Peterborough Blue Plaques
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Information on the following blue plaques can be found on this page, please click on the relevant image.
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St Thomas Becket |
Peterborough |
Embassy Theatre |
Public Library |
Theatre Royal |
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John Thompson Jnr |
Great Barn |
Thomas James Walker |
Shopping Arcade (Westgate) |
Cumbergate |
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01 St Thomas Becket
Plaque location - Cathedral Square on the former Lloyds Bank building, now Starbucks - location map
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A chapel on this site had been begun by Abbot William de Waterville, shortly after Becket's murder in 1170. It was completed by Abbot Benedict who had succeeded William de Waterville in 1177. Benedict (not to be confused with Benedict of Norcia, 6th century founder of the Benedictine Order) had, at the moment of Becket's murder, been in Canterbury Cathedral, albeit at a safe distance, when Henry II's agents broke in to do the deed. The martyrdom of Becket marked a turning point in the protracted power struggle between church and state which dominated the medieval period. Becket was canonised in 1173. In 1175 Benedict became Prior of Canterbury, keeper of Becket's relics, guardian of the shrine and, in some sense his first biographer, thus playing a major role in the propagation of the Martyr's cult as a focus for pilgrimage both at Canterbury and far beyond.
Following his appointment as Abbot of Peterborough, Benedict was to discover that order and discipline in the monastic community was wanting, and that work towards completion of the nave had come to a standstill. So, in what has been described as a "memorable act of plunder" he returns quietly to Canterbury and 'acquires' (doubtless he felt entitled) certain relics of Becket's martyrdom. These seem to have included blood-stained stones, fragments of vestments and two (seemingly self-replenishing) crystal phials of Becket's blood. Thus Peterborough became something of a regional centre for the cult which became one of the most important in Europe.
To the modern mind the acquisition and veneration of relics may be pure superstition; yet this preoccupation, developed from pagan antiquity, represents and to some degree remains a universal instinct. The medieval church honoured relics of saints and martyrs (whether 'authentic' or otherwise) because it saw their deaths as witness to faith.
Some of the relics, at least, brought from Canterbury are likely to have been housed in the Limoges enamel reliquary or chasse (pictured, courtesy of the V&A) and now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. This reliquary casket is the finest and largest of more than forty such 'Becket caskets' to survive. Circumstantial evidence suggests that this one was commissioned by Benedict specifically for Peterborough. It may either have been kept in the chapel or, perhaps more likely, near the high altar of the abbey church.
The chapel itself was demolished at the beginning of the fifteenth century for precise reasons which remain a matter of some discussion.
Immediately adjoining the site is the Great Gate to Peterborough Cathedral precincts and the Cathedral itself with its spectacular west front. Until 1539 an abbey, the substantial remains of many of its monastic buildings survive, some adapted to modern functions. Immediately inside the gate, to the left, stands the chancel added to the Becket Chapel in the 14th century.
Information compiled by Henry Mansell Duckett.
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02 County Court
Plaque location - on the empty County Court building at the junction of Cattle Market Road and City Road - location map
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The government architect's plans for this building are headed "Peterborough County Court and Probate Registry". Some 60 County Courts were established nationally by an Act of 1846, and the granting of Probate was taken out of Diocesan hands into those of the Civil Service by the Court of Probate Act, 1857. Other premises had been used for these two 'courts' from those dates until combined in this building (seemingly opened without ceremony) sometime in June or July 1873. The Probate 'courtroom' was used for the Public Enquiry on Peterborough's incorporation in July that year.
The Probate service and the County Court remained here until December 1986. They were transferred to the new Crown Court situated between Bishops Road and the Key Theatre, which was officially opened on 15 May 1987.
Opposite is Peterscourt (use back button to return to this page) on which is one of the Society's existing plaques.
Peterscourt was originally built as a teacher training college, sponsored by the (Anglican) Dioceses of Ely, Lincoln and Peterborough. It contained lecture rooms, dormitories and the Principal's residence, and was known as 'St Peter's Training College'. It had an 'intake' of about 25 young men per year. It was designed by Sir G.G. Scott, and opened in May 1864 (although the 'college' itself existed from January 1859, was housed in temporary buildings). Shortly after the outbreak of the 1914‐18 War it closed, that year's intake being transferred to a college in Durham.
The College re-opened to train women teachers in October 1921, and closed again (because of government rationalisation of training colleges and the impending retirement of the Principal) in July 1938.
