If walls could talk

As part of Black History Month, we unearth the stories of Portchester Castle’s Caribbean prisoners of war from the 18th century

- Rebecca Fletcher

Portchester Castle has a remarkable history dating back centuries, from Roman fort to Saxon settlement, it has served as a Norman castle and gathering point for medieval kings before crossing the Channel.

It is its history as a prisoner of war camp at the height of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars which has led to some remarkable recent revelations. A chance find for Abigail Coppins, a PhD research student from the New Forest, led to her uncovering the extraordinary story of black prisoners of war being held at Portchester in the late 1790s.

“I was repacking a lot of archaeological stuff from Portchester and came across some objects that French prisoners had made. I was really interested in them and started researching but couldn’t find any answers,” says Abigail. “Something in the excavation report talked about West Indian prisoners in the castle. I wondered who they were. Were they black? Were they slaves?”

Beginning at the National Archives at Kew, Abigail realised she had stumbled upon a fragment from Portchester’s unexplored past.

“The way the castle has been written about and interpreted in the past has led to a certain viewpoint,” she says. “Early guidebooks about Portchester were focused on the architectural history of the site, history of men waiting to go to Agincourt, information about royal visits. Actually, Portchester is far more interesting than that.”

Looking at historic prison registers gave her the clues she needed to begin unravelling a mystery leading back to the Caribbean island of St Lucia.