The field behind an A1 hotel may not sound like the most glamorous location, but Norman Cross hides an astonishing past. This was the location of the world's first custom built prisoner of war camp, home to 7000 inmates during the Napoleonic War.
All that's left of the camp today are a series of subtle lumps and bumps in the grass - it's only when you dig into the historical records that the story comes to life. Before we set foot on site weeks were spent in archives across the country piecing together the history of the camp.
Our plan for the three days was to build up a picture of the camp layout. Most importantly we wanted to track down the three lost camp cemeteries, one of which contained 1700 prisoners of war.
A good archaeologist doesn't always need a trench to start making finds. On Day One morning Phil made the first discovery whilst looking at the many holes made by burrowing rabbits. He uncovered a French military button; so we were definitely in the right place!
The first trenches went in to investigate two key features of the camp - the outer defences, designed to keep the prisoners in, and the barracks that housed them. Almost as soon as Matt opened the barrack trench beautiful pieces of carved bone started to emerge. These were scraps from the bone carving industry that took place in the camp 200 years ago. These off cuts had everyone very excited as no-one had found evidence of the production process before.
As well as evidence of the barracks we started to uncover the defences that kept the prisoners in. These consisted of banks and ditches topped with a wall. This had originally been made of wood but was rebuilt in brick after a mass breakout. These features were telling reminders that the inhabitants were being held here against their will.
Stewart and Helen had the challenge of trying to track down the three lost camp cemeteries. Two of these were for prisoners but our first target was the British guard's cemetery. Thankfully, with so much to do in three days, this mystery was solved without even having to lift a trowel. We'd uncovered documents describing its exact location and size - 296 feet long and 147 feet wide and incredibly an area of land in the right position and the correct size still existed on the ground. But it wasn't all good news as the documents revealed the area be consecrated and without the right permission from the Church of England we couldn't dig.
The next target was a small burial ground laid out for prisoners. Our sources suggested it was to the north east of the prison walls and one plan hinted at a location. We opened a trench on the most likely spot and quickly hit what looked like a grave cut. It was orientated north-south, not east-west like most Christian graves - so was it a burial? We dug down into the cut until finally two femurs - or leg bones as they're commonly known- appeared at the bottom of the trench. We'd found the second cemetery.
Last but not least was the largest cemetery of all containing 1700 POWs. All we knew was that it was on the west side of the A1 and slightly north of the camp. Discussions with the local farmer, examination of aerial photos and the documents led us to one spot. Stewart and Helen were convinced we had the location, but one 60metre long trench later and the archaeology proved otherwise. In spite of the documentary evidence, there were no burials.
Back on site, work hadn't finished on the small cemetery. The geophysics had detected a series of anomalies close to the first burial. Phil opened up a new trench only to discover that these were more graves and that each one contained multiple bodies. If each geophysics blob represented a grave, and if each one contained more than one prisoner then we could have uncovered hundreds of lost burials. Could it be that the historical sources were wrong and that this was the main cemetery after all?
Our three days at Norman Cross had uncovered the life and death of the prisoners. Most prisoners returned home after their time at Norman Cross once the conflict was over. Our dig meant that the final resting place of those who never left was no longer a mystery.
