Norman Cross
Encyclopedia
Norman Cross lies near Peterborough
, Cambridgeshire
. Traditionally in Huntingdonshire
, it gave its name to a hundred and, from 1894 to 1974, Norman Cross Rural District
.
It was the site of the world's first purpose-built prisoner-of-war camp
or "depot" built during the Napoleonic Wars
.
Transport Board
was responsible for responsibility for the care of prisoners of war. When Sir Ralph Abercromby
communicated in 1796 that he was transferring 4000 prisoners from the West Indies, the Board began the search for a site for a new prison. The site was chosen because it was on the Great North Road
only 76 miles from London and was deemed far enough from the coast that escaped prisoners could not flee back to France. The site had a good water supply and close to sufficient local sources of food to sustain many thousands of prisoners and the guards. Work commenced in December 1796 with much of the timber building prefabricated in London and assembled on site. 500 carpenters and labourers worked on the site for 3 months. The cost of construction was £34,581 11s 3d.
The design of the prison was based on that of a contemporary artillery fort. A ditch 27 feet (8.2 m) deep (to prevent prisoners tunneling out) was placed inside the wall (originally a wooden stockade fence, replaced with a brick wall in 1805) and guarded by 'silent sentries' who could not be seen by the prisoners. The barracks for the garrison were placed outside and a large guard house (known as the Block House) containing troops and six cannon
was placed right at the centre. The interior of the prison was divided into four quadrangle
s, each with four double story wooden accommodation blocks for 500 prisoners and four ablutions blocks. One accommodation block was reserved for officers. Half of each quadrangle was a large exercise yard. The north east quadrangle contained the prison hospital. There was also a windowless block known as the Black Hole in which prisoners were kept shackled on half rations as punishment, mainly for violence towards the guards although two prisoners were sent to the Black Hole for "infamous vices
". 30 well
s were sunk to draw drinking water for the prisoners and garrison.
Norman Cross was intended to be a model depot providing the most humane treatment of prisoners of war.
Most of the men held in the prison were low ranking soldiers and sailors, including midshipmen and junior officers, with a small number of privateers. About 100 senior officers and some civilians "of good social standing", mainly passengers on captured ships and the wives of some officers, were given parole d'honneur outside the prison, mainly in Peterborough
although some as far away as Northampton
, Plymouth
, Melrose
and Abergavenny
. They were afforded the coutesy of their rank within English society. Some "with good private means" hired servants and often dined out while wearing full uniform. Three French officers died of natural causes while on parole and were buried with full military honours. Four French officers and five Dutch officers married English women while on parole. The most senior officer on parole from the prison was General Charles Lefebvre-Desnouettes who resided with his wife in Cheltenham
from 1809 until they escaped back to France in 1811.
, were accused by the British government of selling their clothes and few personal possessions to raise money for further gambling. In 1801, the British government issued statements blaming the French Consul for not supplying sufficient clothing (the British government had paid the French for all English prisoners held in France and French colonies to be clothed).
Samuel Johnson
and a Mr Serle, who visited the barracks, complied a report on behalf of the British government, stating that the proportion of food allowance was fully sufficient to maintain both life and health, but added: "provided it is not shamefully lost by gambling." The Lords of the admiralty
, along with Doctor Johnson, instructed that naked prisoners should be clothed at once, without waiting for the French supply or payment for clothing.
The British government provided each naked prisoner with a yellow suit, a grey or yellow cap, a yellow jacket, a red waistcoat, yellow trousers, a neckerchief, two shirts, two pairs of stockings, and one pair of shoes. The bright colours were chosen to aid the recognition of escaped prisoners. In Foulley's model of the prison (pictured right) more than half the prisoners are represented wearing these clothes.
The British government went to great lengths to provide food of a quality at least equal to that available to locals. The senior officer from each quadrangle was permitted to inspect the food as it was delivered to the prison to ensure it was of sufficient quality.
Despite the generous supply and quality of food, some prisoners died of starvation after gambling away their rations.
