Peterborough: Cathedral City on the Edge of the Fens
Peterborough Cathedral is the anchor. Built between 1118 and 1238, its west front — three enormous Gothic arches, among the largest in Europe — dominates the city centre. Catherine of Aragon is buried here; Mary Queen of Scots was too, before James I had her moved to Westminster Abbey. The cathedral precinct, with its medieval gatehouse and precincts, provides a sense of historical depth that the rest of central Peterborough, largely rebuilt after New Town designation in 1967, sometimes lacks.
That New Town expansion transformed Peterborough from a modest Fenland market town into a rapidly growing city. The townships — Bretton, Orton, Werrington, Hampton — were built to house London overspill populations, and the grid of parkways that connects them gives the city a planned, spacious feel. The Nene Park, running along the river from the city centre toward Ferry Meadows, provides a green corridor that many cities would envy. Peterborough's brick industry, centred on the Oxford Clay deposits around Fletton, produced billions of bricks that built London and cities across the south-east. The London Brick Company's chimneys, once a defining feature of the skyline, are largely gone.
The city's population has diversified substantially since the 2004 EU enlargement. Significant Italian, Pakistani, Polish, Lithuanian, and Portuguese communities have changed the character of the city centre. Peterborough's economy leans on distribution, food processing, financial services (Thomas Cook was headquartered here until its collapse), and its role as a rail junction on the East Coast Main Line, just 46 minutes from London King's Cross.
Show more
Peterborough Cathedral is the anchor. Built between 1118 and 1238, its west front — three enormous Gothic arches, among the largest in Europe — dominates the city centre. Catherine of Aragon is buried here; Mary Queen of Scots was too, before James I had her moved to Westminster Abbey. The cathedral precinct, with its medieval gatehouse and precincts, provides a sense of historical depth that the rest of central Peterborough, largely rebuilt after New Town designation in 1967, sometimes lacks.
That New Town expansion transformed Peterborough from a modest Fenland market town into a rapidly growing city. The townships — Bretton, Orton, Werrington, Hampton — were built to house London overspill populations, and the grid of parkways that connects them gives the city a planned, spacious feel. The Nene Park, running along the river from the city centre toward Ferry Meadows, provides a green corridor that many cities would envy. Peterborough's brick industry, centred on the Oxford Clay deposits around Fletton, produced billions of bricks that built London and cities across the south-east. The London Brick Company's chimneys, once a defining feature of the skyline, are largely gone.
The city's population has diversified substantially since the 2004 EU enlargement. Significant Italian, Pakistani, Polish, Lithuanian, and Portuguese communities have changed the character of the city centre. Peterborough's economy leans on distribution, food processing, financial services (Thomas Cook was headquartered here until its collapse), and its role as a rail junction on the East Coast Main Line, just 46 minutes from London King's Cross.
Country selected
Region selected
Optional — select or proceed
