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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

POW camp Kinlochleven


kinloch

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  • 1 month later...
Guest penelope21

Hi, I have been reading the posts about POW camps in Scotland and I was wondering if anyone has any more information as I recently bought a photograph album that has 96 photographs relating to Caolasnacon, it has photos of the area and men making bricks and unmade roads being made, I also have aerial views of long huts that looks like a POW camp, some of the photographs are just of the area around with a small pier and boat with various men, some in smart suits and some in working clothes, these are ww1 era and all original, on the back of a few it has names of the men and Caolasnacon written on the back, and on one it reads RB camp Caolasnacon sports sack race in progress, I would appreciate any help on these as I have done a bit of research and cannot find many photographs relating to the POW in this area.

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Hi, I have been reading the posts about POW camps in Scotland and I was wondering if anyone has any more information as I recently bought a photograph album that has 96 photographs relating to Caolasnacon, it has photos of the area and men making bricks and unmade roads being made, I also have aerial views of long huts that looks like a POW camp, some of the photographs are just of the area around with a small pier and boat with various men, some in smart suits and some in working clothes, these are ww1 era and all original, on the back of a few it has names of the men and Caolasnacon written on the back, and on one it reads RB camp Caolasnacon sports sack race in progress, I would appreciate any help on these as I have done a bit of research and cannot find many photographs relating to the POW in this area.

I am sure there are a number of people who would be very interested in copies of the photographs if you get chance to scan. Bob65 is in Kinlochleven, there is a small heritage centre that has photographs of the camp near KInlochleven but I don't think they have any of Caolnascon. Also Lochaber Archive, Highland HER and the RCAHMS who I know have been in touch with the lady who lives at the site of the Caolnascon camp. I don't have her EMail address but I believe she is on Facebook.

There is a painting with the RCAHMS Canmore entry and I added some modern pictures of the area - you add them pictures or comments yourself if you wish.

I always like to get things like that somewhere accessible on a public record!

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Guest penelope21

Hi many thanks for your reply about Caolnascon, I will be contacting the Lady who lives at the Caolnascon Camp shortly, I am trying to tie in the relevance of the photographs of the camp I have with the brick making photographs , also being loaded onto a train , I researched these to discover there may have been a smelting factory so is there any relevance to the POW that were there.

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Hi many thanks for your reply about Caolnascon, I will be contacting the Lady who lives at the Caolnascon Camp shortly, I am trying to tie in the relevance of the photographs of the camp I have with the brick making photographs , also being loaded onto a train , I researched these to discover there may have been a smelting factory so is there any relevance to the POW that were there.

There was an aluminium smelter in Kinlochleven, some of the German POWs from the camp near Kinlochleven were put to work on the construction of that.

The two camps worked on building the road from Ballachulish to Kinlochleven either late in WWI or after the end of the war because the road into the area was very poor. Supplies would have been mainly taken in by ship. There were no brickworks in the area so it is quite possible that a temporary one was set up in the area. The only railway was one up from the pier to the factory though not sure when that was built. There was a railway to Ballachulish as well as Fort William and Oban

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I know this area well, I can't help but wonder if exposure of POWs to the highland midge constituted a breach of the Geneva convention!

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  • 9 months later...
Guest MikeFman

I am a member of a group based at The Kinlochleven Community & Sports Centre (The Leven Centre). We are hoping to commemorate the opening of The Camp in August next year (2016) with a one day event the centre piece being a painting commissioned by the group as a lasting memorial to the community and inmates of The Camp. We would be delighted to receive any articles, copied photos or information however brief to put alongside the painting as an exhibit. I was up at the site yesterday and have a powerpoint of photos detailing what remains on the site. Many thanks Mike

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  • 1 year later...

Details of the commemoration online

 

Kinlochleven Prisoner of War 100 Years Commemoration

 

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Events
 
NEXT MONTH
AUG13
The Leven Centre, Riverside Road Kinlochleven PH50 4QH
 
 
AUG13
Sat 11:45 in UTC+01 · Hosted by Kinlochleven Prisoner of War 100 Years Commemoration
Kinlochleven High School & The Leven Centre
 

 

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  • 1 month later...

Have been delving in the Red Cross Data Base. Attached is all the info I have gleaned about the Kinlochleven German POWs who were died in the influenza epidemic and were buried in the Duror Cemetery, then re-interred at Cannock-Chase War Cemetery.

Cannock-Chase.pdf

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Kinloch,

 

Thank you for that. I was going to try and contact you, funnily enough.

As part of a wider (personal) project, I am also working on PoW deaths in Scotland at the moment.If I remember correctly, I have nine confirmed burials at Duror Cemetery, so it looks like you are ahead of me.

I have also trawled the ICRC files and will compare notes when I am home and can access my database.

 

I also have a thread running in "Cemeteries and Memorials", initially on Stobs and Raasay, but which I hoped to expand bit by bit.

Phil

 

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  • 1 year later...

There is a talk about the two camps at the Lochaber Local History Society this week.

 

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The first meeting is this Thursday 7th September 2017 when Dr. Iain MacNicol, one time GP in Appin will be speaking on the Prisoners of War who were billeted at Kinlochleven during WWI. There were at least two camps and they worked on the BA and on the high road above Loch Leven - still known by some as the German Road.

In 1916 a group of enthusiasts from the Appin Historical Society did a great deal of research on the soldiers and held an exhibition to recognise this period of local history.

This will be an interesting insight into a hitherto little know aspect of Lochaber history.

The meeting will be held unusually at the Alexandra Hotel at 8pm on Thursday. All subsequent meetings will be at the Ben Nevis Hotel as usual.

Entry remains the same at £3 or £15 for the season of 8 talks.

 

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