Most of us associate prisoner-of-war camps with 20th-century conflicts, but an archaeological evaluation undertaken in July 2009 by Channel 4’s Time Team revealed that the first specially constructed camp dates to the late 18th century, when it was used for incarcerating thousands of enemy prisoners taken during the Napoleonic Wars of 1793-1815.
Previously, prisoners had been held in existing fortified structures or on board ships, from which some were able to escape – so Norman Cross in Cambridgeshire, just south of Peterborough, was chosen as the site for a new camp, far enough away from the sea to prevent prisoners attempting to swim back to the Continental mainland. Prisoners were conveyed to Norman Cross from the ports of Yarmouth, King’s Lynn, and Wisbech, being ferried by river to Peterborough and then marched to the prison gates. This historic site has now been purchased for the nation by the Nene Park Trust with a £200,000 grant from Historic England and £50,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund (see ‘News in brief’, CA 345). Plans are being developed for public access to the site.
Some 500 labourers were involved in the construction of the camp, which was surrounded by a wooden stockade, later replaced by a brick wall. The interior was divided into four by two roads leading to four gateways with a guarded blockhouse in the centre. Each quadrant held four wood-built barracks, each designed to hold about 500 prisoners, sleeping in rows of hammocks in two storeys. Theoretically the camp could hold 8,000 adult males, though the highest recorded number of prisoners was 6,270, the lowest 3,038, and the average around 5,500. In addition to the barracks, the camp had offices, a hospital, a school, a marketplace, latrines, an exercise yard, a prison, storehouses, and kitchens.
Maps that tell a story