Despite the destruction of the majority of the records for the Knockaloe Internment Camp, there appears to be a sizeable amount of information, and indeed its very location, which can be drawn upon to provide a fascinating visitors centre, and indeed a commemoration, of a period of the Island’s history as yet not readily available. Due to its location, Patrick Schoolrooms is ideally placed to provide this Visitor's Centre, exploring various aspects of the internment camp and the impact it had both on the surrounding area and on the Island as a whole for those interested in this period of Manx history.
A Registered Charity has been set up by a respected group of people from the community, including professionals and those already running tourist and visitor attractions on the island who are donating that experience to ensure the professionalism, integrity and success of this new attraction.
As a registered charity run on a not for profit basis and separate from Government, the renovation and on-going running will be done in a low cost manner and seek donations from Trusts and individuals and look to develop internee descendant “friends”, to help continually develop the exhibition and website.
It aims to use the same vision employed by Jersey in its war tunnels, Orkney in its war interpretation sites and France with the fields of the Somme and the D-Day landings to allow this project to be self-supporting. The Exhibition provides a future for the historic old village Schoolrooms which is vital for this central building to Patrick community life. It will seek to tell the story of what happened on those fields to today’s adults and children, from on and off the Island, in an imaginative way. It also brings to life the story of a unique village history.