To what extent the tides and turns of war, rather than their wearisome economic effects, were known to the ordinary people of Cambridgeshire is unclear. Around Stilton, however, its effects were felt in a different way. Napoleon’s refusal to exchange prisoners created a crisis in housing them. To meet this need a prisoner of war camp was built in 1797 at Norman Cross, far enough inland to prevent threat of successful escape or assistance to invasion, but with good communication routes, via the great North Road and the fenland waterways, to enable the ready transport of prisoners.
The registers (The National Archives, ADM 3/, microfilm copies available for study at County Record Office Huntingdon) show the gradual arrival of the sailors, marines and others, credited to ‘Lord Nelson’s Squadron’ and taken at Trafalgar. Delayed by the gale which blew after the battle, as King described, the first arrivals, who came via Portsmouth on 4 January 1806, were a small band: 4 men from L’Achille, one of King’s assailants (see item 7), which afterwards blew up, and three from Swiftsure. Four days later a more significant body of men arrived, including 158 survivors from Intrepide, which was burnt, and 10 from King's prize, Berwick, which was wrecked in the gale which followed the battle. Many more arrived gradually, as their captors’ ships came to port.
Prisoners at the Camp found employment and much-needed financial assistance through making and selling intricate models, made of bone and straw, many of them marked with the name of their creator. Collections are held at the Peterborough Museum, and at the Norris Museum, St Ives.
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Model of a French frigate, made in Norman Cross POW camp. The ship has been decorated with the cross of St Geroge, presumably to boost its chances of sale in England.
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We are indebted to the Curator of the Norris Museum for providing and allowing us to display a photograph of a model ship, carved at Normal Cross, a reminder perhaps, for its creator, of the freedom of the seas, and a sad comparitor to the joy described by Darley (item 6) at seeing the British fleet in sail off southern Italy.