Local historian Pauline Marples has curated a new exhibition at Mansfield Museum that looks at the role of Clipstone Camp and Mansfield during the first world war. It opened today, 4th October and runs until 22nd November.

n May 1915 men of the UPS (University and Public Schools Brigade) of Kitchener’s New Army began arriving at a newly-built Military Training Camp at Clipstone. From small beginnings, the Clipstone Camp grew to become a massive concentration of wooden huts which, at its height, was home to 30,000 people – at a time when the population of Mansfield was only 37,000! Though many such camps were established, it is believed that the one at Clipstone was the largest in the entire country. It also served as one of the biggest Demob Centres at the end of the War.

The exhibition is the third in the museum’s trio marking the outbreak of hostilities 100 years ago. The camp’s story will be brought to life by photographs, documents, artefacts and the letters of some of the thousands of soldiers who were stationed there.

Visitors will have the chance to learn about the Military Hospital and its nurses, the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAACs) and the civilian workers at the camp. The impact of such a massive influx of people into the district on local communities will be considered, as will the shadowy tale of ‘the women who went a little too near the camp!’

On Tuesday, 11th November as part of its commemoration of the War, the Museum will be holding a Clipstone Camp Remembrance Day Service, led by Rev Ann Anderson, at 10.45am that is open to all.