Who spent the war camped at this location, and what was the result? Listen to the audio file below to find out.
Who spent the war camped at this location, and what was the result? Listen to the audio file below to find out.
At our last stop we imagined industry at its height, bustling and productive.
By the 1930’s canals as a means of carrying cargo had gone into decline in the face of competition from road and rail transport.
A lot of industry here closed down or moved away but the area and those left behind weren’t immune from the bombing and destruction of world war two.
Another impact of the war concerned prisoners. The north end of what today is Mandeville Place was the site of an Italian Prisoner of War camp – Camp 30 – and there was another section nearby for Germans. The prisoners made friends among the locals, and an official report stated “The most important factor in their re-education has been the excellent civilian contacts and this in spite of the fact that the majority of the men have been stationed in the heart of the East End of London.”
The POW Camp was closed in 1948, the same year the canals were nationalised after the war and the Bow Back Rivers and the Lee navigation were deemed to be of no economic value. Boat use stopped, locks seized up and river channels silted up and were filled with rubbish.
By the 1960’s the area where you are standing was forgotten and forlorn.
For the next stop, go to the grassy edge of Mandeville Place between the two arms of the Diamond Bridge, and look down.
This page is part of Start the audio trail
