Norman Cross Collection

The Prison Camp at Norman Cross, near Peterborough was constructed during the Napoleonic Wars between 1797 and 1815. The 42-acre location was home to up to 7000 Napoleonic Prisoners of War at any time from 1797 to 1814 and is internationally important as the first purpose-built prisoner of war camp in the world.

Prisoners from over 35 countries and islands around the world were housed at Norman Cross in noisy wooden barracks for many years at a time. During this time, the prisoners made thousands of objects between them using materials that would have been thrown away such as bone, straw and wood offcuts.

The Norman Cross collection is considered both the largest and finest collection of such items in the world. The collection has over 800 objects including model ships, guillotines, needlework boxes, playing cars and items of straw marquetry. Some of these are kindly on loan from the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

A large selection of these objects is on display at Peterborough Museum along with interactive maps and recreated barracks. To discover the collection in more detail visit our online collections.

The vast majority of the objects gathered at the museum were made by the prisoners to sell at the prison market, something that was both encouraged and supported by the British government. These objects were bought largely by locals who treasured them to such a high degree and passed them down through the generations before donating to the museum.

What might be surprising is that in almost 150 years of a museum existing in Peterborough, nobody has studied these objects cohesively, until now. Anglia Ruskin Cambridge and Peterborough Museum were successful in their bid for an AHRC-funded collaborative doctoral studentship, which began in October. It is investigating all of the objects in depth to understand more about the prisoners who made them, how the objects were made, and what influences can be found in the men’s work.

The Norman Cross Site

The Norman Cross Prisoner of War site has recently been acquired by Nene Park Trust with support from Historic England and The National Lottery Heritage Fund to secure its protection for the nation

The Collection

Research

The Norman Cross Site