Welcome
Explore the Interactive Map and learn more about Kington Camp. Move your mouse over the map and click on highlighted areas to retrieve related information from the Kington Camp archive.
The map is based on an aerial photograph of Kington Camp taken in 1944 by the US airforce which is the copyright of English Heritage (NMR) USAAF Photography.
The Kington Camp Project 2006
Kington Camp is an important but little known Second World War heritage site close to the town of Kington in Herefordshire, UK.
It was used by the British as a re-grouping point after Dunkirk, by the Americans as a major hospital installation, and after the war by the Polish Resettlement Corps. The camp brought many thousands of people to Kington under extraordinary and difficult circumstances.
This project is about the impact of the Camp on the small town of Kington. It brings together information about the people who lived and worked there, during war and peace, as military personnel, wounded soldiers, and as civilians. Who were they? What do they remember? What stories can they tell?
Many of the buildings at the Camp remain standing, although two thirds have disappeared since the Second World War. What remains of the Camp today? What did it look like? What can archaeology tell us about life there?
This project is also about the future. By recording these memories and studying the site, we can help preserve the importance of Kington Camp for generations to come.
This website brings together information gathered during a community project to learn more about the camp. You can listen to the experiences of veterans and local people, view photos and historic documents, search our Project Database, view the results of an archaeological survey, see a 3D reconsruction of one of the old wards, and explore the site on the Interactive Map.
The Interactive Map of Kington Camp shown above is based on an aerial photograph taken by the US in May 1944. The road from Kington to Brilley (running East to West) bisects the Camp: the 107th US General Hospital lies to the North, and the 122nd US General Hospital lies to the South. Use the map to learn about the site and discover associated audio and visual information.
A Search facility allows you to explore the numerous images, audio clips, texts and documents in the Project Database.
The Project page shows how the involvement of local schools, the Kington community, the Museum and Southampton Archaeology Department have all played vital roles in this project.
People and History will help you to learn more about the Camp’s history and the people who worked, recuperated and lived here.
The Camp page allows you to explore the physical site itself, using data from our Archaeological Survey and a 3D reconstruction of one of the American hospital wards.
The Purple Hearts section is a searchable database of soldiers awarded Purple Hearts or Oak-Leaf Clusters by the 122nd US Army General Hospital. This has been constructed from US archive records.
Your memories
Were you or a member of your family ever at Kington Camp? We would love to hear from anyone who has any information, memories, photographs, artefacts or connections to the camp. You can send us your comments and images.
John Higginbotham Archive
In the 1980s, John Higginbotham, a Kington resident, undertook considerable research into the history of Kington Camp for the Kington History Society. The results of his work were published in a book entitled Kington Camp, from which much of the narrative history presented in this website has been drawn. Higginbotham consulted widely with many who lived, worked or stayed at the camp, collecting written testimony, photos and documents. We are indebted to the Kington History Society for enabling us to make Higginbotham’s extensive unpublished archive material accessible for the first time through this website.