Peterborough (City partly in Huntingdonshire)

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

a city partly in Huntingdonshire, but chiefly in Northamptonshire, England, the latter portion being on the left or N. bank of the Nen river, at the edge of the fen country, 76 miles N. of London. Here, at Medeshamstede, in 655, the Mercian thane Saxulf founded the great Benedictine abbey of SS. Peter, Paul, and Andrew, which, destroyed by by the Danes in 870, was restored in 966, plundered by Hereward in 1069, and again burned down in 1116. Its noble church, the cathedral since 1541 of a new diocese carved out of that of Lincoln, was built between 1118 and 1528, and thus, while essentially Norman, offers every variety of architecture down to the Perpendicular. It is 471 feet long, by 202 across the transept, and 81 high. The Early English W. front (1200-1222) consists of three mighty arches. Noteworthy also are the flat painted wooden ceilings of the 12th century, the portrait of "Old Scarlett" the sexton (1496-1594), the blue slab inscribed "Queen Catharine, A. D. 1536," and the grave for 25 years ९ (1587-1612) of Mary Queen of Scots. In 1643 Cromwell and his troopers did hideous havoc to monuments, stained glass, and cloisters. Of the abbots may be mentioned Ernulf, Bishop of Rochester (1115); and of the 27 bishops, Lloyd ; and White the non-jurors, Richard Cumberland, Archbishop Magee of York, and Mandell Creighton the historian. Paley was a native. Two ancient gateways, the bishop's palace and the deanery (once the abbot's and prior's houses), and the chancel of a Becket chapel (now a museum) make up the remaining objects of interest. Peterborough is an important railway center, has manufactures of agricultural implements, and carries on a large trade in malt, coal, farm produce, etc. Incorporated as a municipal borough in 1874, it has returned two members to Parliament from 1547 till 1885, and since then one. Pop. (1917) 33,574.