Pingley Camp in Bigby parish was a Prisoner of War camp that held Italian PoWs during the Second World War. It is a typical example of a 'Standard Camp'. In the official government numbering it was camp number 81 and refered to as Pingley Farm Camp, Brigg. It was built to house some 750 prisoners, and consisted of a tented camp, guards' compound, prisoners' compound, prisoners' garden plots, recreation ground and a sewage disposal works. An outer plain wire fence supported by concrete posts and an inner barbed wire fence enclosed the prisoner compound and the recreation ground. Within the prisoners' compound a 'sterile' area was established between the inner fence and a further coiled 'Danart' barbed wire entanglement. 'Danart' barbed wire is pre-coiled barbed wire usually laid in triangular configuration with two rolls for base and one for top. The complex was accessed from a public highway by a single-track spine road. The guards' compound consisted of a group of some fifteen huts: administration offices, soldiers' quarters and ablutions, officers' quarters and mess, fuel store, detention block (calaboose) and a brick water tower occupied a rectangular parcel of land immediately north of the main gate to the prisoners' compound. The prisoners' compound occupied a six-acre square area of land and contained 35 huts, including a cookhouse, grocery and produce store, two dining huts, two recreation huts, drying room and showers, two ablution and latrine blocks, a camp reception station (sick quarters), a living and carpenter's hut, and 23 living huts. The majority of the living huts at the camp were ten-bay Ministry of War Production standard huts built using pre-cast reinforced concrete frames and wall panels, but 8 of them were Laing composite timber-framed huts clad in weather boarding and internally lined with plaster-board. Secondary cladding with bitumised corrugated iron sheets has since altered the appearance of these huts. Both the MoWP and the Laing living huts were 60ft in length and built in ten 6ft bays with windows occupying alternate bays. Outward opening doors with padlock hasps were located in each gable wall. The interiors were open-plan and heated by two cast iron pot-belly stoves. One living hut was sub-divided providing accommodation for the camp leader and a carpenter's workshop. The largest single structure within the prisoners' compound was the Camp Reception Station (CRS), also known as the sick bay, hospital, or the Red Cross building. The CRS consisted of three interlinked MoWP huts. The left hand eight-bay range contained the Medical Officer's Room, Dental Surgeon's Room, Orderly Rooms and a variety of store rooms, showers and lavatories. The main and isolation wards occupied the twelve-bay central range, while the remaining seven-bay range contained a boiler room, pantry, kitchen, and the Medical Officer's Bedroom. The CRS at Pingley retains its original plan form and all of the room functions (written in Italian) can still be read when cross-lit, for example, Gabinetto Dentistico (Dental Surgeon) and Sula Pulizia (Sluice). In May 1946 Pingley Camp was responsible for 1862 prisoners, 984 of whom were housed at the camp and the remainder were either billeted out, or lived at one of four hostels at Elsham Hall, Elsham Mount, Elsham Manor and Scawby. After the repatriation of PoWs, and probably after 1948, Pingley Camp became a hostel for farm workers, perhaps until the late 1960s or early 1970s, and under the name Concordia Camp, Pingley Camp continued into the 1980s as a foreign student hostel. {1} There is some surviving graffiti inside at least one of the huts, including an image of Mickey Mouse with Minnie Mouse. {2} Further graffiti were discovered during a building survey prior to the demolition of the camp. Some of these are of later date, however two landscape paintings with German titles are probably attributable to German prisoners of war. A piece showing three female figures and a male figure was also found loose on the floor of a hut, having been removed from the hut's south wall. Missing pieces of plasterboard on the walls of some huts indicate where paintings or graffiti have been removed. {3}{4}