Paintings by German prisoners at the famous Island Farm PoW camp near Bridgend will soon go on display - thanks to co-operation between three Welsh museums.

The town museum at Cowbridge - only a few miles from the Island Farm site - will be the new home for the two landscapes, generously donated by Jeff James who runs a private museum at Llangwm, near Haverfordwest.

Jeff offered the two paintings to Pembroke Dock Heritage Centre, along with other wartime items. While the paintings did not fall into the Heritage Centre’s collections policy their unique significance and wartime connections were instantly spotted by Aled Lewis, the centre’s archiving officer.

Aled, who is helping the centre gain museum accreditation status and its volunteer team to record an extensive archive, is also voluntary curator of Cowbridge and District Museum, housed in the town hall.

He said: “These are very special acquisitions for the Cowbridge Museum and link us to a wartime chapter over 70 years ago. As soon as I saw them, I knew how important they are. One can imagine German prisoners of war in the camp painting views of their homeland far away.”

Jeff James said he was delighted that the paintings were going to be at Cowbridge.

“I am originally from Treherbert and my uncle went to a sale of items from the Island Farm PoW camp and came back with the paintings.

“I presume they had to make up the paint colours from what they had available in the camp.”