In the past, Norduck Farm was part of the Aston Abbotts Abbey estate. During the second world war, a number of nissen huts were built along the drive leading to the farm, and these were used as accommodation for members of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile and Czechoslovak troops.
After the war, between the years of 1945 and 1946, the site was used as No. 268 Prisoner Of War Camp and housed German prisoners of war. A large number of tents were set up along Norduck Drive to assist in housing the prisoners. The prisonsers were required to work, and some of them worked on local farms before being repatriated over the following two year period.
Today, only two of the old Nissen Huts still survive, and these are privately owned by the adjacent property on the gate road. We called at the house and were met by the friendly occupants who kindly showed us around.
If you do happen to visit Aston Abbotts please respect that these huts are privately owned and are not open to the public, even though they are visible from a public right of way.
The structure of the Nissen huts is quite simple. They have a brick wall at each end which is semicircular in shape, and curved corrugated sheets that are overlapped to form the roof. Winter time in these buidlings cannot have been much fun, and the comparative difference in luxury between the Abbey where Edvard Beneš lived, and these huts were the troops were stationed is quite significant.
Norduck Farm has also been separated from the Aston Abbotts Abbey estate and is also under private ownership.
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