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Return To View All Towns In Peterborough Bed And Breakfast In PeterboroughTelephone: 01780 784006 Queens Head InnTelephone: 01487 830100 Redwings LodgeMore Information About PeterboroughPeterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of 163,300 as of June 2006.[3] For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. The Town Hall is 75 miles (121 km) north of London at Charing Cross. The city stands athwart the River Nene, which flows into the North Sea approximately 30 miles (48 km) to the north-east, and the East Coast Main Line railway. The local topography is flat and low-lying, and in some places lies below sea level. The area known as the Fens falls to the east of Peterborough. The City of Peterborough includes the outlying settlement at RAF Wittering, and as a unitary authority it borders Northamptonshire and Rutland to the west, Lincolnshire to the north, and Cambridgeshire to the south and east. Human settlement in the area dates back to before the Bronze Age, as can be seen at the Flag Fen archaeological site to the east of the current city centre. This site also shows evidence of Roman occupation. The Anglo-Saxon period saw the establishment of a monastery, then known as Medeshamstede, which later became Peterborough Cathedral. The population grew rapidly following the arrival of the railways in the nineteenth century, and Peterborough became an industrial centre, particularly noted for its brick manufacture. Following the Second World War, growth was limited until designation as a New Town in the 1960s. The population is once again undergoing rapid expansion and a £1 billion regeneration of the city centre and immediately surrounding area is under way. In common with much of the United Kingdom, industrial employment has fallen, with new jobs tending to be in financial services and distribution. Early history Present-day Peterborough is the latest in a series of settlements which have at one time or other benefited from its situation, where the Nene leaves permanently drained land for the Fens. Remains of Bronze Age settlement and what is thought to be religious activity can be seen at the Flag Fen archaeological site to the east of the city centre. The Romans established a fortified garrison town at Durobrivae on Ermine Street, some five miles (8 km) to the west of the present city, around the middle of the first century AD. Durobrivae's earliest appearance among surviving records is in the Antonine Itinerary of the late second century.[5] There was also a large first-century Roman fort at Longthorpe, designed to house half a legion, or about 3,000 soldiers;[6] it may have been established as early as around AD 44–48.[7] Peterborough was an important area of ceramic production in the Roman period, providing Nene Valley Ware that was traded as far away as Cornwall and the Antonine Wall. Peterborough is shown by its original name Medeshamstede to have possibly been an Anglian settlement before AD 655, when Saxwulf founded a monastery on land granted to him for that purpose by Peada of Mercia, who was briefly ruler of the Middle Angles. The Peterborough Chronicle, which contains unique information about the history of England after the Norman Conquest, was composed here in the twelfth century by monks of the abbey.[8] This is the only known prose history in English between the conquest and the later fourteenth century.[9] The town's name changed to Burgh from the late tenth century, possibly after Abbot Kenulf had built a defensive wall around the abbey, and eventually developed into the form Peterborough; the town does not appear to have been a borough until the twelfth century.[10] The form Gildenburgh is also found, though only in local, twelfth century histories of the abbey, namely the Peterborough version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and a history of the abbey by the monk Hugh Candidus.[11] The burgesses received their first charter from "Abbot Robert" — probably Robert of Sutton (1262–1273) When civil war broke out, Peterborough was divided between supporters of King Charles I (known as Cavaliers) and supporters of the Long Parliament (known as Roundheads). The city lay on the border of the Eastern Association of counties which sided with Parliament, and the war reached Peterborough in 1643 when soldiers arrived in the city to attack Royalist strongholds at Stamford and Crowland. The Royalist forces were defeated within a few weeks and retreated to Burghley House, where they were captured and sent to Cambridge.[13] While the Parliamentary soldiers were in Peterborough, however, they ransacked the cathedral, destroying the Lady Chapel, chapter house, cloister, high altar and choir stalls, as well as medieval decoration and records.