Description
This piece is an early sample for my new collection.
The panel + oak base measures approximately 16cm x 20cm.
The custom oak base is made in Deerness by DGR Designs.
In January 1942 over a thousand Italian prisoners of war, mainly captured in North Africa, were brought to Orkney. They were needed to overcome the shortage of labour working on the continuing construction of the Churchill Barriers. These were the four causeways designed to block eastern access to Scapa Flow following the sinking of HMS Royal Oak with huge loss of life by a German U-boat in 1939.
Prisoners of war were prevented by treaty from working on military projects, so the barriers were said to be primarily causeways linking the south-eastern islands of Orkney together, which is what they remain today.
