Knockaloe hut roof ventilation cover
Date made: c.1916
Maker: unknown
Description: Wooden ventilation cover from a hut used at Knockaloe Internment Camp. Wooden boarded box with a pitched roof cover, louvred slats on sides and painted black. Bitumen (?) on roof. From a hut which was rebuilt at Glen Vine as a workshop. Item was acquired when hut was demolished (Oak Lodge, Crosby).
Background:
During the First World War (1914-1918) the Isle of Man was used as an internment base for civilian ‘enemy aliens’. They were held in two camps, a requisitioned holiday camp in Douglas and a purpose built camp located at Knockaloe near Peel on the west coast of the Island. These held at their peaks over 4,000 and 23,000 men in some cases for nearly five years between opening in 1914 and final closure in 1919. Over 30,000 men passed through Knockaloe between 1914 and 1917, more than the population of Douglas.
Measurements: overall: 46 cm x 92 cm x 57 cm
Materials: wood
Object name: Ventilation cover
Collection: Social History Collection
ID Number: 2003-0140
Subject tags : #WW1INTERNMENTMUSEUMCOLLECTIONS