A Home for Local People
After the War the site of the 107th hospital was quickly utilised by people in need of housing. An acute housing shortage after the War meant that many disused military buildings throughout the UK were put to a similar purpose. Unofficially occupied at first, by 1950 Kington Rural District Council and Kington Urban District Council had converted the old wards into dwellings for which they charged a small rent. Each ward was converted into three dwellings with two bedrooms, a living room, a small toilet and a kitchen with a table that hid a bath beneath. The walls were very thin: sound traveled through them and they did not retain the heat. People recall the intense cold in winter and that there was sometimes ice on the blankets when they woke up. By the 1960s houses for some of the tenants had been built on the site of the 107th hospital – you can see them in the eastern section of the 1962 aerial photograph reproduced above, just to the left of the old nurses quarters. They are also in the right background of the colour photo below.
To view a larger version of the 1962 aerial photograph click here
People continued to ‘squat’ in some of the remaining and unconverted military buildings, including what used to be the nurses’ quarters. The daffodils which grow in front of some of the concrete hut bases may be evidence of the use of this area for habitation.
There were some amenities at the camp, such as a shop and a hairdressers. The disused Polish Church was converted for use as a Baptist Church. A Sunday School was started up that soon was attended by fifty children, and a week-night service for all was led by the Kington Baptist minister. These services were continued until 1957 and thereafter children at the camp were bussed in for Sunday School in Kington.
Although there had always been a primary school at Mahollam farm and adjacent to the old 107th hospital, this was too small to take all the children now living at the camp. One of the camp buildings was converted for use as a classroom and many local people were educated there.
Many local Kington families lived for a time at Hergest Camp but this part of the camp’s history is as yet poorly documented. If you have any information that could help us learn more, we would love to hear from you.
Listen to Buddy Robinson describe her experience of living at Hergest Camp
Search the database for more information about housing at Hergest Camp after the war