What is believed to be the first purpose-built prisoner-of-war camp, dating from the Napoleonic Wars, is now open to the public. The Norman Cross Camp in Yaxley, just south of Peterborough, housed about 7,000 French prisoners and dates back to 1796.
The Fondation Napoléon, together with its partners Le Figaro Histoire, the Institut Catholique de Vendée (ICES), the Institut Napoléon, and the editor Perrin, is organising a major conference devoted to a subject that has been largely overlooked: the place and role of women during the First Empire.
The fate of women during this period is generally addressed solely from the perspective of the Napoleonic Code, which is a very narrow view. The failure of women’s emancipation during the early years of the French Revolution has also overshadowed a period that was richer than it appears and for which there is a lack of research.
To better understand and explore the different facets of this important moment in women’s history, the conference ‘Being a Woman in Napoleonic times’, scheduled over two days, from Tuesday 18 to Wednesday 19 November 2025, aims first of all to shed light on the impact of legislation…
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I'm reading The Paget Brothers 1790 -1840 edited by Lord Hylton and in it there is a letter from Lord Henry Fitzgerald in which he describes spending time at a house party at Hatfield. He writes: "I grew most excessively tired before three Days were over, and had it not been for the Country Sports of Battledore and Shuttlecock, the Trou-Madame table, with the Assistance of the Norway Toy, a powerful Auxiliary, I don't know how I should have survived my Excursion."
I have managed to discover that Trou-Madame was a form of bar billiards but I can't find anything about the 'Norway Toy'. Does anyone have any notion what this was?
No problems - the Romans put the bypass in before Peterborough even existed! I used to live just up the road and was there at the time some local toerags stole the original eagle. So, it is good to hear that progress has been made in making it known to the locals. I was looking at a video about the Roman ghosts in York the other day, which remined me of the tales of spirits being seen in the fields across the A1 from the camp.