Peterborough Cathedral - Peterborough
In 655, Peada, King of Mercia, founded a monastic church here, which was destroyed by the Danes in 870. Like Ely Cathedral across the fens, the monastery was refounded as a Benedictine order in 972 and it was used, like Ely, as a refuge of the Saxon hero, Hereward the Wake. Here at Peterborough, the Saxon church survived the Norman invasion, but was unfortunately destroyed by an accidental fire in 1116. The ancient documents relate that the fire raged for nine days. One remnant remains however; a carved stone known as the Hedda stone, long thought to depict the monks as a memorial to their suffering under the Danes. It is now thought to be even older and an early Anglo-Saxon sculpture.
The Norman Abbot John de Sais started the new church in 1118 and the round Apse at the East End dates from this early reconstruction. The Apse and the four bays of the Presbytery were consecrated in 1143, while building continued. The Nave and the North and South Transepts date from the second half of the twelfth century and the wooden roofs survive. The Nave roof has wonderful painted decoration, its simple geometric designs complimenting the checked and chevron carved stonework. This painted decoration survived later destruction or substantial damage (presumably because of its inaccessibility) and is now one of the most important medieval works of art in Britain. With the aid of binoculars, a succession of saints and kings, beasts and bishops can be seen. The Norman Tower over the crossing was replaced by a Gothic one in the fourteenth century when it had become dangerously unstable and in turn this was taken down and rebuilt for safety reasons in the late nineteenth century.
The stunning West Facade (see above) dates from the early thirteenth century, with the central porch added in the early sixteenth century, but the cathedral substantially remains one of the least altered Early Norman churches in England..
Inside the cathedral there are many points of interest apart from the various architectural styles. Henry VIII's unfortunate first wife, Katherine of Aragon, is buried here and the original burial place of Mary, Queen of Scots is also marked. Her body was brought here after her execution at nearby Fotheringay Castle in 1587, but was subsequently removed by her son, James I of England, to Westminster Abbey in 1612. She now lies close to her cousin, Elizabeth I, who never met her in life, but proved to be her nemesis.
There is a rare medieval Brass Eagle Lectern, which survived both Henry's greed and the iconoclast's violence. One of the most beautiful parts of the cathedral is the New Building surrounding the Norman Apse. The delicate Fan Vaulting and Perpendicular style of the East End surrounded the earlier rounded style between 1496 and 1508. It is thought to be the work of the same man who built King's College, Cambridge.
Pictured above is the south side of the Nave, with the West Tower and the remains of the cloister walls. Peterborough, like Ely, lost its monastic buildings and status under Henry VIII. During the Civil War, Cromwell's fanatics destroyed the medieval stained glass, the cloisters, the High Altar and the Lady Chapel, as well as defacing the tomb of Katherine of Aragon. Remnants of the glass were later collected together and installed in the windows of the Apse. In the 1890s, a new High Altar, with intricate marble flooring was added, as were the Choir Stalls, carved by the local firm of Thompsons.