It is possible that there was some Territorial Army use of the premises c1939-1942, then the American Servicemen's Club occupied it c1942-1945. It re-opened as an Emergency Teacher Training College in March 1946 (initially for men, later for women as well) and finally closed in December 1950.
For 16 years or so the building was owned and occupied by Perkins Engines as offices. In 1968 it was acquired by the newly formed Peterborough Development Corporation and used as their headquarters until 1975. In the early 1980s it was completely renovated.
Information compiled by Toby Wood.
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03 Embassy Theatre
Plaque location - in Cattle Market Road on the imposing building now occupied by Edwards, opposite the multi-storey car park - location map
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The Embassy Theatre was built next to the Hippodrome, which later became the Palladium and the Palace which itself was demolished in 1936.
David Evelyn Nye, a cinema architect, designed the Embassy. It was the only theatre he designed and had its first performance in November 1937. Two of Nye's other cinemas, Berkhamstead and Esher are listed buildings. The Embassy's original capacity was 1484 and included stalls, balcony and circle. The difficult-shaped site required that the stage occupied the corner of the building with a wide fan-shaped auditorium behind. The front of the circle was close to the stage and the sightlines excellent. Fourteen dressing rooms were located on six floors at the apex of the building, above the scene dock door.
The building contains Restrained Art Deco decoration and lighting and the building still provides a striking sight for those walking along Broadway into Long Causeway, towards the city centre.
In 1952, towards the end of their career, Laurel and Hardy played the Embassy for two weeks as part of a national tour and broke box office records.
The Beatles played here twice. On the first occasion, 2nd December 1962, their manager, Brian Epstein, had negotiated to get The Beatles onto the bill of Frank Ifield's two shows. Apparently they were not well received by the audience. The Beatles' second and final appearance at the Embassy was on 17th March 1963, just as they were about to hit the big time.
The Embassy played a vital part in the local amateur dramatics scene with the Peterborough Operatic Society, PMADS (Peterborough Musical and Drama Society), and the Westwood Works Musical Society all using the venue.
In addition, during the 1950 and 60s a pantomime was held every year with pop heartthrobs such as Jess Conrad taking centre stage.
The theatre closed in 1965 and was sold to the ABC organisation who, in 1984, converted it into a three-screen cinema. It closed as a cinema in 1989 and has had various uses since, once as a bingo hall but mostly as bars and nightclubs.
Information compiled by Toby Wood.
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04 Public Library
Plaque location - sited on the Broadway frontage of the former Public Library in Broadway, opposite the entrance to Cattle Market Road. The building is now a restaurant - location map
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Although the existence of a library as a book club for local professionals and clergy can be traced back to the founding of Peterborough Gentlemen's Society in 1730, this building housed the first purpose-built public library in Peterborough. It was the second library to serve the city as a whole. It replaced one which had been been part of the Fitzwilliam Hall/Theatre Royal and fronted Park Road. This Carnegie Library was opened to the public on 4 December 1905 and officially opened on 29 May 1906 by Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish/ American industrialist and philanthropist who had provided the funding. Cheering crowds saw the opening ceremony take place on a specially erected platform with Carnegie being awarded Freeman of the City. A separate platform for ladies was somewhat tactlessly located opposite in the Cattle Market area.
Carnegie funded over 140 libraries in England, 27 in Scotland and others, including university libraries, throughout the British Isles and the US. He favoured poorer towns but they were expected to undertake to support the library by the provision of books etc. from the rates. His libraries project was not without controversy. There was objection to the way he had made his money, as one of a group of so-called 'robber-barons' with key roles in the industrialisation of America. His approach to labour relations in the iron and steel companies he established in the US cast a shadow over his later philanthropy although it amounted to him parting with over 90% of his fortune.
The Library was designed by Hall & Phillips of London (won in open competition) and the building contract was awarded to Cracknells Builders.
The library continued to serve the public until it was replaced by the new Central Library which was opened by HRH the Duke of Gloucester on 6 December 1990. After its closure the Carnegie building was converted to use as a restaurant.
Information compiled by Peter Lee.
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05 Theatre Royal
Plaque location - sited on the wall of the building between the Central Library and the Broadway Theatre - location map
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The Theatre Royal did not start off as a theatre. Originally it was an enormous hall constructed as an indoor roller skating rink. To its south, where the current Central Library now is, was the outdoor roller skating rink.
