Prisoners of War & Gravel Workings
At the start of the war, Henry Francis Clifford was served with compulsory acquisition documents by the government for land south of Perryway. The extraction of its gravel was required for building projects to aid the war effort. These included works associated with the National Shipyard scheme at Chepstow.
During 1917, 110 tons of gravel was dug by hand each week and transported to the canal, initially along Perryway and loaded at Fretherne bridge. In January 1918, as demand increased, 100-150 men from the Inland Docks & Waterways section of the Royal Engineers were billeted in Frampton. They reinstated an old railway line from previous workings, with its terminus at Splatt bridge.
Also in 1918, German prisoners of war, guarded by the Royal Defence Corps, set up camp in fields to the north of Perryway to provide gravel for building works at the Bramley Army Ordnance Depot, Hampshire. They utilised another abandoned mineral railway which joined the main line near Frocester. (This had originally been built when a nitro-cellulose factory had been planned at Henbury, near Bristol.) Frampton's gravel was also used to make concrete blocks at a site beside Perryway.
Pioneer Arthur Wadsworth of the Royal Engineers lost his life after being injured during a shunting accident on one of the railways at Frampton, and four German prisoners of war succumbed during the influenza pandemic in 1918. The prisoners of war were generally well regarded by the villagers that they worked alongside, and anecdotal evidence suggests that Frampton people were felt somewhat sad when the remains of those who died were exhumed from the churchyard at St Mary's and reinterred at the German Military Cemetery at Cannock Chase, Staffordshire.
The photograph below shows British troops, civilians and German prisoners of war alongside one another at Frampton.
During 1917, 110 tons of gravel was dug by hand each week and transported to the canal, initially along Perryway and loaded at Fretherne bridge. In January 1918, as demand increased, 100-150 men from the Inland Docks & Waterways section of the Royal Engineers were billeted in Frampton. They reinstated an old railway line from previous workings, with its terminus at Splatt bridge.
Also in 1918, German prisoners of war, guarded by the Royal Defence Corps, set up camp in fields to the north of Perryway to provide gravel for building works at the Bramley Army Ordnance Depot, Hampshire. They utilised another abandoned mineral railway which joined the main line near Frocester. (This had originally been built when a nitro-cellulose factory had been planned at Henbury, near Bristol.) Frampton's gravel was also used to make concrete blocks at a site beside Perryway.
Pioneer Arthur Wadsworth of the Royal Engineers lost his life after being injured during a shunting accident on one of the railways at Frampton, and four German prisoners of war succumbed during the influenza pandemic in 1918. The prisoners of war were generally well regarded by the villagers that they worked alongside, and anecdotal evidence suggests that Frampton people were felt somewhat sad when the remains of those who died were exhumed from the churchyard at St Mary's and reinterred at the German Military Cemetery at Cannock Chase, Staffordshire.
The photograph below shows British troops, civilians and German prisoners of war alongside one another at Frampton.