DESCENDANTS of French prisoners who were held at Dartmoor Prison during the Napoleonic War attended a special ceremony on Sunday.

It marked the 200th anniversary of when the first French prisoners of war arrived at Dartmoor Prison of War Depot, as it was then called.

A ceremony took place at Princetown Parish Church and the French prisoner of war cemetery at the rear of the prison, to mark the bicentenary.

Dignitaries in attendance were the French Ambassador from the London Embassy, the French Consul General, the French Naval Attaché, the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Devon, Dartmoor Prison Governor and senior representatives of the prison service among many others.

Construction of the prison started in 1806 and it took three years to complete. It was built originally to hold prisoners from the Napoleonic wars and was also used to hold American prisoners from the war of 1812.

When the French and American wars concluded repatriations began and the prison lay empty until 1850 when work began to convert the interiors to single cell accommodation to enable it to be commissioned as a convict gaol.

In 1866 the remains of the prisoners who had died were exhumed from prison farm land and re-interred in two cemeteries behind the prison.

A memorial to more than 1,100 French and 271 American prisoners of war who died was erected in each of the two cemeteries, one for each nation.

In 1917 the prison was converted into a Home Office Work Centre for conscientious objectors who had been granted exemption certificates by military tribunals. In 1920 it was reopened again as a convict prison.

Alain Sibiril, Honorary Consul of France, said: 'The bicentenary commemoration of the arrival of the first French prisoners of war at Dartmoor, organised with the invaluable and generous help of the prison authorities and our friend, local historian Trevor James, may seem unnecessary and old-fashioned to some.

'However, the interest and enthusiasm met with during its preparation demonstrates how important and essential it is from time to time to cast a look at when two nations such as England and France have shared so much of that history.

'It is our duty to pay homage to those who died for their country away from their friends and families.'