In front of the main entrance door.

A large rectangular outdoor panel with a blue background features several sections of text detailing the sites historical significance, including its medieval origins, its use as a camp for the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division during World War II, and its later role as a prisoner-of-war camp. On the left side is an image displaying the Airborne insignia of the 82nd Airborne Division, while the right side includes a smaller historical photograph.

Evingtons Hidden History;

Shady Lane Arboretum

First Column text:

The Arboretum was established by Leicester City Council in 1970. Its site has an interesting history; the moated enclosure to the north-west is commonly known as 'Piggy's Hollow', with earthworks consisting of a platform and a series of fishponds. Surviving documents suggest that the platform was the site of a medieval manor house built in the 13th century by the Grey family, lords of the manor of Evington. More recently Piggy's Hollow was popular with local children as a place for sledging.

During and after World War II the site served different military purposes. A camp for troops of the US 82nd Airborne Division was built on Shady Lane in 1942. This housed the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment which took part in the airborne assault on the Waal bridges in Holland two years later.

For several years from 1944 it housed Italian and German Prisoners of War, who were employed on local farms or as gardeners, and helped to meet post-war shortages of labour. The POWs were housed in huts on the camp, compared to the billet tents of the Americans, because of the Geneva Convention from 1929 which stated Prisoners of war shall be lodged in buildings or huts. I can always remember their singing, one woman recalled of her regular Sunday evening walks from Oadby to Shady Lane as a child: They were obviously locked in on Sundays when they werent working on the farm, but oh, their singing, it was really lovely.

Despite initial hostility, some POWs became family friends and others married local women and made their homes in Leicestershire. In 1996 three golden ash trees were planted in the Arboretum by one of the former POWs, as a token of friendship between Britain and Germany. After the end of the camp in 1948, the site became a squatters camp for a number of years, followed by a riding school, until its eventual establishment as the Arboretum in 1970.