In July 1799, Dutch prisoners sought permission to use one building as a theatre. The Sea Lords refused. However Foulley's model, depicting the prison as it was in about 1809, shows a theatre in the south west quadrangle.
who was expelled from France in 1791 and lived a mile from the prison at Stilton
, was permitted by the Admiralty to minister and provide charity to the prisoners at his own expense.
As the number of prisoners increased, disease spread throughout the camp. 1,020 prisoners died in a typhus
outbreak in 1800-1801. A special 'typhus cemetery' was dug near the camp.
Leonard Gillespie, Surgeon to the Fleet, wrote in 1804 that pneumonia
was common with some cases becoming fatal carditis
. There were also many cases of consumption
. A brick house for a resident British surgeon was built adjacent to the prison hospital in 1805.
A total of 1,770 prisoner deaths from disease were recorded during the time the prison was in operation, although the records are incomplete.
Many prisoners at Norman Cross made artefacts such as toys, model ships and dominoes
sets from carved wood or animal bone, and straw marquetry
. Examples of the prisoners' craftwork were sold to visitors and passers by. Some highly skilled prisoners were commissioned by wealthy individuals, some of the prisoners becoming very rich in the process. Archdeacon William Strong, a regular visitor to the prison, notes in his diary of 23 October 1801 that he provided a piece of mahogany
and paid a prisoner £1 15s 6d to build a model of the Block House and £2 2s for a straw picture of Peterborough Cathedral
.
Prisoners were permitted to sell artefacts twice a week at the local market, or daily at the prison gate. Prices were regulated so the prisoners did not undersell local industries. In return, prisoners were permitted to buy additional food, tobacco, wine, clothes or materials for further work.
At the end of the war, the Transport Board noted that some prisoners had earned as much as 100 guineas
.
Thousands of Norman Cross artefacts survive today in local museums, including 500 in Peterborough Museum
, and private collections. A collection of model ships made at Norman Cross is on display at Arlington Court
in Devon.
During December 1804, prisoners Nicholas Deschamps and Jean Roubillard were discovered forging
£1 notes. Engraved plates of a very high standard and printing implements were found. The prisoners were convicted of fogery at the Huntingdon Assizes
. Forging banknotes was a capital offence at the time. They were sentenced to death but this was commuted. They remained in Huntingdon Gaol until they were repatriated to France in 1814.
militia
, a battalion of army reserve and a volunteer force from Peterborough were required to restrain the prisoners from breaking out during a particular period of defiance.
Six prisoners escaped in April 1801. Three of them were caught at Boston, Lincolnshire
and the remaining three were caught in a fishing boat off the Norfolk
coast. Each year the number of attempts to escape increased, as did the numbers in each escape. Three groups of 16 men each escaped in late 1801.
Incomplete tunnels were discovered in 1802.
After two major escape attempts in 1804 and 1807, the wooden stockade fence was replaced with a brick wall.
One prisoner, Charles Francois Bourchier, stabbed a civilian Alexander Halliday while attempting to escape on 9 September 1808. He was convicted at the Huntingdon Assizes and sentenced to death by hanging. He was executed at the prison in front of the prisoners and the whole garrison. This was the only civil execution at Norman Cross. After the stabbing, the entire prison was searched and 700 daggers were found.
In January 1812, a French prisoner was shot whilst escaping after he had overpowered a guard and stolen a bayonet.
During August 1813, escaped prisoners from Norman Cross were discovered as far away as Hampshire
.
and Stilton
.
The commander of the depot was the Agent and his house survives. The restored stables of the Norman Cross Depot is now the Norman Cross Gallery a privately owned art gallery.
was stolen in 1990.
When a section of the A1 was upgraded to motorway standard in 1998 it required moving the memorial.
On 2 April 2005, the Duke of Wellington, one of the patrons of the Appeal, unveiled the restored memorial. A replacement bronze eagle by sculptor John Doubleday was placed on the re-sited column.
series Time Team
in 2009. Part of the wall, an accommodation block, ablution hut and burial ground were uncovered.
Peterborough
Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...
, Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
. Traditionally in Huntingdonshire
Huntingdonshire
Huntingdonshire is a local government district of Cambridgeshire, covering the area around Huntingdon. Traditionally it is a county in its own right...