Designed by Hayward & Pye of Colchester, the skating rinks opened in April 1877, but the popularity of roller skating waned, and the indoor rink began to have a secondary use for staging these public events which required a large hall (when it tended to be called the Fitzwilliam Hall) and theatrical events (when it tended to be called the Theatre Royal).
This secondary usage of the indoor rink for theatrical purposes gradually prevailed and its vast space was, by degrees, converted into a conventional theatre (bear in mind that there had been no 'proper' theatre in Peterborough since c1848).
The major remodelling of the remaining building to create a theatre seems to have taken place between 1894 and 1913, the later work being credited to the theatre architect John Priestley Briggs.
For a brief period c1916‐1919 the theatre was known as The Grand, and from 1919 to 1959 as The Theatre Royal & Empire (where The Theatre Royal had a different type of programme of performances from that of The Empire).
Local businessman William D Nichols was the proprietor throughout most of the 1880's, before disposing of his 'interest' in the building to London actor/manager William H Vernon. In August 1919 John A Campbell, who already managed a theatre at Grantham, became lessee and later owner. He put in John H Stevenson as manager, and Stevenson's impending retirement 40 years later was the reason that the Campbell family decided to close the theatre.
The closing performance was on 28 November 1959, the last show being Not In The Book performed by the Penguin Players. Despite subsequent attempts to preserve the theatre, insufficient funds were raised, and it was demolished. Shelton's Department Store was erected on the site 1961/62, later it was converted for residential use.
Information compiled by Toby Wood and Richard Hillier.
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06 John Thompson
Plaque location - on the west side of Lincoln Road, the address of the adjacent retirement homes being 86 Lincoln Road
location map
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The Lindens, built c.1865, was the home of master-builder John Thompson Jnr.; built for himself and his family c.1865. The street elevation has been somewhat altered ‐ a projecting stone porch bay with more of an Arts and Crafts flavour added but the garden front essentially retains its original form. Picturesquely half-timbered cross‐wings are embellished with convincing Gothic Revival detail; some figure carving seeming, at first glance, to be possibly salvaged medieval work. The interior too retains sumptuously carved joinery, especially in the staircase hall which is lit by stained glass panels celebrating great composers.
The Lindens remained with the Thompson family until 1920 when it was purchased by Alfred J. Paten, an important local wine and spirit merchant and hotelier.
The first major project led by an architect of national renown, and executed by the firm which was to become Thompson and Sons, came in the late 1820s. John Snr. and Francis Ruddle (the latter, though not then strictly a partner, responsible for carved woodwork) were entrusted by the young Edward Blore to re-order Peterborough Cathedral's Choir (then located east of the crossing). In the 1840s the same combination of architect and contractors were responsible for re-ordering the Choir of Westminster Abbey, also in an early fourteenth century style.
John Thompson Snr. died in 1853, John Jnr. taking over full control of the firm.
From then on the operation burgeoned and the watchword, when architect and client faced structural challenge, became "Get Thompson of Peterborough".
This fostered some kind of necessary association in architects' offices between this city and constructional enterprises of scale and ambition, not the least of which would be the firm's complete reconstruction of Peterborough Cathedral's crossing tower, under the supervision of architect J. L. Pearson.
Other major cathedral repair and restoration schemes included those at Hereford, Chester, Ripon, Lichfield, Bangor and Winchester where, from as late as 1906, the firm was main contractor for underpinning the retro choir. (Made nationally famous by the heroic exploits of William Walker ‐ "the diver who saved Winchester Cathedral".) Similar schemes were undertaken at a host of major parish and former collegiate churches.
New building work included the chapel of Balliol College, Oxford (architect William Butterfield), Glasgow University (Sir G.G. Scott) and W.H. Crossland's Royal Holloway College, the latter an astonishing evocation of Chambord in the Loire Valley. The spire of St Mary-without-the-Walls, Handbridge, built for the Duke of Westminster, dominates Chester from the south bank of the Dee. New work locally was of course in ready supply too, including St Mark's Church, immediately to the south of the Lindens.
John Thompson Jnr. died in 1898 having been an Alderman of the city and twice its Mayor. The firm continued until it was forced into voluntary liquidation in 1931 whilst constructing Peterborough Town Hall.
