PETERBOROUGH, a city, and the seat of a diocese,
having separate jurisdiction, and the head of
the liberty of Nassaburgh, or Peterborough, county of
NORTHAMPTON, 42 miles (N.E. by E.) from Northampton,
and 79 (N. by W.) from London, containing, with the
precinct of the Minster-close, and exclusively of the chapelries
of Dogsthorpe, Eastfield with Newark, and Longthorpe,
in that part of theparishwhichis within the liberty,
4598 inhabitants. The original name of this place, according
to ancient records, was Medeswelhamsted, or Medeshamsted,
from a whirlpool in that part of the river
Aufona, now the Nene, near which the town was built.
During the Saxon Octarchy, Peada, fifth king of Mercia,
having embraced the Christian faith, laid the foundation
of a monastery, about 655, which was completed
by his brother Wulfhere, in atonement for having murdered
his own sons, for their attachment to the Christian
doctrine, prior to his own conversion to Christianity.
From this monastery, which was dedicated to
St. Peter, and soon became celebrated for the magnificence
of its buildings and the richness of its endowments, the
town derived the name Petriburgus, whence its present
appellation. The monastery continued to flourish until
about the middle of the ninth century, when the Danes
having laid waste the neighbouring country, plundered the
town, massacred the monks, andburntthemonastic buildings.
In this state of desolation it remained for more than
a century, till it was restored by Ethelwold, Bishop of
Winchester, with the assistance of King Edgar, and of
Adulph, the king's chancellor, who appropriated all his
wealth to the rebuilding of the monastery, of which, after
its restoration, he was made abbot. In the reigri of William
the Conqueror, Hereward, the last of the Anglo-Saxon
warriors who distinguished themselves by their exploits,
having heard that the Conqueror had given away his paternal
lands to a Norman, set sail from Flanders, whither
he had retired, and having landed in Lincolnshire, made
an incursion into this city, and setting fire to the gates
and outbuildings of the monastery, which he was unable
to storm, opened for himself a passage through the
flames, plundered the treasury, and having committed
various outrages, retired to his ships with an immense
booty. Against this invader, and for the protection of
the abbey from similar attacks, Abbot Turold erected a
fort, or castle, which, from his name, is called Mont
Turold: this mound, or hill, is on the outside of the
deanery garden, and is now called Tot-hill, or Toothill.
In 1116, the monastery and town were greatly
injured by fire, and to this accident may be attributed
the existence of the present cathedral church, the building
of which was commenced two years afterwards
by Abbot Salisbury; and at this period the town,
which had previously stood on the eastern side of the
monastery, was re-erected on the situation it now occupies.
The town suffered materially, in the war between
John and the confederate barons, many of whom took
refuge in the monastery here and in Croyland abbey, from
which sanctuaries they were forced by the king's soldiers,
who plundered the religious houses and carried
off a rich booty. This was a mitred abbey of the Benedictine
order, the abbots having been summoned
to parliament in the reign of Henry III.: at the dissolution,
its revenue was estimated at £1972. 7 Of.,
and the conventual church, on the establishment of the
see, became the cathedral of the diocese. During the
civil war in the reign of Charles L, the parliamentary
forces under the command of Cromwell, destined for
the siege of Croyland, were stationed in this town,
where they committed numerous depredations, defacing
the cathedral, which they stripped of its plate and
ornaments, and pulling down part of the cloisters, the
chapter-house, and the episcopal palace, which were
sold by order of the parliament.
The city is pleasantly situated on the north side of
the river Nene, over which is a wooden bridge: it
consists of several regular and well-formed streets;
the houses are in general neatly built, and many of
them have been modernised in the recent improvements
of the city, which have been effected under
the provisions of an act of parliament in 1790: the
to.wn is well paved, lighted with gas, and amply supplied
with water. The environs are pleasant, and afford
much agreeable and diversified scenery. A book society
was established in 1730; there is a small theatre,
which is opened generally in June, for six [weeks; and
assemblies are held at stated times, generally for the
benefit of the dispensary and the National school. The
trade is principally in corn, coal, timber, coke, lime,
bricks, and stone, the produce of the neighbourhood.
