History

This history starts just after the Roman occupation, with groups of settlers who arrived from places such as Germany and Denmark. These people were the Anglo-Saxons; they were not part of a huge empire and tended to live self-sufficiently in small farmstead settlements.

About 1,400 years ago, the Peterborough area lay on the boundary of two great Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Mercia to the west and East Anglia to the east and Christianity was becoming the established religion. Pious Anglo-Saxons, like St Guthlac, came to dwell as hermits in the fens, or to establish religious houses. Mercian royalty, on the site of the present Cathedral, founded Peterborough abbey.

A settlement at Peterborough, originally named Medeshamstede grew up around the abbey. It was re-named "Burgh" when it was enclosed by a defensive wall and ditch. "Burgh" was an Old English word for a fortified settlement. Subsequently it became known as "Burgh St Peter", from which name the present-day Peterborough has been derived.

When William the Conqueror appointed a Norman abbot to Peterborough, a local Saxon Lord, Hereward the Wake, together with a Danish fleet, attacked the abbey and town. The destruction, and its aftermath, were so severe that Hugh Candidus a monk writing in the 12th century described how the Golden Borough became the poorest almost overnight.

In the 12th Century Peterborough's fortunes changed. Abbot Martin de Bec planned a new town to the west of the abbey gates. The present Cathedral Square (the former Market Place), Long Causeway, and Bridge Street, which ran down to wharves on the Nene, were all part of this medieval plan. At this time the monastic church was re-planned on a much larger scale and now forms the present cathedral.

Other changes to the town included the construction, in 1307, of the first town bridge across the Nene. During the early 15th century a fine new parish church, dedicated to St John the Baptist, was built at the west end of the Market Place.

Although the countryside prospered in the early Middle Ages the subsequent problems caused through plague, changing economic forces and a breakdown of the old rural feudal system saw many villages shrink or disappear. Botolph Bridge was one of these villages, although noted in the Domesday Book in 1086, the village gradually declined until finally, in the 1690's, its church was demolished to help repair and enlarge Orton Longueville church. The site of Botolph Bridge village remained as open fields for hundreds of years but has been resurrected recently when developed for new housing.

Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries in 1539 included Peterborough Abbey. Fortunately, instead of being destroyed it was designated a cathedral. Peterborough became a city with the right to elect two Members of Parliament.

Although the power of the Church was declining, the cathedral's Dean and Chapter managed to govern the city through the manorial court. At a lower level were the churchwardens, and religious guilds who gave alms to the poor who were also involved in local affairs. When Henry VIII confiscated the land from the guilds in 1547, three local citizens carried on the charitable work by buying up the property. Later, the guild property passed to 14 local men, known as the feoffees, who continued to run the charities.

The old monastic abbey school was refounded by Henry VIII in 1541 to educate "twenty poor boys, both destitute for the help of friends and endowed with minds apt for learning" and renamed the King's School. Most ordinary people worked on the land or were trades people such as the butcher, baker or wool-comber.

The power of the wealthier families, who had bought up church lands, grew in the reign of Elizabeth I. Burghley House was built by William Cecil, (later Lord Burghley) the Queen's Secretary of State and her closest adviser. In 1576 Elizabeth passed the control of law and order in the city from the Bishop of Peterborough to Lord Burghley.

The Civil War reached Peterborough in 1643 when Parliamentarian troops arrived in the city to attack Royalist strongholds at Crowland and Stamford. The city lay on the fringe of the Eastern Association of Counties that sided with Parliament, but supporters of both sides could be found here. Horsey Hill fort (between Whittlesey and Stanground) had been built as part of a chain of defences along the border. The fort was a sophisticated gun emplacement.

The restoration of King Charles II in 1660 led to a new stability and prosperity across the country, and in 1669 the people of Peterborough raised a subscription for the building of public rooms. This building, now known as the Guildhall, was erected on the site of the old Market or Butter Cross.

