Dartmoor Prison and St. Michael Church-- Part 1: French, Then American Prisoners

From the Changes of Longitude: Just Go Already Blog.

Two Americans, Larissa and Michael, were visiting Dartmoor Prison on southern England.

Dartmoor is the only English prison museum.  They were told Americans were held there.  They figured perhaps during World War II and were greatly shocked when they heard they were imprisoned there in the War of 1812.  (I had never heard of it until I came across it in an earlier blog entry.)

Dartmoor was built in 1806, in part to get prisoners off the horrific prison ships.  The first prisoners were French from the Napoleonic Wars.  Later, they were Americans from the War of 1812.  The Americans were still considered to be traitors because  of the American Revolution and as such, French prisoners received  far better treatment.

So, this is the connection of the church and prison.

--Brock-Perry