tarboat's photos with the keyword: wartime

Detail of the west side of the Warrington Transporter Bridge. An interesting feature is the siting of a Second World War firewatcher's shelter on the end. This heavy steel plate structure was installed in order to provide some protection from shrapnel for the firewatchers who were there to protect the nearby factories from incendiary bombs. It will have contained a seat and small shelf with, almost certainly, a telephone. This example appears to be a locally made item rather than the 'Consol' firewatching shelter which was sold for the purpose to a range of businesses.

There are just a few remains around USAAF Station 571 at Poynton, Cheshire, adjacent to the now defunct Woodford Airfield. This is a sanitary block type B, flanked by anti- tank cylinders of which there are many dotted around the site. The site was occupied by United States personnel from July 1942, and was used as a dispersal area for stores from Burtonwood AAF 590. The site is now an industrial estate.

Today I visited the remains of the Snape Farm POW camp at Weston. A surprising amount remains here and I was delighted to find that this drawing was still visible in one of the huts. It is a pity that the lower part of the face has disappeared under the later cement render. I wonder whether this was the wife/sweetheart of one of the prisoners, or perhaps it was just an idealised character? What is rather odd about this location is that it is not shown on most of the lists of UK Prisoner of War camps. I can find very little information about it other than a suggestion that it was used at different times to house both German and Italian prisoners.