Norman Cross
Norman Cross, just south of Peterborough, is a scheduled monument and the site of the world’s first purpose built prisoner of war camp during the Napoleonic Wars of the late 1700s.
Nene Park Trust took ownership of the site in 2025 to preserve it and share its story, thanks to funding from Historic England the National Lottery Heritage Fund. We held our first guided tours in 2026, led by our enthusiastic volunteer team. Look out for news of more guided tour dates coming in spring 2027.
Have a watch of our two films below to find out more about the fascinating history of Norman Cross and explore our digital model of the camp!
See our Norman Cross FAQs for information about parking, accessibility and more at the site.
Walks / Trails
Heritage
Enjoy exploring the Norman Cross prisoner of war camp as it looked back in the late 1700s using this 3D digital tool. You can zoom in and look at it from different angles and directions.
Discover our Viewing Area
Norman Cross may seem like just a field but it has a fascinating story to tell! Read our information panels to help the camp come to life, scan the QR code to watch our video and explore the 3D digital tool on your phone.
FAQs
Norman Cross is a large scheduled monument field just south of Peterborough which was the site of the world’s first purpose built prisoner of war camp in the Napoleonic wars (late 1700s – 1815). Nene Park Trust took over ownership of the site in 2025 thanks to funding from Historic England and The National Lottery Heritage Fund. We want to protect and preserve the site and help to tell its story to visitors through guided walks and talks.
Norman Cross is a field accessed from the A15 between the A1 and Yaxley.
Postcode is PE7 3TB
The What2words location for the viewing area is: different.optimists.awake
There is limited free parking (maximum 4 vehicles) by the memorial for Norman Cross (just down the road from the viewing area – PE7 3TB)
There is also a pay and display car park at the Milestone hotel at Jct 16 of the A1(M), Peterborough PE7 3TB.
It is a field with no buildings remaining of the Napoleonic prisoner of war camp. However there is a viewing area where you can look out over the field and there are interpretation panels with more information about the camp and its story.
Currently, the public can’t access the entire field apart from in organised guided walk events.
If you look to the south east corner of the field you can see the original camp commandant’s house and stable block (now a gallery). The house and gallery are privately owned so there is no public access there.
We held a series of volunteer-led guided walks in summer 2026 and are planning more dates for 2027. Keep an eye out on our events pages for more information on those.
The Norman Cross viewing area can be accessed from the pavement by a metal gate. It is surfaced with bark chippings so is not currently wheelchair accessible. We are working on improving access at the site.
If you would like to find out more or get involved as a volunteer in helping us develop our guided walks and talks at the site, please email volunteer@neneparktrust.org.uk.