[Archport] Napoleonic prisoner of war camp unearthed by Time Team archaeologists

[Rui Gomes Coelho <ruigomescoelho@gmail.com>]

In Times online, 22-7-2009
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article6722271.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=1515793

Napoleonic prisoner of war camp unearthed by Time Team archaeologists

(Masons News Service)

A painting of the site of the world's first prisoner of war camp

Archaeologists have unearthed the secrets of what is thought to be the world’s first prisoner of war camp, built to house French prisoners during the Napoleonic Wars.

The purpose-built barracks, illustrated right, near Peterborough, in Cambridgeshire, held up to 7,000 prisoners at a time between 1797 and 1814 and was run by the British Empire’s Transport Office.

The 9ha (22-acre) site, known as the Norman Cross Depot, held enemy soldiers for up to ten years, as well as housing the large number of soldiers needed to guard them. Many of the captives came from famous naval battles of the period such as Camperdown and Trafalgar and from captured colonies in Spain and Portugal.

Until now mystery has surrounded the inner workings of the site, and the location of the bodies of more than 1,700 prisoners who died there.

Ben Robinson, an archaeologist at Peterborough Museum, has been working with the Channel 4 Time Team programme to uncover the site’s history. He said: “This is a fascinating and unique site because the concept of a ‘prisoner of war camp’ did not exist before Norman Cross was built in 1797. It was an inspired experiment in taking huge numbers of enemy troops out of action, but also keeping them in as humane conditions as possible.”

Although the prisoners were generally treated well, more than 1,000 inmates died from typhoid in 1800 and 1801 and a total of 1,770 died during the camp’s 17-year history. The buildings were dismantled and the site cleared after Napoleon’s defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.