The river Nene is not navigable for shipping, but boats
pass to Northampton, where it communicates with the
Grand Junction canal; and in the opposite direction
vessels proceed through Wisbeach to Lynn, to the former
of which packets sail twice a week. The market
is on Saturday; the fairs commence July 9th and October
1st, each for three days, for cattle, timber, and
various kinds of merchandise; the former only is held
in the city, and the latter, called " Bridge Fair," on the
opposite side of the river, in the adjoining part of the
county of Huntingdon. The liberty, or soke, of Peterborough,
is co-extensive with the hundred, and comprises
thirty-two townships and hamlets: the civil
government is vested in the lord of the hundred, a custos
rotulorum, and magistrates appointed by the crown,
with powers equal to that of judges of assize, and in
a high bailiff of the city, who is appointed by the dean
and chapter, who are lords of the manor; constables
and other officers are appointed at the court leet held
annually. Courts of quarter session, for all offences
committed within the soke, are held here, on the day
preceding those for the county; also a court of record,
for the recovery of debts to any amount, but in which
debts above £5 are seldom sued,for. The town hall,
erected in 1671, is a neat building, under which is a
covered area for the use of the market. There are two
gaols; that for the liberty is a small building, containing
three cells, being calculated to receive only seven
prisoners; it is under the superintendence of the Marquis
of Exeter, as lord of the hundred: the other,
usually called the house of correction, is adapted to
the reception of eleven prisoners. The city first sent
members to parliament in the 1st of Edward VI.,
since which time it has regularly returned two: the
right of election is vested, by a decision of the House
of Commons, May 13th, 1728, in the inhabitants within
the precincts of the Minster, being householders not
receiving alms, and in the other inhabitants of the
city paying scot and lot; the high bailiff is the returning
officer, and the patronage belongs to Earl Fitzwilliam.
The great borough fen between Peterborough and Crowland,
containing nearly seven thousand acres, was, until
the year 1815, subject to the pasturage of the cattle
belonging to the inhabitants of the thirty-two townships
which comprize the soke, it has since been enclosed,
and a new parish, called Newborough, formed.
This city was anciently included in the diocese of Lincoln,
from which, with the counties of Northampton and Rutland,
it was separated by Henry VIII., in 1541, and erected
into an episcopal see, of which the last abbot of Peterborough
was made the first bishop, the conventual church of that
monastery appropriated as the cathedral, and
the abbot's house as the episcopal palace. The ecclesiastical
establishment consists of a bishop, dean, subdean,
six prebendaries, four minor canons, a master
and eight choristers, six singers, an organist, two schoolmasters,
twenty scholars, a steward, and six almsmen.
The cathedral is a spacious and venerable structure,
partly in the Norman, and partly in the early English,
style of architecture, with a low lantern tower rising
from the centre. An ancient gateway entrance of the
Norman style, which has received some additions in
the later English, leads into a small quadrangle, on
one side of which are the conventual buildings, which
retain much of their original character; and opposite
the entrance is the magnificent west front of the cathedral,
consisting of three lofty arches in the early English
style, of unparalleled beauty, but the effect greatly
diminished by a small porch (over which is the chapel
of St. Thomas a Becket), which, though of elegant
design, is not in accordance with the general character
of this part of the building. Each of the three magnificent
arches is surmounted by a decorated gable,
pierced with Catherine-wheel windows; on each side is
a highly-enriched turret, surmounted by a spire, and at
the north-west angle of the nave is a square tower with
angular turrets crowned with pinnacles, with which a
similar tower at the south-west angle formerly corresponded.
The nave, which is in the Norman style, is
separated from the aisles by finely-clustered piers and
arches, of lighter character than generally prevails in
that style, and is a fine specimen of just proportion
and elegant arrangement: the roof, which is of wood,
is divided into compartments, panelled, and ornamented
with paintings and with gilt fillets and mouldings;
the choir has a groined roof of wood; on the south
side is the shrine of St. Tibba, generally mistaken for
the cenotaph of Mary, Queen of Scots, who was buried
near the spot, but whose remains were afterwards removed
to Westminster; and on the north was the tomb
of Queen Catherine of Arragon, destroyed by the parliamentarian
troops under Cromwell, which has been
replaced by a marble slab to the memory of that queen.
