Museum plan for former PoW camp near Crook

Nov 4 2009 by Neil McKay, The Journal

A CHARITY has been set up to raise almost £1m in an attempt to reopen a former Prisoner of War camp as a museum.

Harperley camp, near Crook, County Durham, was turned into a tourist attraction in 2004, but the owners can no longer afford to complete its restoration.

The camp housed German and Italian prisoners in the Second World War and won ancient monument status after being bought by its present owners in 2001.

James and Lisa McLeod had hoped to turn it into a national visitor centre. It has gone on sale for £900,000.

Now an organisation called the Shildon Community Museum Limited hopes to raise the money to buy the camp.

Secretary Richard Wigham, from Wolsingham, Weardale, explained: “Our interest is in horse drawn vehicles and our intention is to combine a horse drawn vehicle museum with a PoW camp museum at Harperley. We have already had discussions with the McLeods and we are looking for government funding.

“We would run the camp as a charity and any profits would be ploughed back into the camp.