Nostalgia
Military past of Park Hall David Owen examines Oswestry’s military past, with a visit down memory lane to Park Hall. One of the most interesting periods in Oswestry’s ‘recent’ history is the military presence at Park Hall. Park Hall Camp was built in the grounds of a wonderful Tudor mansion at the beginning of World War One. The Royal Welsh Fusiliers and the Cheshire Regiment were the first occupants in July 1915 and many thousands of troops passed through the camp in the following years. The camp also housed German prisoners-of-war including, in 1919, the officers who scuttled German naval fleet in Scapa Flow, Orkney. A ‘German’ cemetery used to exist on the other side of the Shrewsbury – Chester railway line just beyond Whittington station until the bodies were exhumed and returned to Germany in the 1960s. The camp boasted an extensive hospital which became the Robert Jones & Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital in 1921. Park Hall itself served as officer accommodation during WW1 but, tragically, the building was burnt to the ground following a massive fire which was caused by an electrical fault, on Boxing Day 1918. After the last POWs were repatriated in 1920 the camp was largely abandoned
and fell into disrepair. It became a venue for motorcycle racing during the 1930s and much of the land was turned back to agricultural use. In 1939, with international tensions running high, Park Hall Camp was revived and opened once more in July of that year. Primarily home to the Royal Artillery, the camp remained active throughout the war and in the years following housed Canadian troops before reverting to the Royal Artillery and the Infantry Junior Leaders Brigade. Many thousands of National Servicemen passed through the camp in the 1950s and 60s, including Bullseye host Jim Bowen and Dad’s Army creator Jimmy Perry. The camp finally closed in December 1975 when the last IJLB recruits left. It was a massive blow to the local economy which was still reeling from the loss of the railway some seven years before. The area now houses the massive BT House as well as Oswestry Rugby Club and the Showground which regularly sees episodes of TV’s Bargain Hunt filmed there, as well as many shows and exhibitions during the year. Oswestry’s military history may well have finished over 40 years ago but its presence will never be forgotten.
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