The east end is circular, and there are several chapels
in the later English style, with fan tracery of elegant
design; the windows generally appear to have been
enriched with tracery, subsequently to their original
formation, and many of them have been enlarged. To
the south of the south transept are the remains of
what was probably the refectory, and the infirmary
of the convent, exhibiting a beautiful specimen of the
early English style: the cloisters, of which part only
remains, appear to have been singularly beautiful, and to
have combined various styles of architecture, from the
early Norman to the later English. The length of the
cathedral, from east to west, is four hundred and seventy-
one feet, and the breadth, along the transepts,
one hundred and eighty feet: among the monuments
are three for abbots of the twelfth century, and one for
the abbot, and eighty-four of the monks, who were
massacred by the Danes, in the year 870, of black and
blue marble, formed like a shrine, and sculptured with
figures of Christ and the Apostles, which is placed
behind the altar. The Cathedral Close exhibits several
interesting remains of English architecture, and it has
a gateway communicating with the town, another leading
to the Bishop's palace, and a third, of considerable
beauty, to the deanery.
The city comprises only the parish of St. John
the Baptist. The living is a discharged vicarage, in
the archdeaconry of Northampton, and diocese of
Peterborough, endowed with £200 private benefaction,
and £200 royal bounty, and in the patronage of the
Bishop of Peterborough. The church of St. John, a
spacious structure, recently repaired and partly rebuilt,
has a handsome altar-piece, painted by Sir Robert Ker
Porter. There are places of worship for Baptists, Independents,
and Wesleyan and other Methodists. The
free grammar school was founded by Henry VIII., on
the dissolution of the monastery, and placed under the
control of the Dean and Chapter, being endowed for
twenty scholars, nominated by them, who receive each
£2. 13. 4. annually, and are instructed in the classics
and in English literature; there are belonging to this
school three exhibitions, of £ 6 per annum each, to St.
John's College, Cambridge, founded by Edmund Munsteven,
Esq., in the patronage of the Bishop and Dean of
Peterborough, which, on failure of candidates from this
school, are open to Oundle, or any other school in the
county of Northampton; in the same college are one fellowship
and two scholarships, founded by Francis Dee,
Bishop of Peterborough, for boys of his kindred and name,
who have been educated at this school, or at Merchant
Taylors', London, also three exhibitions of seven shillings
per week, with preference to boys educated here. A
charity school was founded, in 1721, by Mr. Thomas
Deacon, who endowed it with land for clothing, educating,
and apprenticing poor children, for which purpose
also Mr. Lowry, in 1707, had bequeathed £20,
and Mrs. Ann Ireland, in 1712, £100. A National
school for children of both sexes, upon an extensive
plan, and a dispensary, with an infirmary, are supported
by subscription; and there are various charitable bequests
for distribution among the poor. - Wortley,
Esq., formerly one of the representatives of the city,
bequeathed a commodious dwelling and premises, as
a workhouse for the parish. An ancient hospital, de
dicated to St. Leonard, for lepers, dependent on St.
Peter's abbey, was founded in the reign of Stephen;
and an hospital near the abbey gate was founded, in
1180, by Benedict, Abbot of Peterborough, to the honour
of Thomas a Becket, whose life he wrote. Among
the eminent natives of this place were, Abbot Benedict,
just mentioned; and John of Peterborough, an English
historian in the beginning of the fourteenth century,
also abbot of the monastery; Archdeacon Paley, celebrated
as a divine and moralist, who was born in 1743,
and died in 1805; to whom maybe added Sir John
Hill, a popular writer, supposed to have been born in
1716. The title of Earl of Peterborough, now extinct,
was bestowed on the family of Mordaunt by Charles I.,
and was held by Charles, Earl of Peterborough and
Monmouth, a distinguished military officer and statesman,
in the reigns of Anne and George I.