, it gave its name to a hundred and, from 1894 to 1974, Norman Cross Rural District
Norman Cross Rural District
Norman Cross was a rural district in Huntingdonshire from 1894 to 1974.It was formed in 1894 under the Local Government Act 1894 from the part of the Peterborough rural sanitary district which was in Huntingdonshire...
.
It was the site of the world's first purpose-built prisoner-of-war camp
Prisoner-of-war camp
A prisoner-of-war camp is a site for the containment of combatants captured by their enemy in time of war, and is similar to an internment camp which is used for civilian populations. A prisoner of war is generally a soldier, sailor, or airman who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or...
or "depot" built during the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
.
Design and construction of prison camp
The Royal NavyRoyal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
Transport Board
Transport Board
The Transport Board was the British Royal Navy organisation responsible for the transport of supplies and military. It is also referred to as the Board of Transport and Transport Office....
was responsible for responsibility for the care of prisoners of war. When Sir Ralph Abercromby
Ralph Abercromby
Sir Ralph Abercromby was a Scottish soldier and politician. He rose to the rank of lieutenant-general in the British Army, was noted for his services during the Napoleonic Wars, and served as Commander-in-Chief, Ireland.He twice served as MP for Clackmannanshire and Kinross-shire, and was...
communicated in 1796 that he was transferring 4000 prisoners from the West Indies, the Board began the search for a site for a new prison. The site was chosen because it was on the Great North Road
Great North Road
There are several Great North Roads:* Great North Road, Australia, a historical road leading from Sydney to the Hunter Valley* Great North Road, New Zealand, a road in Auckland* Great North Road, Zambia, a road running north from Lusaka...
only 76 miles from London and was deemed far enough from the coast that escaped prisoners could not flee back to France. The site had a good water supply and close to sufficient local sources of food to sustain many thousands of prisoners and the guards. Work commenced in December 1796 with much of the timber building prefabricated in London and assembled on site. 500 carpenters and labourers worked on the site for 3 months. The cost of construction was £34,581 11s 3d.
The design of the prison was based on that of a contemporary artillery fort. A ditch 27 feet (8.2 m) deep (to prevent prisoners tunneling out) was placed inside the wall (originally a wooden stockade fence, replaced with a brick wall in 1805) and guarded by 'silent sentries' who could not be seen by the prisoners. The barracks for the garrison were placed outside and a large guard house (known as the Block House) containing troops and six cannon
Cannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
was placed right at the centre. The interior of the prison was divided into four quadrangle
Quadrangle (architecture)
In architecture, a quadrangle is a space or courtyard, usually rectangular in plan, the sides of which are entirely or mainly occupied by parts of a large building. The word is probably most closely associated with college or university campus architecture, but quadrangles may be found in other...
s, each with four double story wooden accommodation blocks for 500 prisoners and four ablutions blocks. One accommodation block was reserved for officers. Half of each quadrangle was a large exercise yard. The north east quadrangle contained the prison hospital. There was also a windowless block known as the Black Hole in which prisoners were kept shackled on half rations as punishment, mainly for violence towards the guards although two prisoners were sent to the Black Hole for "infamous vices
Sodomy
Sodomy is an anal or other copulation-like act, especially between male persons or between a man and animal, and one who practices sodomy is a "sodomite"...
". 30 well
Water well
A water well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, boring or drilling to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The well water is drawn by an electric submersible pump, a trash pump, a vertical turbine pump, a handpump or a mechanical pump...
s were sunk to draw drinking water for the prisoners and garrison.
Operation
The average prison population was about 5,500 men. The lowest number recorded was 3,300 in October 1804. 6,272 on 10 April 1810 was the highest number of prisoners recorded in any official document.Norman Cross was intended to be a model depot providing the most humane treatment of prisoners of war.
Most of the men held in the prison were low ranking soldiers and sailors, including midshipmen and junior officers, with a small number of privateers. About 100 senior officers and some civilians "of good social standing", mainly passengers on captured ships and the wives of some officers, were given parole d'honneur outside the prison, mainly in Peterborough
Peterborough
Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...
although some as far away as Northampton
Northampton
Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...
, Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
, Melrose
Melrose, Scotland
Melrose is a small town and civil parish in the Scottish Borders, historically in Roxburghshire. It is in the Eildon committee area.-Etymology:...
and Abergavenny
Abergavenny
Abergavenny , meaning Mouth of the River Gavenny, is a market town in Monmouthshire, Wales. It is located 15 miles west of Monmouth on the A40 and A465 roads, 6 miles from the English border. Originally the site of a Roman fort, Gobannium, it became a medieval walled town within the Welsh Marches...
. They were afforded the coutesy of their rank within English society. Some "with good private means" hired servants and often dined out while wearing full uniform. Three French officers died of natural causes while on parole and were buried with full military honours. Four French officers and five Dutch officers married English women while on parole. The most senior officer on parole from the prison was General Charles Lefebvre-Desnouettes who resided with his wife in Cheltenham
Cheltenham
Cheltenham , also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds in the South-West region of England. It is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held...
from 1809 until they escaped back to France in 1811.
Clothing
The French prisoners, whose main pastime was gamblingGambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
, were accused by the British government of selling their clothes and few personal possessions to raise money for further gambling. In 1801, the British government issued statements blaming the French Consul for not supplying sufficient clothing (the British government had paid the French for all English prisoners held in France and French colonies to be clothed).
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...
and a Mr Serle, who visited the barracks, complied a report on behalf of the British government, stating that the proportion of food allowance was fully sufficient to maintain both life and health, but added: "provided it is not shamefully lost by gambling." The Lords of the admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
, along with Doctor Johnson, instructed that naked prisoners should be clothed at once, without waiting for the French supply or payment for clothing.
The British government provided each naked prisoner with a yellow suit, a grey or yellow cap, a yellow jacket, a red waistcoat, yellow trousers, a neckerchief, two shirts, two pairs of stockings, and one pair of shoes. The bright colours were chosen to aid the recognition of escaped prisoners. In Foulley's model of the prison (pictured right) more than half the prisoners are represented wearing these clothes.
Food
Food was prepared by cooks drawn from the prison ranks. The cooks, one for every 12 prisoners, were paid a small allowance by the British government. The initial daily food ration for each prisoner was 1lb of beef, 1lb of bread, 1lb of potatoes, and 1lb of cabbage or pease. As the majority of prisoners were Roman Catholic, herrings or cod was substituted for beef on Fridays. Each prisoner was also allowed 2oz of soap per week. In November 1797 the British and French governments agreed that each should feed their own citizens in their enemy's prisons. The French provided a daily ration of 1 pint of beer, 8oz of beef or fish, 26oz of bread, 2oz of cheese and 1lb of potato or fresh vegetables. They were also allowed 1lb of soap and 1lb of tobacco per month. Patients in the prison hospital were given a daily ration of 1 pint of tea morning and evening, 16oz of bread, 16oz of beef, mutton or fish, 1 pint of broth, 16oz of green vegetables or potato, and 2 pints of beer.The British government went to great lengths to provide food of a quality at least equal to that available to locals. The senior officer from each quadrangle was permitted to inspect the food as it was delivered to the prison to ensure it was of sufficient quality.
Despite the generous supply and quality of food, some prisoners died of starvation after gambling away their rations.
Education
Most prisoners were illiterate and were offered the opportunity to learn to read and write in their native language and English. Prisoners who could read were given access to books. News on the progress of the war, including successes and defeats on both sides, was reported to prisoners.In July 1799, Dutch prisoners sought permission to use one building as a theatre. The Sea Lords refused. However Foulley's model, depicting the prison as it was in about 1809, shows a theatre in the south west quadrangle.
Religion
There was no prison chapel but a Catholic priest resided in the garrison barracks. From 1808, Stephen John Baptist Lewis de Galois de la Tours, the former Bishop of MoulinsRoman Catholic Diocese of Moulins
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Moulins, is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church in France. The episcopal see is located in the city of Moulins. The diocese comprises all of the department of Allier in the region of Auvergne...
who was expelled from France in 1791 and lived a mile from the prison at Stilton
Stilton
Stilton is a village in Cambridgeshire, England, and within the historic county boundary of Huntingdonshire.-Geography:Stilton lies south of the city of Peterborough. It lies on the old Great North Road, from London and was an important coaching stop in the days before motorised transport. It...
