|
This is about the English city of Peterborough. For other uses, see Peterborough (disambiguation).
Arms of Peterborough City Council
Peterborough is a unitary authority and city in the east of England, bordered by the current administrative
counties of Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Rutland, and Northamptonshire. Peterborough itself and most of the area covered by the present unitary authority
traditionally belonged to the county of Northamptonshire, although more recently Peterborough has been considered to form part of
the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire.
The Romans first established the fort of Durobrivae -- which later grew into a town -- in the vicinity around 43 AD.
Peterborough Cathedral is one of the most notable
mediaeval cathedrals in Britain.
The population of Peterborough in 2001 was 156,000.
Local government
The old town was originally entirely within Northamptonshire
(and remains in this traditional county), being part of a special region known as the Soke of Peterborough, but post-industrial urban growth expanded into Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire. In
1889 the Soke was made an administrative county, but was subsequently considered too small for its purpose, and so was merged
with administrative Huntingdonshire in 1965 to form Peterborough
and Huntingdonshire. From 1974 until it became a unitary authority in 1998 it was part
of Cambridgeshire.
History
Peterborough (Burgh, Burgus sancti Petri) is proved by its original name Medehamstede
to have been a Saxon village before 655 when Saxulf, a monk, founded the monastery on land
granted to him for that purpose by Penda, king of Mercia. Its name was altered to Burgh
between 992 and 1005 after Abbot Kenulf had made a
wall round the minister, but the town does not appear to have been a
borough until the 12th century. The burgesses received their first charter
from "Abbot Robert" — probably Robert of Sutton (1262–1273).
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 borough was incorporated in 1874 under the government of a mayor, 6 aldermen and 18 councillors. Among the privileges claimed by the abbot as
early as the 13th century was that of having a prison for felons taken in
the soke and borough. In 1576 Bishop Scamble sold the lordship of the hundred of
Nassaburgh, which is coextensive with the soke, to Queen
Elizabeth I, who gave it to Lord Burghley, and from that time until the 19th century he and his descendants, marquesses of Exeter, had a separate gaol in Peterborough for prisoners
arrested in the soke.
The trades of weaving and woolcombing were carried on in Peterborough in the 14th century. The abbot formerly held four fairs, of which two, one called St Peter's fair, granted in
1189 and later held on the second Tuesday and Wednesday in July, and the other called the
Bridge fair, granted in 1439 and held on the first Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in
October, still survive and were purchased by the corporation from the ecclesiastical commissioners in 1876.
Peterborough sent two members to parliament for the first time in 1547.
The philosopher Richard
Cumberland (1631–1718) became bishop of
Peterborough in 1691.
Modern-day Peterborough
Designated a "New Town" in 1968, "Peterborough Development Corporation" was formed in
partnership with the city council to double the city's population by building new townships and "parkways" (roads with few access
points). During the period between 1971 and 1991,
Peterborough's population grew by 45.4%.
Peterborough has a business airfield with a paved runway at Conington and a recreational airfield hosting a well-known
parachute school at Sibson. It remains an important railway junction where passengers from the "Joint Line" to Lincoln, a
commuter service from London via Hitchin, or cross-country routes between Birmingham and Stansted may change to or from
high-speed trains serving the East Coast Main Line. These latter trains link Kings Cross with destinations in Yorkshire, the north east of England or Scotland.
Today Peterborough is a multi-cultural city, with significant Asian, Afro-Caribbean and Italian communities. The City has an
estimated population of just under 157,000 with the estimated population of the entire Greater Peterborough area being well over
half a million.
As the last resting-place of King Henry VIII's wife Catherine of Aragon, buried in Peterborough Cathedral, the city is
twinned with the Spanish city of Alcalá de Henares, Catherine's
birthplace. Peterborough is also twinned with Bourges (France), Forli (Italy), Viersen (Germany), and Vinnytsya (Ukraine).
Districts within the City of Peterborough
- Bretton
- Dogsthorpe
- Fletton
- Gunthorpe
- Hampton
- Longthorpe
- Netherton
- Orton
- Paston
- Ravensthorpe
- Stanground
- Walton
- Werrington
Towns and villages
- Bainton
- Barnack
- Etton
- Eye
- Glinton
- Helpston
- Maxey
- Newborough
- Northborough
- Pilsgate
- Southorpe
- Thorney
- Thorney Toll
- Thornhaugh
- Wittering
Places of interest
- Burghley House
- Peterborough Cathedral
- Longthorpe Tower
- Flag Fen
- Peakirk Waterfowl Gardens Trust
- Nene Valley
Railway
External links
|