PETERBOROUGH SOKE 



PETERBOROUGH 



The town has little to show of domestic architecture 

 which needs mention here — there is a picturesque 

 17th century building in Midgate, and some of the 

 houses in Long Causeway, Priestgate, Westgate and 

 Bridge Street show traces of old work, notably those 

 of Mr. Wm. Deacon and Mr. George Wyman in 

 Priestgate, of Dr. H. Latham in Westgate, and of 

 Mr. J. Coleman in Bridge Street ; but with these 

 exceptions there is little of interest. Two fine 

 monastic barns known as the Sexton's and the Tithe 

 Barn existed till recent years near the town, but are 

 now swept aw.-iy. Of modern houses some of the 

 more noticeable are Westwood, the residence of 

 Mr. Keeble, in Thorpe Road, and Dr. T. J. Walker's 

 house in Westgite. 



The early rolls mention a number of bridges and 

 dykes whose situation cannot now be traced ; Martins- 

 bridge or Brunsbridge' in Howgate has been named 

 above. The Nene bridge cannot be traced beyond 

 the time of Abbot Godfrey, who built a bridge early 

 in the reign of Edward IL* The present bridge was 

 built in 1872 to replace a wooden structure. In an 

 account-roll of Richard II a chapel on the bridge is 

 named. 'Incambrig' and 'Wyfesbrig' are two bridges 

 named in the records whose situation has not been 

 determined. The two dykes most frequently named 

 are Rattonrow dyke and Chapel-row dyke, both 

 probably to the south of the minster. 



Perhaps the oldest arrangement for the dispensing 

 of charity was the collection made by a hereditary 

 almoner in the hall of the abbey knights. In the 

 abbey registers there are grants' from the convent con- 

 veying certain hereditary rights with the duty of visiting 

 the sick and attending on the poor. Abbot Ernulf, 

 1 107-14, founded a hospital for lepers, and en- 

 dowed it liberally.'* The site of it is marked by the 

 name of Spitalfields. Later abbots contributed to the 

 support of the prior, six brethren and their servant, the 

 sum of ^J. each per week. The eight persons received 

 17/. /^.d. a year, as appears regularly on the abbot's 

 roll. The lepers received also a grant of diseased 

 meat.5 



There was another hospital, dedicated to St. 

 Thomas of Canterbury ; the chapel of St. Thomas at 

 the minster gate was begun by Abbot William de 

 Waterville in 11 70-5, and the hospital was added by 

 his successor Benedict, 1177-94. 



Abbot Andrew, 1194-1199, made a grant of six 

 marks to the infirmarer from ' our ' oven of Burgh, 

 for the use of the poor. A note at the side of the 

 entry which records this, adds that later the pittancer 

 received this sum and the money had gone to the use 

 of the convent.^ 



Abbot Acharius, 1200-10, made grants to the al- 

 monry for the use of the hospital of the chapel of St. 

 Thomas at the gate and allowed those persons who 

 were too ill to go to St. John's, the parish church, 

 to make offerings on feast days conditionally. On 

 ordinary days all the offerings made there ' for love ' 

 were to go to the hospital's uses, as also the alms of 

 pilgrims and strangers.' 



By an arrangement (1274-95), every poor per- 

 son was allowed a farthing loaf and two herrings in 

 alms on anniversary days, and the residue, if any, 

 was to be distributed in the houses of the poor in the 

 town, and those especially who were ' ashamed to 

 beg ' were to be served in the church in the tailory.* 

 Abbot Godfrey, 1 299-1 321, left 100/. for the poor 

 people coming to the monastery at certain seasons.' 

 In the later abbots' accounts there is a record of cer- 

 tain annual ' prebendae of the lord's alms,' usually to 

 fourteen persons of either sex, at 5/. 9</. each, but 

 these lapse towards the close of the 15 th century. 



Modern Peterborough has a fine hospital, which in 

 1902 took in 612 patients and treated others to a 

 total of 3,864. The hospital originated in a public 

 dispensary and infirmary, which in 1815 was fitted up 

 in a mansion of Lord Fitzwilliam's in Priestgate. 



The almshouses are numerous, endowed either from 

 the ' town estates ' and under the management of 

 the feoffees or from the Wortley trust. The feof- 

 fees control other general charities in money and 

 kind. In the cathedral precincts there are almshouses, 

 under the cathedral establishment. 



The foundation of the monaster}- of 



PETER- 

 BOROUGH 

 MINSTER 



Medeshamstede'" dedicated in honour of 



Peterborough Abbet- 

 Gulet a pair of crcucJ 

 keys bcvween fnur cronLti 

 Jitchy or. 



St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. Andrew, is 

 ascribed to Peada, king of the Mer- 

 cians. The names of several of the early abbots are 

 recorded, but of the buildings of the monastery nothing 

 more is known until the year 

 870, when the Danish victories 

 in East Anglia left the Fen- 

 lands at their mercy, and 

 Medeshamstede was sacked and 

 burnt, and all its inhabitants, 

 from the Abbot Hedda down- 

 wards, were massacred. Abbot 

 Godric, of Crowland, with 

 those of his house who had 

 escaped the Danes, came to 

 Medeshamstede, and collecting 

 the bodies of the slain monks, 

 eighty-four in number, buried 

 them with their abbot in a 

 large grave to the east of their church, setting up 

 over them a cross and a gravestone, the description 

 of which, by the pseudo-Ingulf, is obviously taken 

 from the stone now standing in the New Building at 

 the east end of the present cathedral. No attempt 

 was made to rebuild the monastery, and it lay waste 

 for more than ninety years, until in the revival of 

 monasticism in the reign of Edgar it was repaired 

 and recolonized by the influence of St. Athelwold, 

 bishop of Winchester. The date is given variously as 

 963 or 966. 



A very important question here arises, in view of 

 the remains of early work which still exist, as to what 

 was the condition of the buildings of the destroyed 

 monastery at this time. That the first church was of 

 considerable size is probable, even after making due 

 allowance for the fact that its history has been written 



1 Built, according to Gunton, p. 302 

 (and the volume of ancient charters in the 

 Cathedral Library fol. 22 li), in 130S, but 

 cf. Mon. Ang. i, 351. 



* Bridges, Nortliant!, ii, 539. An in- 

 quest of 2 Edw. Ill repudiated public 

 responsibility for it, as the abbot had built 

 it of his own accord in 4 Edw. II. Gun- 

 ton, Hiii. of Peterborough, fol. 44 and cf. 



Cott. MS. Vcsp. E. XXI, fol. 63A. In 

 1318 Abbot Godfrey seems to have re- 

 built his bridge, Sparke, p. 163. 



» Soc. Antiq. MS. No. 38, fol. 2*. 



* Chronicon, p. 161. Cf. Pipe /J. 23 

 Hen. II, p. 105. 



5 Cott. Vcsp. E. XXII. p. 4. The al- 

 moner's accounts, CoU. Vesp, A. XXIV, 



which are difficult to decipher, contain 

 frequent allusions to the hospital. 



* Gunton, p, 2S9, and cf. vol. Anct. 

 Charters, Cath. Lib. fol. 117^. 



" Gunton, p. 290, and cf, Swapham*s 

 Register, fol. 119. 



8 Sparke, p. 147. ' Ibid. p. 159. 



^^ For the history of the abbey sec 

 'Religious Houses* section. 



