World’s first prisoner of war camp in Cambridgeshire to open to the public

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The Cambridgeshire site was once home to 7,000 French Prisoners

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The site of the world’s first purpose-built prisoner of war camp, which dates back to the Napoleonic wars, has been saved by Historic England funding.

Assembled in four months using 500 carpenters and labourers, the historic site in Yaxley, Cambridgeshire, housed around 7,000 French Prisoners and inspired the creation of the world’s largest collection of prisoner craftwork.