Deerbolt Camp is currently poorly documented. A series of postcards in Durham County Record Office indicate that the 3rd Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry were active here in 1909-1910 prior to World War I (1-3) and that the camp was tented at that time. Aerial photographs from the 1940s (4) indicate an extensive complex of buildings lain out around spine roads and crescents. During World War II the camp was predominantly used by the 54th Training Regiment of the Royal Armoured Corps who specialised in tank and vehicle maintenance and radio training (6). The camp continued in use after World War II by Special Forces and there is a record of a parliamentary debate in 1956 on the subject of training methods utilised by the Special Forces units based here (6). The majority of the area was developed with HM Borstal (now Her Majesty's Young Offenders Institute Deerbolt) in 1973. At least two buildings present in the 1940s survive off Bowes Road to the east of Starforth Park (5). A pair of bridges that carried access roads across Gill Beck also survive (5).