THE STORY of the discovery of a 1940s prisoner of war camp and anti-aircraft bunker as the M65 motorway extension was under construction has been published in a free booklet.

Stanhill Camp in Oswaldtwistle was set up between Knuzden and Stanhill on a former anti-aircraft gun site.

The camp housed Italian prisoners until their release in 1945, after which it was used as a prison for 200 German soldiers who were held there until the camp closed in May, 1947.

The site was excavated during the building of the M65 Blackburn to Bamber Bridge extension, and the Highways Agency called in archaeologists to make precise records of the site before it was built on.

Details of the archaeologists' findings have been published in a booklet called Roads To The Past, which contains words and pictures of historic finds which road builders have unearthed across the country.

The anti-aircraft site, which the camp replaced, comprised a control bunker and four gun batteries. Each battery had thick walls with a circular gun platform, which held a revolving 3.7 calibre ack-ack gun, four ammunition stores and quarters for the gun crew. All that remained of the camp when it was excavated were the concrete foundations and floors of the barrack block.

Records of historic finds nationwide have been collected by the Highways Agency, which is storing the information in Birmingham while it looks for a museum to house the findings permanently.

For a free copy of the Roads To The Past booklet, write to: Public Relations Department, Highways Agency, St Christopher House, Southwark Street, London, SE1 0DE.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.