Examples of Furniture and Furnishings in Tweedsmuir Camp Barracks
The drawings to the right are examples of furniture that barracks in Tweedsmuir Camp were equipped with. Each piece, comprising a beech wood frame in-filled with plywood panels, was stained brown and varnished. Since traditional jointing methods such as dovetails, mortice and tenons, butt hinges and the like were used in their construction, it is unlikely that the furniture was flat packed.
This bedraggled steel frame in the photograph opposite was once a single bed. The legs folded underneath a heavy, right angled frame to which was attached a network of springs. On top of this lay a 140 mm deep horsehair mattress.
Remains of a canvas field bed are shown in the next photograph. Its structure would have included a beech framework and six pairs of steel hinges with a canvas fabric sewn over the two side sections identified by red arrows. The missing half of the bed would be a mirror image of the components present in the picture to the right.
When in use the field bed would have been stretched across its width by a timber strut (illustrated by an orange line in the insert below). The strut would have been secured into place at either end by nipples (identified by yellow arrows in the photograph opposite) that were an integral part of each side section.
A pair of right angled hinges at both ends of the field bed allowed the legs to be folded in line with the side sections.
A pair of 'S' shaped, strap hinges (illustrated in the photographs to the right) allowed the field bed legs to be folded in line with each other.
The black and white picture to the right shows a reclining chair. Moving the seat forwards caused the back to recline.
In the two, small photographs below are images of a lamp shade. Made from steel, the internal surface was enamelled white and the outer surface either blue, as in this case, or bottle green.
Some barracks were furnished with elaborate coal burning stoves as illustrated by the two panels in the photograph to the right. Made from cast steel, the exhibit depicts a decorative appearance that contradicts the utilitarian nature of design evident in WWII products.
This bedraggled steel frame in the photograph opposite was once a single bed. The legs folded underneath a heavy, right angled frame to which was attached a network of springs. On top of this lay a 140 mm deep horsehair mattress.
Remains of a canvas field bed are shown in the next photograph. Its structure would have included a beech framework and six pairs of steel hinges with a canvas fabric sewn over the two side sections identified by red arrows. The missing half of the bed would be a mirror image of the components present in the picture to the right.
When in use the field bed would have been stretched across its width by a timber strut (illustrated by an orange line in the insert below). The strut would have been secured into place at either end by nipples (identified by yellow arrows in the photograph opposite) that were an integral part of each side section. 
A pair of 'S' shaped, strap hinges (illustrated in the photographs to the right) allowed the field bed legs to be folded in line with each other.
The black and white picture to the right shows a reclining chair. Moving the seat forwards caused the back to recline.
Some barracks were furnished with elaborate coal burning stoves as illustrated by the two panels in the photograph to the right. Made from cast steel, the exhibit depicts a decorative appearance that contradicts the utilitarian nature of design evident in WWII products.