NHER 25240 (Monument record) - Cranwich Labour Camp and World War Two Military Camp

Cranwich Labour Camp 1935-1939.
One of four labour camps set up in the Breckland area during the inter war years (the others were at West Tofts, High Lodge and Weeting). The camps were erected by the Ministry of Labour to house the unemployed, particularly from northern England. They were designed to 'harden' those who became unemployed as a result of the decline in industry, and to provide employment opportunities. Cranwich camp was purpose built, and run in a military style. Inmates did not attend voluntarily; their dole money was stopped if they refused to go. Work consisted of manual labour, such as road building, quarrying and forestry work.
By all accounts, conditions were tough and unpleasant, and there are accounts of occasional riots and mutiny. This social experiment came to an end with the onset of World War Two, when the employment situation was alleviated, and all the labour camps were reused for military purposes. Some of the original buildings may still exist, but they were generally replaced by military structures.
Information from (S1).
See also newspaper article (S2).
P. Aldridge (NLA), 14 September 2005.

April 1989. Field Observation.
Erected by Ministry of Labour to house unemployed from northern England.
Mostly Nissen huts, still standing but derelict.
E. Rose (NAU), 10 April 1989.

February 2011. Metal-detecting Survey and Watching Brief.
Work undertaken during rotavation of the plots.
The survey recovered 58 small finds including three medieval coins, three military buttons, one Great Western Railway button and an implement for cleaning uniforms. The foundation of a concrete building slab was recorded, as well as traces of several other structures including Nissen huts. A post-medieval pottery fragment and later prehistoric flints were also recovered.
See report (S3) for further details.
S. Howard (HES), 21 December 2011.

January 2019. Breckland National Mapping Programme.
The Cranwich Labour Camp during its later repurposed Second World War military camp phase can be seen as earthworks on aerial photographs and recent (2015) visualised lidar data (S4-S10). The site consists of a range of huts and support structures such as roads, a possible lawn area or parade ground and a sewage works to the north east. Some of the huts are dismantled by the 1950s with the majority of the camp removed by 1994 with only earthworks relating to the former concrete tracks, hut platforms and a road visible on recent imagery ((S8) and (S9)). The mapping shows the extent of area for the camp with photographs (S4)-(S7) showing the huts and the decline of the camp clearly.
The mapped extent of the camp has been significantly expanded, particularly to the east and to incorporate the sewage works to the northeast [1].
J.Powell (Norfolk Historic Environment Service), 31 January 2019.