Cockerel Saved

27/02/1759

Information

The constable's book of St Kyneburga's church at Castor shows a claim of 1s for the constable 'returning a warrant to prevent ye Cox being holled at on Shrove Tuesday'. This relates to him seeking to prevent a long-standing custom of throwing stones at a cockerel tied to a stake on Shrove Tuesday - something that continued in some parts of the country until the end of the eighteenth century. (Bunch, Allan and Liquorice, Mary, Parish Churches in and around Peterborough, Cambridgeshire Books, 1990)

Taken from The Peterborough Book of Days by Brian Jones, The History Press,2014.

Search and filter

Objects

Archaeology
Art
Costume
Geology
Natural History
Records
Social History
Treasure

Locality

Local
Global
National

Misbehaving Monks

08/07/1515

Information

The abbacy of Robert Kirkton was a time of extremes for both the monastery and the town. His great building projects have left us the New Building on the church and the Great Gate that now leads to the dean's offices. However, beyond this gate, he had allowed thirty tenements to fall into utter decay before turning the ground into a park for his deer! Running side by side with his grand projects was lax management and slipping morals. Kirkton himself 'wriggled and squirmed' when it came to repaying a debt to Henry VIII. When William Atwater, Bishop of Lincoln, visited the monastery on this day, he found many things 'out of order'. He reported that monk, John Walpole, was being seditious amongst his brethren. He also reported that he had stolen certain jewels from St Oswald's shrine, and what he could lay his hands on elsewhere, and given them to women in the town. So much for his vow of celibacy! It was also reported that certain monks haunted a tavern near the monastery - probably in the Boongate area - and gave themselves up to singing and dancing in the dormitory until 10 or 11 p.m., to the consternation of the rest of their brethren. (Gunton, Symon, The History of the Church in Peterborough, ed. Symon Patrick, 1990)

Taken from The Peterborough Book of Days by Brian Jones, The History Press, 2014.