Princetown (HM Prison)
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Princetown Prison is a correctional facility in Princetown, Lydford, Devon, England. Built between 1806 and 1809, the prison was contructed from a local granite quarry by French prisoners which would serve as a prisoner of war camp during the Napoleonic wars and the War of 1812 (during which over 200 American prisoners died) until closing in 1816. Although used as a peat factory for several years, it was eventually reopened in 1850 as a maximum security prison.
The prison has been referenced in British literature including being featured in the story "How the King Held the Brigadier" in The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard as well as in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles and the 1986 autobiography A Guards' General: The Memoirs of Major General Sir Allan Adair by Oliver Lindsay and Sir Allan Adair.
[edit] References
- Franck, Harry Alverson. Foot-loose in the British Isles. New York: The Century Co., 1932.
