Its high granite walls dominate this area of the moor. Constructed originally between 1806 and 1809 by local labour, to hold prisoners of the Napoleonic Wars, it was also used to hold American prisoners from the War of 1812.
On April 6, 1815, although the wars had ended with the Treaty of Ghent in December of the previous year, many American prisoners of war still remained. Seventy were unfortunate enough to be massacred in the prison at the behest of the allegedly drunken British officer in charge, who thought they were attempting to escape. A memorial to the 271 American POWs (mostly seamen) who are buried at the prison has been erected.
Dartmoor was reopened in 1851 as a civilian prison, and has contained some of Britain's most serious offenders ever since. It has a (misplaced) reputation for being escape-proof.
There is a small museum of prison life, which is open to the public, at some times of the year.
DartmoorPrison English prison, at Princetown, Devonshire, built (1806-9) to house French captives during the Napoleonic Wars.
During the War of 1812 many American prisoners were confined there, and their brutal mistreatment was investigated after the war by an Anglo-American commission that awarded compensation to the families of those who had died there.
Unoccupied for over 30 years, Dartmoor was reopened in 1850 as a civilian prison for convicts sentenced to long terms of imprisonment or to hard labor.
HM PrisonDartmoor is located in Princetown, England, high on Dartmoor, and presents a bleak and formidable sight.
Constructed originally between 1806 and 1809 by local labour, to hold prisoners of the Napoleonic Wars, it was also used to hold American prisoners from the War of 1812.
Dartmoor was reopened in 1851 as a civilian prison, and has contained some of Britain's most serious offenders ever since.
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