Historedia
No locationEvent

Norman Cross POW camp construction begins

When
1796–1797
Where
Norman Cross, Huntingdonshire; Norman Cross depot site
Episodes
2

In December 1796 the Board began building the Norman Cross prisoner-of-war depot in Huntingdonshire, after Sir Ralph Abercromby communicated that he was transferring 4,000 prisoners from the West Indies. Much of the timber was prefabricated in London and assembled on site by 500 carpenters and labourers over three months.

Episodes

  1. 1796 · Norman Cross, HuntingdonshireSearch for a prison site

    Abercromby's 1796 communication about 4,000 West Indies prisoners led the Board to seek a new prison site.

  2. December 1796 – 1797 · Norman Cross depot siteConstruction begins at Norman Cross

    Work commenced in December 1796, using London-prefabricated timber assembled by 500 carpenters and labourers over three months.

Background and detail

Background. The hamlet of Norman Cross, now in Cambridgeshire, lies south of Peterborough between Folksworth, Stilton, and Yaxley. In 1796 Sir Ralph Abercromby communicated that he was transferring 4,000 prisoners from the West Indies, prompting the Board to search for a site for a new prison.

Construction Begins. Work commenced in December 1796, with much of the timber building prefabricated in London and assembled on site. Around 500 carpenters and labourers worked on the site for three months. The depot, constructed in 1796–97, was designed to hold prisoners of war from France and its allies.

Significance. Norman Cross Prison in Huntingdonshire, England, was the world's first purpose-built prisoner-of-war camp or "depot". It was intended to be a model depot providing the most humane treatment of prisoners of war.

People involved

  • Sir Ralph Abercromby · Communicated in 1796 that he was transferring 4,000 prisoners from the West Indies, prompting the Board to search for a new prison site

Sources

  1. Norman Cross Prison Wikipedia, revision of 2026-03-10

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.