 |
Home
|
|
|
|
|
Norman Cross Eagle Appeal
Location: City of Peterborough
Original Norman Cross Memorial (photo 1)
During the Napoleonic Wars a prison depot was built at Norman Cross, near Peterborough, to house up to 7,000 prisoners of war. These captives came from many of the conflicts of the period, such as the naval battles of Camperdown and Trafalgar, and the capture of enemy colonies overseas. In the period of the depot’s use, from 1797 until 1814, a total of 1,770 prisoners of all nationalities (but mainly French and Dutch) died at the depot and were buried in the vicinity. In 1914 the Peterborough Natural History, Scientific and Archaeological Society and L’Entente Cordial Society raised a memorial to these Napoleonic war dead, on the west side of the Great North Road. This monument consisted of a bronze eagle atop a stone column.
This memorial became a familiar landmark to travellers heading north along the A1, until the autumn of 1990 when the column was toppled and the bronze eagle stolen.
Appeal Leaflet (photo 2)
In 1991 an international appeal was set up to raise funds to restore the memorial. It was spearheaded by Peterborough Museum, and included representatives from local parish councils, historical societies, sculpture societies and Le Souvenir Français. The story of the prison depot at Norman Cross, and the many nationalities of prisoner kept there, was of great interest locally, nationally and internationally.
The Norman Cross Eagle Appeal was formed with two objectives. First was to restore the monument and replace the eagle; second was to promote greater knowledge of the story of the Norman Cross Prison Depot and of the collection of models and other prisoner of war work displayed in Peterborough Museum.
An Appeal leaflet was published to raise funds, and this helped to attract support throughout the UK and abroad. This extensive support was both financial and practical, from organisations and many individuals.
Resiting the column (photo 3)
The old A1 road was being redeveloped as a motorway, and so the original site of the memorial would no longer exist. By 1998 the motorway was complete and a new site had been found for the monument beside the A15, nearer the site of the prison depot. The stone column and an information board were installed here in October of that year, with an unveiling by Sir Brian Mawhinney MP, former Secretary of State for Transport, on the same day as the formal opening of the motorway.
Sculpting the Eagle (photo 4)
Funds were donated from organisations and individuals, with a successful grant application for a substantial part of the project being made to the Local Heritage Initiative. In 2004 the sculptor John Doubleday was commissioned to create a replacement eagle, closely modelled on the original.
Inauguration of the new Norman Cross Eagle (photo 5)
On Saturday 2nd April 2005, His Grace the Duke of Wellington, one of the patrons of the Appeal, inaugurated the restored memorial, and watched by an audience of over 1,000 people.
The Norman Cross Eagle as a war memorial (photo 6)
While the original impetus for restoring the memorial had been because it was an important part of the local history of the Peterborough area, it is also an important memorial to French war dead. Le Souvenir Français had supported the project from its inception, and during the inauguration Vice-Admiral Jean Pierre Lucas of that organisation and the Duke of Wellington both laid wreaths in memory of the French soldiers and seamen who died at the prison depot.
Souvenir Programme (photo 7)
Alongside the Inauguration ceremony, the Appeal Committee organised a Living History Day at the Agent’s House. The Agent was the commander of the prison depot, and his house still survives. It is now part of the Norman Cross Gallery; a privately owned art gallery. A Souvenir Programme was published giving details of the inauguration of the new eagle, plus a timetable of the events held at the Gallery.
Living History Day (photo 8)
The Living History event was designed to present the Napoleonic period to the public in the form of re-enactment displays, folk dancing, singing, talks about the prison depot, and wargames.
Community Panels, Heritage Trail and Teacher’s Packs (photo 9)
The project included various educational strands. Peterborough Museum have organised a Heritage Trail taking visitors around the Peterborough area, looking at the history of Norman Cross and the surrounding countryside. Teacher’s packs are being produced to educate children about the Norman Cross prison depot, and both these strands of the project were unveiled in their draft form at a ceremony in October 2005, as our contribution to the Trafalgar Bicentenary celebrations. At this event we also unveiled the Community Panels, a three panel tapestry telling the story of the prison depot.
Group Name |
|
The Norman Cross Napoleonic Prisoner of War Depot Memorial Trust |
| Project Contact |
|
Paul Chamberlain |
| Address |
|
c/o Peterborough City Museum. Priestgate. Peterborough. PE1 1HZ |
| Project Postcode |
|
PE1 1HZ |
| Finishing Date |
|
30 Apr 07 |
| Grants: |
Heritage Lottery Fund: £22704
|
|
|
|
|