, was permitted by the Admiralty to minister and provide charity to the prisoners at his own expense.
Health
Sick prisoners were initially treated in the prison hospital by two French navy surgeons and 24 orderlies.As the number of prisoners increased, disease spread throughout the camp. 1,020 prisoners died in a typhus
Typhus
Epidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...
outbreak in 1800-1801. A special 'typhus cemetery' was dug near the camp.
Leonard Gillespie, Surgeon to the Fleet, wrote in 1804 that pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
was common with some cases becoming fatal carditis
Carditis
Carditis is the inflammation of the heart or its surroundings.It is usually studied and treated by specifying it as:*Pericarditis is the inflammation of the pericardium*Myocarditis is the inflammation of the heart muscle...
. There were also many cases of consumption
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
. A brick house for a resident British surgeon was built adjacent to the prison hospital in 1805.
A total of 1,770 prisoner deaths from disease were recorded during the time the prison was in operation, although the records are incomplete.
Craft and prison economy
At the outbreak of the war, the Transport Board wrote that "the prisoners in all the depots in the country are at full liberty to exercise their industry within the prisons, in manufacturing and selling any articles they may think proper excepting those which would affect the Revenue in opposition to the Laws, obscene toys and drawings, or articles made either from their clothing or the prison stores".Many prisoners at Norman Cross made artefacts such as toys, model ships and dominoes
Dominoes
Dominoes generally refers to the collective gaming pieces making up a domino set or to the subcategory of tile games played with domino pieces. In the area of mathematical tilings and polyominoes, the word domino often refers to any rectangle formed from joining two congruent squares edge to edge...
sets from carved wood or animal bone, and straw marquetry
Marquetry
Marquetry is the art and craft of applying pieces of veneer to a structure to form decorative patterns, designs or pictures. The technique may be applied to case furniture or even seat furniture, to decorative small objects with smooth, veneerable surfaces or to freestanding pictorial panels...
. Examples of the prisoners' craftwork were sold to visitors and passers by. Some highly skilled prisoners were commissioned by wealthy individuals, some of the prisoners becoming very rich in the process. Archdeacon William Strong, a regular visitor to the prison, notes in his diary of 23 October 1801 that he provided a piece of mahogany
Mahogany
The name mahogany is used when referring to numerous varieties of dark-colored hardwood. It is a native American word originally used for the wood of the species Swietenia mahagoni, known as West Indian or Cuban mahogany....
and paid a prisoner £1 15s 6d to build a model of the Block House and £2 2s for a straw picture of Peterborough Cathedral
Peterborough Cathedral
Peterborough Cathedral, properly the Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew – also known as Saint Peter's Cathedral in the United Kingdom – is the seat of the Bishop of Peterborough, dedicated to Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Andrew, whose statues look down from the...
.
Prisoners were permitted to sell artefacts twice a week at the local market, or daily at the prison gate. Prices were regulated so the prisoners did not undersell local industries. In return, prisoners were permitted to buy additional food, tobacco, wine, clothes or materials for further work.
At the end of the war, the Transport Board noted that some prisoners had earned as much as 100 guineas
Guinea (British coin)
The guinea is a coin that was minted in the Kingdom of England and later in the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom between 1663 and 1813...
.
Thousands of Norman Cross artefacts survive today in local museums, including 500 in Peterborough Museum
Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery
Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery houses the historical and art collections of the city of Peterborough in the United Kingdom.Its building was acquired and donated to the Peterborough Natural History, Scientific and Archaeological Society in 1931 and the art gallery was added in 1939. The...
, and private collections. A collection of model ships made at Norman Cross is on display at Arlington Court
Arlington Court
Arlington Court is an English country house designed in a severe neoclassical style circa 1820, situated in Arlington, near Barnstaple, north Devon, England....
in Devon.
