If you are a Descendant, please see the separate section below. For Groups, please see our 'Group Visits' page here
July and August, open every Thursday, Friday and Saturday*, 10am until 4pm
plus Special Events advertised throughout the year
Entry to the Centre in July and August is FREE to 'walk in' visitors, however we suggest a £5 donation per person for your visit which is very much appreciated and allows us to cover our ongoing running costs of the Centre, and support its future ongoing development. We are fully accessible with optional wider entrance at rear for wheelchairs. Well behaved,clean dogs on a lead are very welcome. You can also explore the village, the site of Knockaloe Camp and the graveyard (with internee and guard graves) all guided by our 'App'. For information on downloading the App when the Centre is closed, please click here. Delicious organic 'bean to cup' Coffee, hot chocolate and organic tea is available on a self service basis in our Garden Room where you can also purchase a selection of internment related books and sustainable shop items - all funds generated directly support the Centre. * We are required to be closed 9 & 10 August 2024 for The Royal Show at Knockaloe.
April to September, by appointment, booked 3+ months in advance
The Charity would love to hear stories from descendants of Knockaloe internees or guards or others who were part of this story. Please contact us well before arranging your visit on info@knockaloe.im to share your family story with us and/or to seek confirmation as to whether a family member was interned. Our opening hours are as detailed above.
In addition to our public opening, we are also able to facilitate visits for descendants by appointment throughout April to September, Tuesday to Saturday (booked well in advance and subject to team availability). The Centre remains closed over the winter period (October to March) allowing us to focus on our research work.
Visiting the Centre provides an invaluable experience to help in understanding what families experienced during WW1 at all of the internment camps, including at Knockaloe, and our scale model of Knockaloe and app interpreting the camp itself allows you to see exactly where your ancestor was interned.
Internee Review Meeting: If you would like to arrange a private appointment to meet with our Researcher for a specific Internee Review as part of your visit to discuss your ancestor's experience of internment at all camps, please contact us by email on info@knockaloe.im (or by post) well in advance to book a meeting and so that we can carry out detailed research into your family to allow us to talk this through with you as part of your visit, and allow you to gain a deeper understanding of his specific experience. Internee Review Meetings must be booked 3+ months in advance of your visit, and please do provide as much information as you can as even the tiniest detail can help us to then share so much more with you during your visit. We are also able to facilitate these visits between April and September outside of our normal public opening periods, Tuesday to Saturday. We shall always try to accommodate your preferred travel plans during this period, however please do contact us well in advance before booking any trips to the Island to ensure the necessary team members are on hand. The Exhibition is not open over the winter months (October to March) when we focus on research and collation. To find out more about the Registered Charity, see our 'Support Us' page here.
Although the Centre itself is closed during the winter period, our research and collation of internee stories continues all year round, please E-mail info@knockaloe.im for further information regarding a future visit or to share your family story.
Please note we are unable to open for annual Island events involving Knockaloe including: Isle of Man Parish Walk - (Saturday 22th June 2024); and Isle of Man Royal Agricultural Show weekend - (Friday 9th August & Saturday 10th August 2024)
For further information and to make a booking please E-mail info@knockaloe.im
Address:
The Centre for WW1 Internment, Patrick Old School Rooms, Patrick Corner, Patrick Village, Isle of Man, IM5 3AL
Please note that we do have CCTV in operation at the Centre and its surroundings.
Getting there:
The Centre for WW1 Internment is located in on the junction of the A27 and Patrick Road in Patrick Village on the west of the Island. From Peel follow signs to Glen Maye (A27), from St Johns follow signs to Castletown (A3) then signs to Patrick/Glen Maye (A30). For the location on Google Maps please click here
There is a car park directly in front of the Visitor Centre, however, please be cautious as the entrance is quite tight.
Linking the human stories and imagery with the camp location itself in an imaginative and interactive way to engage
visitors of all ages. After eight years of incredibly hard work, the Visitor Centre finally opened on 10 May 2019 and helps visitors to visualise the camp, understand what life would have been like within the camp and the village, and understand its impact on the internees and their families, the guards, the villagers, and the Island, as well as providing descendants with
assistance in finding out more about their own internee, guard or village family member and add their story to our archive for future generations.
Incredibly the Centre was destined to remain closed in 2020 with the Island’s borders shut as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic, those borders anticipated to remain closed for some of 2021, however we reopened anew in 2022 with many more exhibits and developments and had a great year. We had a wonderful 2023 with lots of visitors both local and overseas and we shall now look forward to welcoming you all again for our 2024 season.
This has been the culmination of so much work and we are delighted when we were finally able to commence work on the site back in 2017. The construction work by The Village Workshop team (pictured on the video below) involved taking down the crumbling, damp kitchen, toilet and boilerhouse extension at the back of Patrick Old School largely built on the old school wall, and replacing it with a light and bright extension housing the Schoolrooms’ Garden room, toilets and kitchen. Every stone from the old school wall has been reclaimed and rebuilt as the outer wall of the new dry and draft proof extension.
https://www.facebook.com/knockaloeinternmentcampiom/videos/890656477760382/