For most of its time, the camp was for "European Voluntary Workers" who remained in England after the end of hostilities. From memory - please correct me if I am wrong - it was started in 1944. In 1946, there were 941 men (German, Italian and few other nationalities, such as Czech), mostly still housed in tents. The population of the whole parish without them was around 2000 people! Nissen huts and bigger communal buildings were later built, and we have a catalogue of the sale of the buildings and equipment from the camp in 1951. Items sold off then included a 1000 gallon hot water tank, 10 wooden ablution benches, 3 timber cycle racks, four goal posts and a flag pole!
Map extract reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland. Ordnance Survey Six Inch series England and Wales, published 1952
Mr R J Rudolf remembered his time in Thorney as a "volunteer worker" for a BBC website.
Source - BBC People's War site https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/15/a3323215.shtml
