24/06/2022
Top 5 | Things to do in Peterborough
1. Peterborough Cathedral
The indispensable sight in Peterborough is its jaw-dropping cathedral, which was mostly completed before 1237. It is one of a clutch of cathedrals in the country to have kept hold of its 12th-century Norman architecture, which is conspicuous on the long line of semi-circular arches, traced with zigzag patterns along the nave.
The western facade is an extraordinary Early English Gothic construction, with three massive arches that resemble nothing that came before or since.
Peterborough Cathedral sprang from a much earlier Anglo-Saxon church, founded around the 7th century, and the beguiling Hedda Stone from that building has been put on display.
At the east end of the church the “New Building” has Perpendicular fan vaulting by John Wastell, architect of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, and you can also seek out the tomb of Catherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII.
2. Peterborough Museum
In a solemn stone townhouse from 1816, Peterborough Museum has more than 220,000 objects recounting the human and natural history of the city and region.
In the middle of the 18th century this mansion had been Peterborough’s first hospital, and upstairs you can find out what a Victorian era operating theatre would have looked like.
You can view art from the17th-century to the present, and a collection of original manuscripts by the poet John Clare, who was born not far away in Helpston.
There’s also Roman pottery, Jurassic fossils and a host of intriguing artefacts from Norman Cross. This was a camp set up outside Peterborough for French and Dutch soldiers captured during the Napoleonic Wars.
It was the world’s first purpose-built prisoner of war camp, and the museum has arts and crafts like model ships and dolls houses handmade by the prisoners more than 200 years ago.
3. Nene Valley Railway
Peterborough Nene Valley Station in the centre of the is the eastern terminus of a preserved railway that runs along the Nene Valley for 7.5 miles to the village of Yarwell.
This is a fragment of a line that once extended from Peterborough to Blisworth, 45 miles to the southwest in Northamptonshire.
Opened in 1847, the line closed in 1966 and a stretch was purchased in the 70s to become a visitor attraction.
In 2008 it was extended a little further to Yarwell. The line runs on weekends year-round, but also weekdays during school holidays.
Generally you’ll be able to ride on a train pulled by a BR Standard Class 5 steam locomotive, but diesel locomotives fill in during maintenance.
4. Flag Fen Archaeology Park
On Peterborough’s eastern outskirts is an enigmatic Bronze Age site that came together around 3,500 years ago. This feat of prehistoric engineering is made up of 60,000 vertical and 250,000 horizontal timbers, configured in five long rows to form a causeway.
Since the 14th century landscape has been drained for farming by d***s, but in that period, it was much wetter and hard to navigate on foot. Part way along the causeway is an island that is believed to have held spiritual significance. Flag Fen has a visitor centre examining the meaning of the site and displaying the many artefacts recovered from the site like weapons and jewellery, believed to have been placed in the water as votive offerings.
In the wet room, you can see a row of the timbers in place. Outside there are reconstructions of Bronze Age and Iron Age roundhouses, and a Bronze-Iron Age droveway.
5. Elton Hall and Gardens
Eight miles southwest of Peterborough, Elton Hall is a baronial hall that has been in the same family, the Corbys, since 1660. The River Nene flows through the estate, and the house has a medley of architecture going back to the 1400s.
The oldest elements can be seen on the pointed Gothic windows of the south facade.
The house is open from May to August, on select days, which tend to fluctuate.
You have to go to view art by Renaissance masters, as well as Gainsborough and Constable, and set foot in one of the UK’s richest libraries in private hands. Among its treasures is the Henry VIII’s personal prayer book. The formal gardens with boxwood and yew topiaries have been restored since the 1980s and contain a charming Gothic-style orangery, built to celebrate the new millennium.
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