PLATE XVII.—PLAIT MERCHANTS TRADING WITH THE FRENCH 136 PRISONERS OF WAR AT NORMAN CROSS, HUNTS. Photogravure of painting by A. C. Cooke, Esq., and reproduced here by the kind permission of the artist. PLATE XVIII.—THE BELL INN, STILTON 141 From a photograph by Mr. A. C. Taylor. PLATE XIX.—FACSIMILE OF ORDER FROM BOARD OF 241 TRANSPORT, 9TH APRIL 1802, TO CAPTAIN HOLDITCH, OWNER AND MASTER OF CARTEL “ARGO” PLATE XX.—MODEL OF THE PRISON OF NORMAN CROSS, 251 ENGLAND, IN THE COUNTY OF, AND 4½ LEAGUES FROM, HUNTINGDON (_In the Musée de l’Armée_, _Hôtel des Invalides_, _Paris_) PLATE XXI.—KEY PLAN OF M. FOULLEY’S MODEL OF THE 251 PRISON OF NORMAN CROSS, ENGLAND ONE OF THE WELLS ON THE SITE OF THE PRISON 254 From a photograph by the Rev. E. H. Brown, July 1910. FOREWORDS IN April 1894 an exhibition was held at the Grand Assembly Rooms, Peterborough, under the auspices of the Local Natural History and Antiquarian Society, the major portion of the exhibits being articles of various descriptions made by the French prisoners of war at the barracks built in 1796–97 for their confinement at Norman Cross. On that occasion, Dr. Walker drew up a short account of the buildings and their inmates, derived principally from recollections of old people and from old newspaper files. Now that most of the relics then exhibited, and many others collected from various quarters, have found a permanent home in the Society’s Museum, it has been thought that the lecture embodying that history, which exists to-day only as a newspaper report, should be expanded and reproduced in the more accessible and permanent form of a small volume. The lecture was incomplete, and to produce an exhaustive history it has been necessary to carry out systematic researches in the British Museum Library, in the Public Record Office, and in other repositories of information. The general reader of a book is not concerned with the method of its construction, the complete structure is the only thing regarded, yet a very amusing digression could be given describing the difficulties attending the search, especially in the Government stores, for the material which is incorporated in this volume. Many of the documents utilised had never been looked at since they were placed in sacks at the close of the war, when Red Tape was more rampant than to-day, and when the jurisdictions of several departments overlapped, causing obstructive friction and consequent confusion. The official calendars and indices afford little or no indication as to the nature of the contents of bundles and rolls; in several cases valuable information has been obtained from bundles giving no hint of the contents, and simply marked “Various” or “Miscellaneous.”