tin town

[tom compton]

hello pals can you tell me what camp was called tin town .thanks tom

[reformbill]

hello pals can you tell me what camp was called tin town .thanks tom

I believe that Lydd in Kent was known to the gunners as "Hut Town Lydd". To the locals it was known as "Tin Town" because of the new 'tin' huts built on the army camp early in the war. A postcard entitled 'Tin Town Lydd' was published by G.A. Cooper of Maidstone. My father was a gunner with 160 Siege Battery RGA which was based there from 26th July to 26th August 1916. The only time the Battery fired their 26cwt howitzers before embarking for the Western Front on the 17th September. and entering the front line three days later.

Peter

[Moonraker]

hello pals can you tell me what camp was called tin town .thanks tom

Quite a few, I'm afraid. The term was perhaps used to describe any collection of huts where tin featured in their construction. In the context of Wiltshire, what first comes to mind is a collection of traders' stalls once forming the Garrison Market at Tidworth Barracks. "Tin Town" also appears as the caption on several early twentieth-century postcards showing accommodation at Brimstone Bottom for the men (and their families) building Tidworth barracks. These huts, including a church or chapel and school, look like something in the Wild West. It was intended that, after the barracks were completed, the accommodation would be retained for army use. During the Great War it formed an isolation hospital.

Moonraker

[ckop4]

Temporary accommodation for soldiers to the rear of Cork Barracks, Ireland, was also known locally as 'Tintown.'

[Tom Morgan]

Kinmel Park camp in North Wales also had a "Tintown" - as other have said, it was the part of the camp where the "shops" were - the YMCA Hut, the Camp Post Office etc.

Tom

[BeppoSapone]

The term "Tin Town" pre-dates the war.

It was a name given to any, more or less, temporary housing made of "tin".

Here is an example from the Derbyshire Peak District in the Edwardian period. The "ghost town" of Birchinlee, which was temporary housing for navvies building dams.

http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba59/feat3.shtml

[Guest mruk]

Tom, are you looking for something relating to the 6th Dorsets stay in the Wareham and Romsey areas as part of the 17th [Northern] Division? The 10th WYR was stationed around here. Would I be right in assuming the 6th Dorsets would be based quite nearby? The only images I've seen are the bell tents towards the end of 1914 and early '15. Temporary accommodation must have arrived shortly after.

Kind Regards,

Dave

[tom compton]

thanks all you pals.yes dave the 6th dorsets were camped at worgret with the 10th yorks just outside wareham and as you say romsey and fovant. looking for information and photos on the camps. thanks tom

[Guest mruk]

Hello Tom,

I can't remember if I've already posted this, but it could be worth contacting the Dorset Family History Centre. The same applies for the regimental band.

http://www.dorsetforyou.com/index.jsp?articleid=2203

Cheers,

Dave