in 1948 that is why we decided to go back to Lincolnshire.
I went back in 1999 to visit Pingley Camp and it was sad to see it all in ruins.
Nice to see all the photos taken of it.
Posted 12 March 2008, 19:10 From kennypingley
how did pingley camp get called pingley camp.......im a pingley
Posted 30 March 2008, 22:30 From carol moore
Hi harry iam a 47year old women who passes the camp every day as i live in howsham i dont know why but it intreges me as i have heard so many storys from people i worked with one was when howsham got snowed in in1947 an prisoners from the camp started digging a road throught to hosham is this right ,photos very intresting.
Posted 31 March 2008, 23:30 From Harry Thorpe
In answer to Green Tiger's query: the 'records' in the photo are egg production records. When I was a small kid Dad kept chickens in about 8 huts at the top of the camp. Poultry operation probably finished in about 1966.
Answer to Kenny Pingley: Pingley Camp was called as such because it was built in '43 on Pingley Farm. I came across a farm near Sleaford once called 'Pingle Lea Farm'; which I thought had to be a variation on the name of our farm. Looking up 'Pingle' and 'Lea' in a big dictionary I discovered (if memory serves) that both words meant pretty much the same thing- basically, they were a small holding enclosure for stock, such as might have been used to hold stock overnight on the outskirts of a market town prior to driving them in to the livestock market on market day. And as our farm was situated right on the outside edge of the town it was obviously used in previous centuries in part for that purpose.
Dear Carol, I had heard something along those lines but I know no details. The only person I can think of who might know this and other stories is a man called Eggy Bramall who started work on the farm aged 16 for my dad many years ago leaving the farm about mid 60's and going to work for Cherry Valley at Caistor. He's been retired some years now and lives in North Kelsey.
Posted 8 April 2008, 12:50 From David
Hi Harry,
I was wondering who owned this camp now.
I was down by the camp a few days ago, I took some pictures from the footpath.
Do you still own the land or has it passed over to the developers? As I'd love to get a bit closer to take some better pictures.
Also do you happen to know what they plan to do on the land? Houses?
Im 22 by the way, my interest in the camp is purely a wish to take pictures and curiosity!
When I was there on saturday, I couldn't help feel the history of the place, it is very eerie!
Posted 11 May 2008, 13:10 From Georg Pachernegg
Hi Harry, I'm glad I found this!
My father was a pow on Pingley farn camp between 1945 and 1948, he is talking much about this time and is very emotional about it. He remembers a certain Peter and Gordon and Andrew and I'm very much interested in ANY sort of information about the camp.
I come to Yorkshire every now and then as a courier driver and always take him with me, and we simply must see the area one last time, if this is possible.
Are there any documents left of that time, mentioning him? His name is Hans Pachernegg from Recklinghausen, Germany, he was light blond and slim at the time and might have been called Lazy Hans by nickname. Any help is extremely appreciated! Time is moving fast, and there might not be too much left for him, being 81.
Please everybody who reads this and has got news for me contact me via email: g.org@gmx.de
Cheers!
Georg
Posted 15 May 2008, 01:50 From Emma
Don't ask me why or how i came upon this, i am Harry's daughter and since i know first hand his lack of ability to use any form of technology, this means he has almost certainly forgotten all about this page, since everyone is asking questions recently, i'll make sure he takes a look at it this week!
Posted 7 July 2008, 21:40 From peter meunzberg
Interested in looking at pictures. Heard down the grape vine camp is up for demolition/development. Wanted to have a look as father was a pow at the camp. Great photographs very interesting
Posted 2 August 2008, 16:20 From TikTok
We checked this out today. A couple of huts are completely flat, and several more and without walls, but the vast majority are still standing. There was a redevelopment sign at the road entrance though.
We couldn't find the drawings in the photographs above!
Posted 16 August 2008, 19:10 From Andrew Martin
Yes Peter this camp is due for demolition in september 2008 It is a great site and a good example of a standard type german working camp.I have been to the site many times
Leave A Comment