Monument record MDO41092 - Wartime military camp, Merley Park, Poole

Structures and earthworks associated with a wartime military camp at Merley Park are visible on 1940s and 1950s aerial photographs. The features are believed to be associated with a World War 2 prisoner of war camp, Camp 1021, which was a German working company camp and could have been in use until 1948. The camp is recorded as re-using the site of an earlier military camp and features associated with this may be located in the east of the site where sub-circular features similar to another small military camp to the east (MDO41091) are faintly visible below later structures.The features were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

Structures and earthworks associated with a wartime military camp at Merley Park are visible on 1940s and 1950s aerial photographs (1-5).

The features comprise rectinear structures on varying scales, along with a range of sub-circular and amorphous earthworks and structures, all interlinked by a network of accesss roads and pathways. Some sub-oval structures present are clearly tents; the guy ropes are visible and some tents are made of camouflaged material.

In 1941 a cluster of sub-circular features are faintly visible as parchmarks in the northeast of the site. These are similar in form to a group of banked enclosures visible to the east of the site in 1941 (MDO41091). The features in MDO41091 are thought to be a World War Two military fuel storage depot. The features here are clearly redundant and removed by this time - possibly the depot was re-sited to allow for expansion of the military camp?

The site is documented as a World War Two prisoner of war camp that re-used an earlier military site. The earlier military site may have been associated with the small camp to the east (MDO41091), which appears to have been rather temporary in nature.

The function of individual features and structures is not clear on aerial photographs but principal features may include: Inmates accommodation; officer accommodation (in an isolated group of structures below trees in the northeast of the site?); washing and lavatory blocks; water storage tanks; access roads and pathways. It may be assumed the main house and buildings may also have been commandeered as part of the site. Aerial photographs between 1941 and 1951 indicate some re-modelling of the camp during the war years, with most structures removed by 1946, although some buildings and pathways remain visible through 1946 to 1951 (1-5).

The site is now below a modern caravan park and parking areas on current Google Earth imagery. The features are no longer visible. They were digitally plotted by the Dorset Stour NMP project.

A Second World War prisoner of war camp at Merley Park, Wimborne Minster (SZ 0132 9830), known as Camp 1021. This was a German working company camp. It occupied a pre-existing camp. The camp has since been removed and the site is currently occupied by a bird garden and caravan site. <6>

<1> Royal Air Force, 07-JUN-41, RAF/225D/UK8503 V 1-14 (Aerial Photograph). SDO16018.

<2> Royal Air Force, 12-DEC-46, RAF/CPE/UK/1893 RP 3199-2000 (Aerial Photograph). SDO16019.

<3> Royal Air Force, 17-JAN-47, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 RP 3191-2 (Aerial Photograph). SDO16022.

<4> Royal Air Force, 17-APR-51, RAF/58/629 V 5097-8 (Aerial Photograph). SDO16020.

<5> Royal Air Force, 17-APR-51, RAF/58/629 V 5098-9 (Aerial Photograph). SDO16021.

<6> Thomas, Roger J C, 2003, Prisoner of War Camps (1939 - 1948), 53 (Monograph). SDO17753.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1475770 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Mar 3 2022 4:17PM