[14] Historically the dean and chapter, who succeeded the abbot as lords of the manor, appointed a high bailiff, and the constables and other borough officers were elected at their court leet; but the municipal borough was incorporated in 1874 under the government of a mayor, six aldermen and eighteen councillors.[15] Among the privileges claimed by the abbot as early as the thirteenth century was that of having a prison for felons taken in the Soke. In 1576 Bishop Edmund Scambler sold the lordship of the hundred of Nassaburgh, which was coextensive with the Soke, to Queen Elizabeth I, who gave it to Lord Burghley, and from that time until the nineteenth century he and his descendants, the Earls and Marquesses of Exeter, had a separate gaol for prisoners arrested in the Soke.[12] The abbot formerly held four fairs, of which two, St. Peter's Fair, granted in 1189 and later held on the second Tuesday and Wednesday in July, and the Brigge Fair, granted in 1439 and later held on the first Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in October, were purchased by the corporation from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1876. The Bridge Fair, as it is now known, granted to the abbey by King Henry VI, survives.[16] Prayers for the opening of the fair were once said at the morning service in the cathedral, followed by a civic proclamation and a sausage lunch at the Town Hall which still takes place. The Mayor traditionally leads a procession from the Town Hall to the fair where the proclamation is read, asking all persons to "behave soberly and civilly, and to pay their just dues and demands according to the laws of the realm and the rights of the City of Peterborough Modern history Railway lines began operating locally during the 1840s, but it was the 1850 opening of the Great Northern Railway's main line from London to York that transformed Peterborough from a market town to an industrial centre. Lord Exeter had opposed the railway passing through Stamford, so Peterborough, situated between two main terminals at London and Doncaster, increasingly developed as a regional hub Coupled with vast local clay deposits, the railway enabled large-scale brick-making and distribution to take place. The area was the UK's leading producer of bricks for much of the twentieth century. Brick-making had been a small seasonal craft since the early nineteenth century, but during the 1890s successful experiments at Fletton using the harder clays from a lower level had resulted in a much more efficient process.[19] The dominance of London Brick in the market during this period gave rise to some of the country's most well-known landmarks, all built using the ubiquitous Fletton.[20] Perkins Engines was established in Peterborough in 1932 by Frank Perkins, creator of the Perkins diesel engine. Thirty years later it employed more than a tenth of the population of Peterborough, mainly at Eastfield.[21] Baker Perkins had relocated from London to Westwood, now the site of HMP Peterborough, in 1903, followed by Peter Brotherhood to Walton in 1906; both manufacturers of industrial machinery, they too became major employers in the city.[22] British Sugar remains headquartered in Woodston, although the beet sugar factory, which opened there in 1926, was closed in 1991.[23] Designated a New Town in 1967, Peterborough Development Corporation was formed in partnership with the city and county councils to house London's overspill population in new townships sited around the existing urban area.[24] There were to be four townships, one each at Bretton, Orton, Paston/Werrington and Castor. The last of these was never built, but a fourth, called Hampton, is now taking shape south of the city. It was decided that the city should have a major indoor shopping centre at its heart. Planning permission was received in late summer 1976 and Queensgate, containing over 90 stores and including parking for 2,300 cars, was opened by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands in 1982. 34 miles (55 km) of urban roads were planned and a network of high-speed roads, known as parkways, was constructed.[25] Peterborough's population grew by 45.4% between 1971 and 1991. New service-sector companies like Thomas Cook and Pearl Assurance were attracted to the city, ending the dominance of the manufacturing industry as employers. An urban regeneration company named Opportunity Peterborough, under the chairmanship of Lord Mawhinney, was set up by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in 2005 to oversee Peterborough's future development.[26] Between 2006 and 2012 a £1 billion redevelopment of the city centre and surrounding areas is planned. The master plan provides guidelines on the physical shaping of the city centre over the next 15–20 years. Proposals are already progressing for the north of Westgate, the south bank and the station quarter, where Network Rail is preparing a major mixed use development.