Dartmoor Prison, Princetown, Dartmoor National Park
Drive the B3212 from Two Bridges to Princetown and you come to a lay-by offering views of the formidable Dartmoor Prison. Today, it's a prison housing low risk inmates. At the beginning of the 19th century, it was built to house French and American prisoners of war.
During the Napoleonic Wars, French prisoners were kept in giant ships called hulks. Overcrowding became a problem. A solution was needed. The man who founded Princetown, Sir Thomas Trywhitt, argued that a prison on Dartmoor would address the issue. Work began in 1806 and French prisoners of war were escorted from Plymouth Sound up to Dartmoor in 1809. With British troops fighting across the Atlantic, American prisoners of war arrived later.
Prisoners of war left Dartmoor Prison in 1816 after nearly seven years of grim incarceration in which high numbers died. In 1850, the prison was opened up to convicts. We'd recommend half a day at the superb Dartmoor Prison Museum to learn more.
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