The main road north out of Peterborough towards Lincoln (the only direction in which a constrained town centre could expand) began to be developed from the mid-19th century with a new church %#8208; St Mark's ‐ and the distinctive group of substantial semi-detached brick villas opposite.
Information compiled by Henry Mansell Duckett.
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07 Great Barn
Plaque location - on the east side of Lincoln Road, in the terrace of houses numbered 69-75 - location map
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Rothesay Villas, built 1892/3, stands near the site of the Boroughbury Barn, the Great Barn of the Abbot of Peterborough's manorial grange; in effect his home farm. The medieval barn's footprint probably included the rear parts of the present terrace and part of the now demolished Elwes Hall behind.
The Boroughbury grange seems to have been established by the late thirteenth century. Surviving evidence would seem to point to a construction date for the Great Barn itself of about 1320; that is during the abbacy of either Godfrey of Crowland or Adam of Boothby.
To the west, across present Lincoln Road, arose springs feeding a watercourse and a chain of ponds powering a water mill, and acting as fish ponds, before continuing in a south-easterly direction to meet Howegate (present Midgate-City Road) at St Martin's Bridge. From thence the watercourse ran on, partly through the monastic precinct.
Had Boroughbury Barn survived it would have ranked with the greatest aisled barns of England. Photographs depict both the stone-clad exterior and a magnificent aisled timber-framed interior with eight bays. The British Library retains exceptionally fine drawings, both of the barn's interior and exterior, made in the 1820s by the young Edward Blore who would soon become architect for major works of rendering and repair at the Cathedral.
The barn was demolished by local entrepreneur James McCullum Craig (Craig Street is opposite). Craig had purchased the barn from Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1889.
Some of the barn's external stone cladding, almost certainly a Barnack ragstone, seems to have been salvaged and re-used by Craig in the plinth, only, of Rothesay Villas. By some accounts of the demolition the timber framing was permitted to stand, stripped of roofing and stone cladding, for about fifteen years before being dismantled and sold separately. Though purchased by a London merchant it is then said to have remained in a New England railway yard for a further period; Peterborough City Council declining to purchase the timbers in 1909. Nothing more is heard until 1952 when they were advertised in the London Daily Telegraph. Thereafter the trail went cold.
Information compiled by Henry Mansell Duckett.
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08 Thomas James Walker
Plaque location - fixed to the front of the Co-operative Bank at 35 Westgate - location map
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Dr Thomas James Walker (1835-1916) was an outstanding medical practitioner and antiquarian who devoted his life to Peterborough and its inhabitants. He was born in a house on the site of No 35 Westgate in 1835, the son of Dr Thomas Walker who had come to Peterborough from Scotland in 1819. He attended Kings School, trained as a doctor at universities in Edinburgh, London and Vienna and returned to Peterborough in 1860 to go into general practice with his father in the present building. He gained wide respect as a doctor and surgeon and was appointed honorary surgeon to Peterborough Infirmary, a position he held until 1906. He developed a specialism in diseases of the throat and larynx.
He was a man of huge energy and involved himself in many local organisations. His lifelong interest in history and archaeology included the investigation of a Roman site near Westwood Bridge, and Anglo-Saxon burials at Woodston, some of the finds from which can be seen at the Museum still. He also produced, in 1913, the definitive history of the Napoleonic Prisoners of War 'Depot' at Norman Cross, the first purpose built POW site in the country. (This has recently been produced as a Rare Reprints paperback by Kessinger Publishing 'The Depot for Prisoners of War at Norman Cross, Huntingdonshire, 1796 to 1816' by Thomas James Walker.)
He served in the 6th Northamptonshire Rifle Volunteer Corps for 36 years, retiring as lieutenant-colonel. He championed various local causes, including the city's first public library to which he donated 2,500 of his own books in 1892. This contributed to the building of the Carnegie Library (the former Central Library in Broadway) in 1905.
Dr Walker was invested with the Freedom of the City of Peterborough on his 80th birthday in 1915. He and his wife Mary had 13 children surviving infancy. Four of his sons became doctors and continued the medical practice at 35 Westgate until Dr Joe Walker retired in 1958.
Information compiled by Peter Lee.
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09 Shopping Arcade (Westgate)
Plaque location - on the wall next to Grasmere Butchers on Westgate and opposite the entrance to the Bull Hotel - location map
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Until Westgate Arcade was created any attempt to reach Westgate via the then dog-legged Cumbergate (both were ancient streets) would have deposited the confused traveller into Long Causeway. Thus, in the 1920s, a joint enterprise by local architect Alan Ruddle and Fitzwilliam Estates, who shared the land ownership, sought to reap the economic benefits of improved access by slicing through a mass of yards and outbuildings lying in the back land to the south of Westgate.