[27] Whilst recognising that the reconfiguration of the relationship between the city and station was critical, English Heritage found the current plans for Westgate unconvincing and felt more thought should be given to the vitality of the historic core. Economy RegenerationPeterborough is currently experiencing an economic boom compared to the rest of the country, believed in part to be due to the regeneration plan running to 2012. In 2005 economic growth was on average 5.5%, whilst in Peterborough it was 6.9%, the highest in the UK. This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added, an important measure in the estimation of gross domestic product, of Peterborough at current basic prices, with figures in millions of pounds sterling Recent figures, plotting growth from 1995 to 2004, reveal that Peterborough has become the most successful economy among unitary authorities in the East of England. The chart also reveals that the city's economy is growing faster than the East of England average and any other economy in the region.[51] Peterborough leads the UK’s business population growth, with a 3.78% increase between April and September 2006, according to Royal Mail's Business Barometer.[52] It has a strong economy in the environmental goods and services sector and has the largest cluster of environmental businesses in the UK.[53] In 1994 Peterborough was designated one of four environment cities in the UK and it is now working to become the UK's acknowledged environment capital.[54] The council and regional development agency are taking advice on regeneration issues from a number of internationally recognised experts, including Benjamin Barber (formerly an adviser to President Bill Clinton), Jan Gustav Strandenaes (United Nations adviser on environmental issues) and Patama Roorakwit (a Thai "community architect") Transport Peterborough is a major stop on the East Coast Main Line, 45–50 minutes' journey time from central London, with high-speed intercity services from King's Cross to Edinburgh Waverley operated by National Express East Coast at around a 20-minute frequency, and slower commuter services terminating at Peterborough operated by First Capital Connect. It is a major railway junction where a number of cross-country routes converge. East Midlands Trains operate the Peterborough to Lincoln Line, with through services to Doncaster and a route from Liverpool Lime Street to Norwich or Cambridge via the main line north of Peterborough; CrossCountry operate the Birmingham to Peterborough Line and with National Express East Anglia, the Ely to Peterborough Line, with through services to Cambridge and Stansted Airport operated by the former and to Ipswich and London Liverpool Street by the latter.[63] Peterborough has a business airport with a paved runway at Holme and a recreational airfield hosting a parachute school at Sibson. The River Nene, made navigable from the port at Wisbech to Northampton by 1761,[64] passes through the city centre and a green bridge carries the railway over the river. It was built in 1847 by Lewis Cubitt, who was more famous for his bridges in Australia, India and South America. Apart from some minor repairs in 1910 (the steel bands and cross braces around the fluted legs) the bridge remains as he built it. Now a listed structure, it is the oldest surviving cast-iron railway bridge in the UK.[65] By the Town Bridge, the Customs House, built in the early eighteenth century, is a visible reminder of the city's past function as an inland port.[66] The Environment Agency navigation starts at the junction with the Northampton arm of the Grand Union Canal and extends for 91 miles (147 km) ending at Bevis Hall just upstream of Wisbech. The tidal limit used to be Woodston Wharf until the Dog-in-a-Doublet lock was built five miles (8 km) downstream in 1937.[67] The A1/A1(M) broadly follows the path of the historic Great North Road from St Paul's Cathedral in the heart of London, through Peterborough (Junction 17), continuing north a further 335 miles (539 km) to central Edinburgh. In 1899 the British Electric Traction Company sought permission for a tramway joining the northern suburbs with the city centre. The system, which operated under the name Peterborough Electric Traction Company, opened in 1903 and was abandoned in favour of motor buses in 1930, when the company was merged into the Eastern Counties Omnibus Company.[68] Today, bus services in the city are operated by several companies including the Stagecoach Group (Cambus and Viscount) and Delaine Buses. Despite its large-scale growth, Peterborough has the fastest peak and off-peak travel times for a city of its size in the UK, due to the construction of the parkways. The Local Transport Plan anticipates expenditure totalling around £180 million for the period up to 2010 on major road schemes to accommodate development.