It sounds like a question from a pub quiz: which nation was responsible for the world’s first ever purpose-built prisoner of war camp? If you answered, 'The United Kingdom', award yourself a point.
The good news is that the site of the camp – known as the Norman Cross Depot for Prisoners of War – has just been saved for the nation. Though perhaps unsurprisingly, given the nature of the place, it comes with a dark history attached.
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A brief history of Norman Cross
Work began on the camp in 1796 and it opened a year later, housing soldiers captured in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
Located just south of Peterborough in what was then Huntingdonshire (now Cambridgeshire), the camp operated until 1814 and held around 7,000 prisoners. More a town than a mere prison, it consisted of barracks, offices, a hospital, a school and a marketplace and even operated its own banking system.
The prisoners attempted to keep boredom, homesickness and, perhaps, despair at arm’s length by creating intricate items from bone and straw to sell to visitors at the camp market. Over 800 of these articles – considered the world’s largest and finest collection of prisoners of war craftwork – are today housed at Peterborough Museum & Art Gallery.
However, the spread of diseases also turned Norman Cross into a death trap for many of its inmates. No fewer than 1,770 French, Dutch and German prisoners are buried here, including over 1,000 who perished during an outbreak of typhus in 1800-01.
Two years after the camp closed, it had been almost entirely levelled.
Norman Cross saved for the nation
As Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Baroness Twycross observed, "Norman Cross represents a poignant chapter in our shared European story. The remarkable stories of those held should be remembered now and in the future."
The site has been acquired by a partnership involving Historic England, The National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Nene Park Trust. Although he sadly never lived to see it, the purchase fulfils the ambition of long-term resident and supporter Derek Lopez, and has secured the future of what is a unique Scheduled Monument.
Paul Chamberlain, author and historian of the Napoleonic era, commented, "This acquisition will enable more of the story to be told for future generations and provide us with a better understanding of a lost town that had a significant impact on the region over two hundred years ago."
A launch event in September is being planned to introduce the public to this little known yet important historic site.
Norman Cross: images and art
Main image: the site of the Norman Cross prisoner of war camp, near Peterborough, Cambridgeshire. Credit: Historic England Archive
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