Following the South Tyne Trail along the river from Lambley Viaduct towards Featherstone, we came across the remnants of old buildings with only a plaque on what must have been the gatehouse identifying what it originally was: a Prisoner of War (POW camp) from World War 2.

In fact, it turns out that this was once Camp 18, a large hutted camp consisting of a guards compound, 2 prisoner compounds and a sports field (see the map below)

It was originally opened in 1944 to accommodate American soldiers arriving for the Normandy invasions. It was then re-appropriated to house Italian POWs and to rehabilitate captured German officers. At one point accommodating 4000 POWs before it closed in the summer of 1948.

Prisoners would work in the local community, helping at nearby farms etc. The camp had a bakery, a theatre, a library, chapel, classrooms and several orchestras, so life was reasonably good.

Archived pictures illustrate how big the camp was:

A fascinating walk around the remains of the buildings which is now primarily occupied by sheep 😊

Just beyond the camp, is Featherstone Castle, which has an interesting ghost story linked to it.

Apparently In the 17th Century, while being occupied by Baron Featherstone – he tried to force his daughter, Abigail, into an arranged marriage, however, her lover ambushed the wedding party hoping to escape with the bride.

Abigail was killed in the resulting skirmish and seeing this, her lover then fell on his sword.

Back at the castle the Baron waited for the party to arrive and, as the story goes, on the stroke of midnight they all filed silently into the hall and the Baron realised he was looking at the ghost of his daughter and her friends.

Spooky!

Although we can’t really verify this as truth…it’s just local legend.

Note: Featherstone Castle today is a private property and although it can be booked for events (including several paranormal ones says Wikipedia), it is not a visitor attraction.

We continued on our walk passed the castle and returned to our starting point at Coanwood car park.

More details on the South Tyne Trail can be found here and the Featherstone POW camp here

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