[69] The Peterborough Millennium Green Wheel is a 50-mile (80 km) network of cycleways, footpaths and bridleways which provide safe, continuous routes around the city with radiating spokes connecting to the city centre. The project has also created a sculpture trail, which provides functional, landscape artworks along the Green Wheel route and a Living Landmarks project involving the local community in the creation of local landscape features such as mini woodlands, ponds and hedgerows.[70] Another long-distance footpath, the Hereward Way, runs from Oakham in Rutland, through Peterborough, to East Harling in Norfolk. Demographics Ethnicity Peterborough is home to one of the largest concentrations of Italian immigrants in the UK. This is mainly as a result of labour recruitment in the 1950s by the London Brick Company in the southern Italian regions of Puglia and Campania. By 1960 approximately 3,000 Italian men were employed by London Brick, mostly at the Fletton works.[71] In 1962 the Scalabrini Fathers, who first arrived in 1956, purchased an old school and converted it into a church named after the patron saint of workers San Giuseppe. By 1991 over 3,000 christenings of second-generation Italians had been carried out there.[72] The population of Peterborough has grown much faster than the national average over the last few years, mainly as a result of immigration. In the late twentieth century the main source of immigration has been from Commonwealth countries such as India and Pakistan. A more recent issue is that an unknown number of eastern Europeans from accession states have moved to Peterborough since 2004. This may mean that the population figures, based on the 2001 census, are an underestimate.[73] The East of England Regional Assembly estimate that 16,000 eastern Europeans are now living in the city, one in ten of the population.[74] Modern Peterborough is a rapidly developing city and one that continues to change. The change has not been without problems however. In May 2004 groups of Pakistani residents clashed with Afghan and Iraqi asylum seekers. In the "running street battles," houses and cars were set alight and windows were smashed. Some people were hospitalised. The fighting occurred in the multicultural Millfield area of the city.[75] In July of that year, a festival set up by the Indian community to celebrate the city's diversity turned violent. Pakistanis and Iraqis clashed over the weekend, leaving a man in hospital and large gangs fighting.[76] Since then, race relations have improved significantly. East Anglia is the leading destination for new migrants and half of the 83,000 who have registered to work in the region have settled in Cambridgeshire. According to a report published by the police in 2007 "the hidden scale of migration into the county is demonstrated by the different number of languages officers and staff deal with, which now exceeds 100. Translation costs linked to dealing with incidents and crime are close to £1 million a year." The report says the migrant communities have led to a change in the nature of crime in the county, with an increase in drink-driving offences, knife crime and an international dimension added to activities such as running cannabis factories and human trafficking. The number of foreign nationals arrested in the north of the county rose from 894 in 2003 to 2,435 in 2006, but the report also says "inappropriately negative" community perceptions about migrant workers often complicate routine incidents, raising tensions and turning them "critical;" the fact that many new migrants are crowded into privately rented accommodation, often in multiple occupation, is a potentially destabilising factor in many communities, raising problems of noise, parking, waste disposal, petty robbery, household disputes and assaults against women in mixed houses.[77] Julie Spence OBE, the Chief Constable, was careful to add there was "little evidence that the increased numbers of migrant workers have caused significant or systematic problems in respect of community safety or cohesion." She also emphasised that the dramatic change in the county's profile — from a rural county in which four years ago 95% of teenagers were white to one of the country's major ethnically mixed growth points — has had a positive impact in development and jobs. Cambridgeshire's population is one of the fastest growing in Britain and is projected to rise by a further 12.5% or 94,000 by 2016, mostly fulled by 69,000 eastern European migrants.[78] On 11 March 2008, the BBC broadcast The Poles are Coming!, a controversial documentary by award-winning filmmaker Tim Samuels, as part of its White Season.[79] The number of languages in use is growing and diversity is spreading where previously few languages other than English were spoken. Peterborough now offers classes in Italian, Urdu and Punjabi in its primary schools.[80] As the city expands the council has introduced a new statutory development plan.