Westgate Arcade adopts a broadly Neo-Georgian or Regency idiom. Shop fronts with centrally placed recessed doorways have hardwood frames with slender mouldings detailed with considerable elegance. There was an extensive refurbishment in 2015. Above the shops are galleries set behind colonnades giving access to sash-windowed offices. These raised colonnades divide the arcade into bays, marked by a series of transverse arches between which natural top-lighting is provided.
The new alignment of Cumbergate from the parish church through the arcade and on to Westgate is crossed by an arm of the Queensgate Shopping Centre. This runs roughly on the old alignment, with the former Still public house (of early 19th century origin at least) marking the 90 degree angle in the dog-leg. Antecedents of the shopping arcade are variously recorded throughout medieval Europe, including London; but as a building type it was brought to fruition in late 18th century Paris. A cluster of such passages or galeries, including the recently restored Galerie Viviene, are still to be found in the 2nd Arrondissement. Photo right courtesy Princebuild following 2015 refurbishment.
London soon caught up. The famous Burlington Arcade of 1818-19 stretches all of 580 feet (considerably longer than Peterborough Cathedral) north from Piccadilly. Within a few hundred yards are a handful of other arcades of various dates, including John Nash's elegant Royal Opera Arcade of 1816-18 on Pall Mall.
Fine shopping arcades survive, for example in Bristol, Bath and Hull. Nearer to home are those in Bedford (1905), Letchworth (1921), and George Skipper's spectacular essay in Art Nouveau faience at the Royal Arcade, Norwich (1899).
The second half of the 19th century witnessed a dramatic escalation in their scale; not least in America (e.g. Cleveland, 1888). Manchester's three-tiered iron and glass Barton Arcade of 1871 may have provided the inspiration. Giants appeared on the Continent too. But Brussels' magnificent Galeries St-Hubert is completely outdone in scale by Milan's gargantuan Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II of the 1860s. By contrast to all of this, Peterborough's Westgate Arcade ‐ a very late contribution to the building type ‐ seems the very model of restraint.
This plaque was erected with generous practical and financial assistance from Queensgate, with specific help and assistance from the centre director, Mark Broadhead.
Information compiled by Henry Mansell Duckett.
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10 Cumbergate
Plaque location - on a currently unlet building in Cumbergate, near to the entrance to Queensgate - location map
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The English Place-name Society interprets "Cumbergate" as the "street of the wool-combers", and finds that the name occurs as early as the mid-13th century. Originally the street had two 'arms', the north-south arm which still (largely) exists, and an east-west arm, which was obliterated by the building of Queensgate.
Most of this building is original 15th Century timber-framing. Although the City must have had a 'tradition' of timber-framed buildings, it remains a rare survival, and Table Hall in the Cathedral Precincts is the only other major such structure in the City Centre. Probably originally built by wool-combers, part of this building was still occupied by "John Simpson, wool-comber" in the early 17th century. It was acquired, together with a range of buildings opposite, by the Peterborough Feoffees (a board of trustees with the responsibility for the administration of parish charities and for some functions of local government).
Various deeds describe the building as 'to be converted to a House of Maintenance' (1726), 'dwelling rooms for the use of the poor' (1774 and 1815) and 'known as the Old Workhouse' (1826 and 1869). It an early piece of 'out-sourcing' the Feoffees leased the building, in the early 1720s, to Mathew Marriott, a noted entrepreneur who also 'controlled' several workhouses in inner London, outer London, and Luton.
Once the national system of Poor Law Workhouses was introduced in the 1830s this building was converted to use as Almshouses from 1837 until 1969. It underwent restoration and alteration in the early 1900s, with major repair and conversion to retail use occurring in the 1980s.
Opposite is the remaining part of another block of almshouses, partly of 1835, and partly of 1903, built by the Feoffees with money bequeathed by Miss Pears, (see the large stone plaque on the gable end of the corner block), where the House of Correction or Bridewell had probably stood. The 1903 block, now the main part of Carluccio's, was designed by local architect James G Stallebrass. There was a similar block at the north end of the site (replaced by the superstructure of Queensgate).
Information compiled by Richard Hillier.
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