Heritage Open Days Devonshire Dome Public Talk - Prisoner of War Camps in Buxton

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Learn about the history of the two prisoner of war camps located at Buxton from 1917 to 1919.

The picture shows the site of one of these prisoner of war camps, at Ladmanlow, looking from Axe Edge across to Grin Low and Solomons Temple. The second camp was at Peak Dale.

Each camp was set up in 1917 to provide volunteer prisoner of war labour to work in the adjacent limestone quarries at a time when acute labour shortages had been created by the loss of manpower to the armed forces. Limestone and lime were important supplies for a range of wartime materials, including steel, explosives and for agriculture.

The talk will cover the local details of these camps - location, size, construction and clearance - and also the effects of the Spanish Flu epidemic. It also covers the International Treaties that set out the rules for the use of prisoner of war labour and the inspection of the camps by neutral observers. From the international records, information was obtained on some of the prisoners who worked at the camps.