One of the most memorable discoveries at Norman Cross was the huge amount of beautifully carved bone items. The pieces we uncovered were the off cuts of a bone carving industry which took place in the camp 200 years ago.
During their incarceration prisoners had a lot of spare time to fill. To occupy the hours, and make some money, many took up the art of bone carving. They were incredibly skilled craftsmen and could produce carved ships, guillotines, domino sets - anything they could sell to the local population.
The larger models would have been produced on something approaching a production line, with pieces made by numerous prisoners combining to make the finished model.
Making the models required the correct tools and they were available in abundance - the only problem was that they were also used as escape tools or weapons. In 1805 the use of tools in escapes was such a problem that all such items were impounded overnight before being reissued the next morning.
The raw material for these models would have come from the kitchens - several thousand people eat a lot of meat and leave a lot of bones! Mostly they used beef bones but some larger items could even be made of whale bone. Models could also be made of other materials such as tortoise shell and ivory - when they were available.
Incredibly intricate examples of the bone carving survive at Peterborough Museum and can be seen on display.
View the finds on the Peterborough Museum website
