Balhary Hostel

A camp on Balhary Estate

An inspector visiting on 2 October 1945 described a hutted camp with flower beds. By March 1947, Balhary was the headquarters of an extensive labour-camp organisation. The headquarters population and the total administered population were different measures: many men lived in satellite hostels or billets rather than at Balhary itself.

The March return counted 653 men at headquarters within a total of 2,122. In October, a different network and return recorded 698 at headquarters and 2,342 elsewhere, a combined 3,040. These are snapshots of the German POW organisation, not Ukrainian hostel population figures.

The camp carried two numbers in the published lists. The Secret Scotland summary list records Balhary Camp, Perthshire, as Prisoner of War Camp No. 3 and Balhary East Camp, Alyth, Perthshire, as Camp No. 63, each entry cross-referenced to the other and both at grid reference NO26554645. A second camp list enters the numbers together, as 3 / 63 against Balhary Camp, Perthshire, and dates the camp from 1942 to 1948, with associated hostels.

Learning English

English classes were already operating in October 1945. The report described about 60 beginners, 30 intermediate students and 16 advanced students, with three periods each week for every group. Some 200 books had arrived for use after the harvest, placing education alongside the demands of agricultural work.

By October 1947, the headquarters return listed 73 English students: 51 beginners and 22 advanced learners. Two classes each met twice weekly. Teaching took place in a dining room fitted with a stove and electric light. The English library contained approximately 60 books and more than 15 dictionaries.

Teacher Schramm wanted more contact with English speakers and more opportunities for cultural visits. The inspector, A. Robinson, gave a talk on everyday English on 28 October. Petrol shortages restricted evening visits to outlying hostels, showing how transport shaped access to education as well as employment.

Books, newspapers and performance

In March 1947 the library held around 1,000 volumes, although light German novels were in short supply. Weekly discussions attracted up to 40 men. Repatriation reduced participation as prisoners left the camp.

The camp newspaper, Huettenboten, appeared twice a month under editor Knaake. An anniversary number had recently been produced despite limited paper. A separate press review was also held twice monthly. A press exhibition opened on 16 March, though the visiting inspector criticised its presentation.

Theatre activity received support from British staff. An orchestra needed additional instruments, and transport costs made performances at distant hostels difficult. The report’s requests for instruments and equipment were proposals rather than a record that those items arrived.

An undated photograph in the estate collection shows the Orchestrina Martino performing on a stage. It preserves a separate visual record of music at the camp; the photograph does not identify it as the orchestra described in the German inspection report.

Worship and gathering space

The March 1947 inspection found no dedicated church in the camp. A Protestant minister lacked both a suitable meeting place and a private room for pastoral conversations. Catholics attended local services, while the timing of Protestant services could be inconvenient for camp residents.

Undated estate photographs show a religious procession, an altar and rows of wooden huts. They document another moment in the camp’s history, without fixing the date or identifying the participants. Their presence alongside the written reports illustrates how spaces and religious arrangements could change over time.

Work, weather and morale

Snow and flooding disrupted the March 1947 inspection and prevented visits to some outlying hostels. Bad weather also interrupted work. The report associated low morale with lack of money, complaints about food and tobacco, and anxiety about conditions in Germany.

Residents also encountered practical limits on recreation: film admission cost sixpence, and English dialogue could be difficult to follow. Radio was appreciated. Classroom, reading-room and meeting-space shortages recur in the reports, alongside efforts to maintain a library, discussion groups and performances.

The Ukrainian hostel

Kormylo’s directory identifies Balhary as a hostel near Alyth within its list of Ukrainian accommodation. It places this former camp in the geography of postwar Ukrainian settlement in Scotland. The dated prisoner returns belong to the preceding German POW administration and remain separate from that later community.

The estate collection and surviving landscape

A field visit in August 2019 found the larger water tower standing at the edge of a wheat field, with its tank removed. The visitor also examined photographs, sketches and entertainment material preserved by the estate family. These retain a view of camp life after most of the accommodation disappeared.

The family’s account described huts being removed in stages and the eventual clearance of remaining buildings, bases and paths. The surviving landscape photograph and the earlier album views show the contrast between an occupied camp and the largely cleared estate setting.

Both Secret Scotland entries mark the site as destroyed. Neither entry dates the clearance.