Stobs Camp Ruins

Stobs camps was first used in the First World War - by the end of 1914, it housed 4,600 German prisoners. Only 2,200 of them were combatants, though - most of the remaining prisoners or so were German (or allied) civilians living in Britain at the time - including one - presumably somewhat lonely - Bulgarian.

However, it became military only from that point until the end of the war. By 1917, 15,000 men were posted to the site, looking after 6,000 German prisoners.

It was also used in the Second World War, as a resettlement camp, and later on, a summer camp. Something of a happy ending, perhaps, which was cut short in 1959, when it was abandoned. The majority of the infrastructure has now gone, but the track outlines are still visible, and it presents an eerie window into a not-so-distant past.