Visitors claim council work damaged Sheffield WW1 site

Regular visitor Jess Ghost said she was "heartbroken" by the damage

A historic prisoner of war camp has been damaged by council workers felling trees, visitors to the site have claimed.

The remains of the Lodge Moor camp near Sheffield are being examined by archaeologists.

The camp was the largest in the UK and held thousands of prisoners during World War One and World War Two.

Sheffield City Council said the tree-thinning work had caused "some minor disturbance" which would be rectified.

Jess Ghost, a regular visitor to the site, said the camp's remains were of national and international importance.

"In my view, it's a dereliction of duty and care, and I was heartbroken to see what had been allowed to happen to this very significant site," she said.

"It's of the utmost importance the site is properly protected so it can never be damaged in this way again."

According to the the Local Democracy Reporting Service, visitors have claimed that the work damaged large concrete bases of the prisoners' accommodation, broke one of the toilet blocks and crushed remnants of sewage piping. 

The camp on Redmires Road just outside Sheffield held more than 11,000 prisoners during World War Two.

A picture of the camp painted in the 1940s

Its most famous prisoner was Admiral Karl Doenitz who escaped in 1918 by feigning mental illness. In 1945 he succeeded Hitler as president of Nazi Germany. 

The camp was abandoned after the war and woodland slowly covered the site, leaving only the foundations of some buildings visible.

Ruth Bell, the council's head of parks and countryside, said the tree-thinning work had exposed more of the camp's remains.

"We acknowledge some minor disturbance was caused and this will be rectified," she said.

"A site visit and recommendations were made by the South Yorkshire Archaeology Service and further remedial work will take place later this year."

Ms Bell added that the authority was working with a community group on a lottery-funded project to help interpret the site.