Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/213

PETERBOROUGH. 201 PETERBOROUGH. town ; and in 1834 about 60 houses of an inferior class were destroyed by fire. The streets, which are regularly laid out clsse upon the bank of the river, are well paved, lighted with gas, and well edificed, many of the houses being modern. The environs have many villa residences. The principal public buildings are the cathedral, to be described presently, the sessions house, and gaol, in the Norman style of. architecture, erected in 1842, at a cost of 10,000, borrowed on security of the rates, and com- prising the sessions court, magistrates' room, jury room, and house of correction for the liberty of Peterborough, with the governor's residence in the centre, upon the plan of the Model Prison at Pentonville, London ; the corn exchange, erected in 1848, on the site of the old theatre in Church-street, is in the Italian style, con- taining a market room, lighted by a lantern roof, sup- ported by stone Corinthian pillars, and having a gallery at one end; the dispensary and infirmary, rebuilt in 1845, is situated in New Town ; the mechanics' institute in Wentworth-street has a good library and newsroom ; the assembly rooms, in Oumbergate, are large and well lighted ; there are besides a registry for wills and dio- cesan documents lately erected in the minster precincts, a savings-bank, public library over the S. porch of the parish church, four commercial banks, gas and water works. The bounds of the city comprise only 1,430 acres ; but the borough, since the passing of the Reform Act, is co-extensive with the parish, comprising, besides the ancient city, the Minster Close, which is extra parochial, and the tnshps. of Dogsthorpe, Eastfield, Longthorpe, and Newark. The population in 1851 was 8,673, and in 1861, 11,732, showing an increase of 3,059 in the decennial period. It has returned two members to parliament since the reign of Edward I., the chief influence being with Earl Fitzwilliam of Milton Abbey. Until recently the civil government was vested in the custos rotulorum of the liberty, assisted by seven magistrates and a high bailiff, who was returning officer, the last named being appointed by the dean and chapter, who ate lords of the manor, but is now administered solely by thp magistrates appointed by Earl Fitzwilliam, as lord of the hundred or liberty. The jurisdiction ex- tends only over the parish of Peterborough, and con- stables and other officers are still chosen at the court leet, which is held annually. General sessions for the peace are held quarterly in the sessions court at the gaol, and petty sessions weekly on Saturday. The trade carried on at Peterborough is chiefly in corn, malt, coal, timber, lime, bricks, stone, and in the trans- mission of live stock and agricultural produce by the several linos of railway, which have greatly increased the commercial prosperity of the town. A large steam flour mill has been recently erected by Earl Fitzwilliam, and the works in connection with the several- lines of railway are extensive. The Nene is navigable only for boats, but a general survey has lately been made with the hope of rendering it navigable for vessels of larger buiden, and for the better drainage of the surrounding meadows, which are periodically inundated. As the seat of a bishopric Peterborough ranks as a cathedral city, but consists of only one parish, that of St. John the Baptist, and the ecclesiastical district of St. Mark, the former containing a population of 11,497, and the latter one of 3,170. The ecclesiastical establishment consists of the bishop, a dean, the two archdeacons of Northampton and Leicester, six prebendaries, and four minor canons. The diocese, as originally constituted by II' my VIII., extended over Northamptonshire and Rutland, then taken out of Lincoln diocese, but it has recently been extended by the addition of Leicester- shire, and now contains the archdeaconries of Northamp- ton and Leicester, with 17 rural deaneries, and about 604 benefices. The cathedral, dedicated to St. Peter, is a cruciform structure of Norman and Gothic architec- ture, remarkable for its massivencss and for the magni- lii-i.-nce of its western front, 166 feet broad, which ia considered the finest example of Early English Gothic now remaining. It consists of a chancel built by Abbot JIartiu de Vecti in 1140; a nave semicircular at the eastern end, built by Abbot Benedict towards the close of the 12th century; side aisles built about the same period, but which have subsequently been carried out square; a great transept built by Abbot William de Vandeville in 1160 1175, who also erected a portion of the central tower, 150 feet high, which rises from four arches in the centre of the edifice and forms a lantern. At the western end of the nave are smaller transepts, over one of which is a tower supported by angular buttresses and surmounted with pinnacles, while at either extremity of the western front is a turret 156 feet high, flanked at the angles by clustered shafts and pinnacles and crowned with spires. The whole of the fitting up of the choir, which is supposed to be the oldest part of the building, is in the style of the time of Edward III., and the woodwork is of oak richly ornamented. A new choir and altar screen were erected in 1830 of carved stone, and the latter ornamented with spiral turrets. There are few monuments, shrines, or chantry chapels, most of the tombs of the bishops having been battered by the Puritans ; there are, however, two monuments of interest the tomb of Queen Catherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII., and the marble slab over the doorway leading from the choir into the S. aisle, which marks the spot where the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots was buried, previous to the removal of her remains to Westminster Abbey. On the wall immediately behind the western entrance hangs a portrait of old Scarlet the sexton, who buried the above named queens, with an appropriate epitaph commemorating the circum- stance. On the western side of the cathedral is the Norman Abbey gateway, with some remains of the cloisters and ancient monastic buildings, having in the midst of them the tower gateway, leading to the bishop's palace, and from this court another gateway, built by Abbot Kirton in 1515, and rich in ornament, leading to the deanery and the ancient cemetery of the citizens, which adjoined the cathedral, but is now closed, a new burial ground having been formed, under the Extra- mural Burial Act, on the western side of the city. Besides the Cathedral there is a largo parish church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and situated near the centre of the city. It is a stone structure, with a square tower surmounted by pinnacles, and containing a peal of six bells arid a clock, with musical chimes every third hour, changing every day in the week. The interior contains a tomb by Flaxman, and an altar-piece, the " Transfiguration," painted by Sir R. Ker Porter. The living is a vie.* val. 500, in the archdeac. ot North- ampton and dioc. of Peterborough, in the patron, of the bishop. There are chapels for Roman Catholics, General and Particular Baptists, Independents, Wes- leyans, and Primitive Methodists. The Cathedral Grammar, or Chapter school, founded by Henry VIII., and situated within the minster precincts, has an income from endowment of 100, for the free education of 20 boys, who have a preference as candidates for five scholarships and a fellowship in St. John's College, Cambridge. Another school, founded by Thomas Deacon in 1721, has an endowment of 50 per annum, besides 6 acres of land and certain premises. There are also National and infant schools, the former attended by upwards of 600 children. The charities amount to above 1,000 a year, of which the town estate produces 380 ; one of the charities is under the direc- tion of a self-elected body, called feoffees. The alms- houses are designed to accommodate 60 poor persons, and 17 have been recently rebuilt. A hospital for lepers was founded here in the reign of King Stephen, and dedicated to St. Leonard, and another hospital in 1180 by Abbot Benedict, who dedicated it to St. Thomas-a-Becket, whose life he wrote. The Poor-law Union of Peter- borough comprises 39 parishes or places, of which 19 arc in the county of Northampton, a like number in that of Hunts, and one in that of Lincoln. It is also the seat of superintendent registry and new County Court districts. Among the eminent natives of the town were Abbot Benedict, mentioned above; Abbot John of Peterborough, an English historian of tliu llth