The Napoleonic Association attempts to put something back into the period, such as via an involvement with the Norman Cross Eagle Appeal.
During the Napoleonic Wars approximately 200,000 prisoners of war were held in Britain, at prisons such as Dartmoor and Portches-ter Castle. In 1796 the existing prisons were full. With the news that another 4,000 prisoners were about to arrive from the West Indies, the Transport Board (who administered these prisoners) issued instructions for a new prison to be built at Norman Cross, near Peterborough. Plans were approved in December 1796 and work began immediately.
The prison was constructed of wood, in sections built in London and transported to the site where 500 carpenters and labourers worked day and night, seven days a week. The buildings were ready for the reception of prisoners of war by March 1797, and on 7th April a contingent of 1,848 French prisoners arrived.and on 7th April a contingent of 1,848 French prisoners arrived.
The prison covered an area of 42 acres and consisted of four barrack courts, each with an airing ground. Each courtyard contained four wooden two storey barracks; each barrack housing 500 prisoners who slept in rows of hammocks.
The prison was designed for maximum security, the barracks and prison as a whole being enclosed by high stockade fences. The prison could accommodate 6000 inmates, guarded by 500 militia. The prisoners were mainly French, but some Dutch were also held at Norman Cross during the 1790s.
The prison was in use until 1815 and the following year it was dismantled and the wood used as local building material.
The Memorial
The number of prisoners who died whilst in the prison amounted to 1,770, of which 1000 deaths occurred during an epidemic of typhoid fever during 1800-1801. The remaining certified deaths resulted from the other years of the prison's existence, and were caused by such complaints as consumption, dysentery and typhus.
The bodies were supposedly buried in the field opposite the prison, where a memorial was erected to their memory by the Entente Cordiale Society in 1914. This impressive monument was vandalised in the autumn of 1990, and the bronze eagle stolen. The stone column is now in storage. The area around the site of the prison is to be part of an extensive development of the A1 road over the next few years.
Archaeological investigation of the field in which the bodies were supposedly buried has revealed no evidence of any graves.
Appeal Contributions
An international appeal has opened at £15,000 for the reconstruction of the Eagle monument. The Appeal is spearheaded by the Peterborough Museum and the Peterborough Sculpture Trust, and has attracted the support of national and international organisations. The Napoleonic Association is very much involved in this project. Anyone wishing to make a contribution (payable to The Norman Cross Eagle Appeal) or find out more about the Appeal, should write to the Secretary at 3 Steadman Avenue, Cosby, Leics., LE9 5UZ. Please enclose an A5 sae.
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