[81] Its aim is to accommodate an additional 22,000 homes, 18,000 jobs and over 40,000 people living in Peterborough by 2020. The newly developing Hampton township will be completed, there will be a 1,500 home development at Stanground and a further 1,200 home development at Paston The arts Peterborough enjoys a wide range of events including the annual East of England Show, Peterborough Festival and CAMRA beer festival, which takes place on the river embankment in late August. The Key Theatre, built in 1973, is situated on the embankment, next to the River Nene. The theatre aims to provide entertainment, enlightenment and education by reflecting the rich culture Peterborough has to offer. The programme is made up of home-grown productions, national touring shows, local community productions and one-off concerts. There is disabled access, an infrared hearing system for the deaf and hard of hearing and there are also regular signed performances.[96] In 1937 the Odeon Cinema opened on Broadway, where it operated successfully for more than half a century. In 1991 the Odeon showed its last film to the public and was left to fall into a state of disrepair, until 1997, when a local entrepreneur purchased the building as part of a larger project, including a restaurant and art gallery. The Broadway, designed by Tim Foster Architects, was one of the largest theatres in the region and offered a selection of live entertainment, including music, comedy and films.[97] In January 2009, it was severely damaged by arsonists, resulting in closure when its insurers refused to pay the claim due to faulty fire detection systems.[98] The Embassy Theatre, now a public house, also opened here in 1937, later becoming a cinema.[99] The John Clare Theatre within the new central library, again on Broadway, is home to the Peterborough Film Society. One of the region's leading venues, The Cresset in Bretton, provides a wide range of events for the residents of the city and beyond, including theatre, comedy, music and dance. Peterborough has a 13-screen Showcase Cinema, an ice rink and two indoor swimming pools open to the general public. A diverse range of restaurants can be found throughout the city, including Chinese & Cantonese, Indian & Nepalese, Thai and many Italian restaurants. In the closing months of 2006, Polish, Japanese and Mexican restaurants were all opened. A regional magazine, Art and Soul, encouraging the arts and local music was started in 2007. The magazine covers many aspects of the Peterborough arts and music scene, including organising gigs in the city.[100] Peterborough has recently been used as the setting for two popular novels, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka[101] and A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon. Sport Peterborough United Football Club, known as The Posh, has been the local football team since 1934. The ground is situated at London Road on the south bank of the River Nene. Peterborough United have a proud history of cup giant-killings.[103] They set the record for the highest number of league goals (134, Terry Bly alone scoring 52) in 1960/1; their first season in the Football League, in which they won the Fourth Division title. The club's highest standing to date was tenth place in the First Division, then the second tier of English football, in 1992/3.[104] Irish property developer Darragh MacAnthony was appointed chairman in 2006 and is now owner, having undertaken a lengthy purchase from Barry Fry who remains director of football. MacAnthony has promised to move The Posh to a new all-seater stadium.[105] As well as football, Peterborough has teams competing in rugby, cricket, hockey, ice hockey, rowing and athletics. Although Cambridgeshire is not a first-class cricket county, Northamptonshire staged some home matches in the city between 1906 and 1974. Peterborough Town Cricket Club and the City of Peterborough Hockey Club compete at their shared ground in Westwood;[106] whereas the city's oldest and most successful rugby team, Peterborough Rugby Union Football Club, now play at Fortress Fengate.[107] Peterborough City Rowing Club moved from its riverside setting to the current Thorpe Meadows location in 1983. The spring and summer regattas held there attract rowers and scullers from competing clubs all over the country. Every February the adjacent River Nene is host to the head of the river race, which again attracts hundreds of entries.[108] Peterborough Athletic Club train and compete at the embankment athletics arena. In 2006, after 10 years, the Great Eastern Run returned to the racing calendar, around 3,000 runners raced through the flat streets of Peterborough for the half-marathon, supported by thousands of spectators along the course.[109] Peterborough Phantoms are the city's ice hockey team, playing in the English Premier League at the East of England Ice Rink. Motorcycle speedway is also a popular sport in Peterborough, with race meetings held at the East of England Showground. The team, known as the Peterborough Panthers, have operated regularly in the Elite League.