During December 1804, prisoners Nicholas Deschamps and Jean Roubillard were discovered forging
Forgery
Forgery is the process of making, adapting, or imitating objects, statistics, or documents with the intent to deceive. Copies, studio replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries, though they may later become forgeries through knowing and willful misrepresentations. Forging money or...
£1 notes. Engraved plates of a very high standard and printing implements were found. The prisoners were convicted of fogery at the Huntingdon Assizes
Assizes
Assize or Assizes may refer to:Assize or Assizes may refer to:Assize or Assizes may refer to::;in common law countries :::*assizes , an obsolete judicial inquest...
. Forging banknotes was a capital offence at the time. They were sentenced to death but this was commuted. They remained in Huntingdon Gaol until they were repatriated to France in 1814.
Insubordination and escapes
Insubordination was rife among prisoners. A force of ShropshireShropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
, a battalion of army reserve and a volunteer force from Peterborough were required to restrain the prisoners from breaking out during a particular period of defiance.
Six prisoners escaped in April 1801. Three of them were caught at Boston, Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
and the remaining three were caught in a fishing boat off the Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
coast. Each year the number of attempts to escape increased, as did the numbers in each escape. Three groups of 16 men each escaped in late 1801.
Incomplete tunnels were discovered in 1802.
After two major escape attempts in 1804 and 1807, the wooden stockade fence was replaced with a brick wall.
One prisoner, Charles Francois Bourchier, stabbed a civilian Alexander Halliday while attempting to escape on 9 September 1808. He was convicted at the Huntingdon Assizes and sentenced to death by hanging. He was executed at the prison in front of the prisoners and the whole garrison. This was the only civil execution at Norman Cross. After the stabbing, the entire prison was searched and 700 daggers were found.
In January 1812, a French prisoner was shot whilst escaping after he had overpowered a guard and stolen a bayonet.
During August 1813, escaped prisoners from Norman Cross were discovered as far away as Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
.
Repatriation
Peace was finally proclaimed with France in 1814, following Napoleon's defeat and consequent abdication. The prisoners, the garrison guards and local people joined together in celebrations. The remaining prisoners left the garrison by June of that year. A few decided to remain in England and settled near YaxleyYaxley
Yaxley may refer to:*George Wooster, Lord Yaxley, a minor fictional character in the Jeeves and Wooster stories of Pelham Grenville Wodehouse*Yaxley, Cambridgeshire near Peterborough*Yaxley, Suffolk...
and Stilton
Stilton
Stilton is a village in Cambridgeshire, England, and within the historic county boundary of Huntingdonshire.-Geography:Stilton lies south of the city of Peterborough. It lies on the old Great North Road, from London and was an important coaching stop in the days before motorised transport. It...
.
Demolition
The wooden buildings were dismantled in June 1816 and the parts sold at auction. Some of the buildings were relocated to nearby towns although much of the timber structures were sold as firewood.The commander of the depot was the Agent and his house survives. The restored stables of the Norman Cross Depot is now the Norman Cross Gallery a privately owned art gallery.
Memorial
The memorial to the 1,770 prisoners who died at Norman Cross was erected in 1914 by the Entente Cordiale Society beside the Great North Road. The bronze Imperial EagleFrench Imperial Eagle
French Imperial Eagle refers to the figure of an eagle on a staff carried into battle as a standard by the Grande Armée of Napoleon I during the Napoleonic Wars....
was stolen in 1990.
When a section of the A1 was upgraded to motorway standard in 1998 it required moving the memorial.
On 2 April 2005, the Duke of Wellington, one of the patrons of the Appeal, unveiled the restored memorial. A replacement bronze eagle by sculptor John Doubleday was placed on the re-sited column.
Study
An archaeological dig was carried out on part of the site for the Channel 4Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
series Time Team
Time Team
Time Team is a British television series which has been aired on Channel 4 since 1994. Created by television producer Tim Taylor and presented by actor Tony Robinson, each episode features a team of specialists carrying out an archaeological dig over a period of three days, with Robinson explaining...
in 2009. Part of the wall, an accommodation block, ablution hut and burial ground were uncovered.