Although minor, ad hoc drainage plans were carried out in the medieval period, it was not until the 17th century that schemes for the drainage of the whole "Great Level" of the fens were begun. In an agreement of 1630, Francis Earl of Bedford, who owned a large fenland estate at Thorney, joined with other "adventurers" and the experienced Dutch engineer Sir Cornelius Vermuyden to undertake the work and divide up the proceeds. The original work was to take only six years; in fact this was only the beginning of an amazing engineering endeavour that continues to this day.

In 1761 the River Nene was at last navigable from the seaport of Wisbeach to Northampton. Peterborough benefited from this trading route that carried agricultural produce down-stream, and coal and other goods up-stream from north-east England and Europe to Northampton. The city's excellent transport links did much to encourage its prosperity, although the roads themselves were often rough and dangerous. Between 1750 and 1840 Turnpike Trusts that collected money from road users at tollgates improved many local roads.

Prosperity was also gained by Peterborough's surrounding rich agricultural land, enhanced by the draining of the fens. Many of the people living in the area were employed in agriculture or craft industries associated with it, such as spinning, weaving, brewing, malting and harness manufacture. There was a weekly market held in the streets of the city center, and a yearly October fair, called Bridge Fair. Both were mostly concerned with the sale of sheep, cattle and horses.

In 1797 a prison was built at Norman Cross, near Peterborough, to hold prisoners, mostly French, of the Napoleonic Wars (1793-1815). At times as many as 7,000 prisoners were held in what was perhaps the world's first custom-built Prisoner of War camp. Many local farmers and traders supplied food and other goods to the prison, while some prisoners earned an income from the sale of caskets and models made from bone and straw.

The late 18th and early 19th centuries saw great changes to the countryside and the old rural way of life. New laws saw the loss of common land and the enclosure of ancient fields. Yet there were greater changes to come with the establishment of the railways.

During the 1840s, railway lines began to open locally, but it was the Great Northern Railway Company's main line from London to York, which opened in 1850, that made the biggest impact on Peterborough.
They provided over 200 houses for employees in an area that came to be called "New England", near their major repair and maintenance depot. Peterborough, increasingly developed as a regional railway center as it was situated midway between two main terminals at London and Doncaster.

Between 1841 and 1871, the population of Peterborough doubled to 15,500 and development companies implemented various housing schemes. Places like Gladstone Street, Park Road, Broadway and Park Crescent were built. During the years 1871 to 1901 the population doubled again to almost 31,000, spurred on by the employment created by the brick industry.

Brick making had been a small seasonal craft since the early 19th century, but during the 1890s successful experiments at Fletton using the harder clays from a lower level had created a much more efficient process. This allowed the manufacture of bricks on such a large scale that the companies were able to supply even London builders.

By the early 20th century Peterborough had become a centre of engineering excellence and a developing city with a rapidly growing population. People came from all over Britain and from other parts of the world, such as India, Pakistan, Italy, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, to live and work in the city. The two World Wars brought many changes to the inhabitants of the Peterborough area; the building of a hospital commemorated those who fought and died in the Great War. The flat, open countryside around Peterborough made an ideal location for airfields, RAF Wittering, home of the famous Harrier "jump jets", saw action in both World Wars.

Peterborough Development Corporation proposed four new "townships" each with a large number of houses serviced by a shopping centre and community centres. Three were actually built at Bretton, Orton and Werrington.

The Development Corporation also designed linking road networks and certain leisure facilities such the Nene Park. They promoted Peterborough extensively in order to attract new companies, which at first tended to be based on the City's established engineering and manufacturing industries. The long established Perkins Engines had, by 1960, become the largest employer with over 7,000 staff. Distribution depots and service-based businesses like Thomas Cook and Pearl Assurance came later.

It was also decided that the City should have a major indoor shopping centre at its heart and so "Queensgate" was built. Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands opened it in 1982. Peterborough continues to expand in the new millennium as a regional centre for homes, commerce, transport, industry and leisure.

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