The Depot for Prisoners of War at Norman Cross, Huntingdonshire. 1796 to 1816Walker, Thomas (Thomas James)
History
The Depot for Prisoners of War at Norman Cross, Huntingdonshire. 1796 to 1816
Walker, Thomas (Thomas James)
France -- History -- 1789-1815; Norman Cross depot; Prisoners of war
[Picture: Plan C.—Major Kelly’s Plan of the Depot, 1800 to 1805. (a)
North Elevation. (b) Ground Plan. (c) Pictorial Plan from the East]
* * * * *
[Picture: Plan D.—Bird’s-eye View of Norman Cross Barracks and Prison,
East Elevation. Executed by Lieutenant E. Macgregor, 1813]
* * * * *
Both these plans are of a very early date in the history of the prison.
A third (Plate II., Fig. 3, Plan C) is that which belonged to Major
Kelly, who, as Captain Kelly, was Brigade-Major at the time when the
prison was closed; this includes a pictorial plan, or bird’s-eye view,
with the Peterborough Road on the south to the left hand and the North
Road above, a ground plan, and above this the north elevation of the
whole group of buildings. It is of later date, probably about 1803–4,
the commencement of the second period of the war. A fourth plan (Plate
II., Fig. 4, Plan D) was made by Lieut. Macgregor of the West Kent
Militia, and dedicated to the officers of his regiment which was
quartered at Norman Cross in 1813. This was engraved and published by
Sylvester of the Strand. An almost perfect copy of the print is in the
possession of the Reverend Father Robert A. Davis; it shows the Depot in
its final state two years before Waterloo and three years before it was
demolished.
In the Musée de l’Armée at the Hôtel des Invalides in Paris, is a model
of the Depot, the work of a French prisoner named Foulley, who was
confined at Norman Cross five years and three months. M. Foulley
constructed the model after his return to France. It represents the
prison as it appeared on the occasion of the rejoicings at the departure
of the first detachment of prisoners to France after the entry of the
allied armies into Paris, and the abdication of Buonaparte in 1814. By
the courtesy of General Niox, the Director of the Museum, and of his
Adjutant, Lieut. Sculfort, a photograph of the model has been taken for
me; this is reproduced at page 251, chapter xii., where the final
clearing of the prison is described. The model corresponds in its main
features with the plans which I have enumerated. It is on a large scale,
beautifully executed, and its production must have required months of
hard work. It is the only plan, or model, which shows a prisoners’
theatre in the centre of the south-east quadrangle.
M. Foulley’s model is incorrect in certain details. It represents the
prison wall as quadrilateral inclosing a square, instead of an octagonal
space. It omits the large and deep embrasures, in the recesses of which
each of the four gates of the prison stood. The wide fosse which
encircled the prison at the foot of and within the wall is omitted, nor
is there a sufficient space left between the wall and the prison
buildings to admit of such a fosse being shown in the model.
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