[110] The Showground hosts the annual British Motorcycle Federation Rally each May. In June 2009, Peterborough will host one of the first rounds of The Tour Series, a new series of televised town and city centre cycling races Places of interest The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Andrew, whose statues look down from the three high gables of the West Front, was originally founded as a monastery in AD 655 and re-built in its present form between 1118 and 1238. It has been the seat of the Bishop of Peterborough since the Diocese was created in 1541. Peterborough Cathedral is known for its imposing early English Gothic West Front which, with its three enormous arches, is without architectural precedent and with no direct successor. The Cathedral has the distinction of having had two queens buried beneath its paving, Katherine of Aragon and Mary, Queen of Scots. The remains of Queen Mary were later removed to Westminster Abbey by her son James I when he became King of England.[120] The general layout of Peterborough is attributed to Martin de Vecti who, as abbot from 1133 to 1155, rebuilt the settlement on dry limestone to the west of the monastery, rather than the often-flooded marshlands to the east. Abbot Martin was responsible for laying out the market place and the wharf beside the river. Peterborough's magnificent seventeenth century Guildhall, built shortly after the restoration of King Charles II, is supported by columns, to provide an open ground floor for the butter and poultry markets which used to be held there. The Market Place was renamed Cathedral Square and the adjacent Gates Memorial Fountain moved to Bishop's Road Gardens in 1963, when the weekly market was transferred to the site of the old cattle market.[121] The city has a large Victorian park containing formal gardens, children's play areas, an aviary, bowling green, tennis courts, pitch and putt course and tea rooms. The Park has been awarded the Green Flag Award, the national standard for parks and green spaces, by the Civic Trust.[122] The Lido, a striking building with elements of art deco design, was opened in 1936 and is one of the few survivors of its type still in use.[123]
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Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery, built in 1816, housed the city's first infirmary from 1857 to 1928. The museum has a collection of some 227,000 objects, including local archaeology and social history, from the products of the Roman pottery industry to Britain's oldest known murder victim; a collection of marine fossil remains from the Jurassic period of international importance; the manuscripts of John Clare, the Northamptonshire Peasant Poet as he was commonly known in his own time;
Burghley House to the north of Peterborough, near Stamford, was built and mostly designed by Sir William Cecil, later 1st Baron Burghley, who was Lord High Treasurer to Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign.
Longthorpe Tower, a fourteenth century three-storey tower and fortified manor house in the care of English Heritage, is situated about two miles (3 km) west of the city centre. A scheduled ancient monument protected by law, it contains the finest and most complete set of domestic paintings of the period in northern Europe.
Flag Fen, the Bronze Age archaeological site, was discovered in 1982 when a team led by Dr. Francis Pryor carried out a survey of dykes in the area. Probably religious, it comprises a large number of poles arranged in five long rows, connecting Whittlesey with Peterborough across the wet fenland. The museum exhibits many of the artefacts found, including what is believed to be the oldest wheel in Britain. An exposed section of the Roman road known as the Fen Causeway also crosses the site.
The Nene Valley Railway, a seven and a half mile (12 km) heritage railway, was one of the last passenger lines to fall under the Beeching Axe. In 1974 the former development corporation bought the line, running from the city centre to Yarwell Junction just west of Wansford, via Orton Mere and the 500 acre (202 ha) Ferry Meadows country park, and leased it to the Peterborough Railway Society.
The Nene Park, which opened in 1978, covers a site three and a half miles (5.6 km) long, from slightly west of Castor to the centre of Peterborough. The park has three lakes, one of which houses a watersports centre. Ferry Meadows, one of the major destinations and attractions signposted on the Green Wheel, occupies a large portion of Nene Park. Orton Mere provides access to the east of the park.
Southey Wood, once included in the Royal Forest of Rockingham, is a mixed woodland maintained by the Forestry Commission between the villages of Upton and Ufford.