Tortoise Terror

23/08/1873

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When does fact become fiction? Why won't people let the truth get in the way of a good story? I'll leave you, the reader, to decide on this one. The Peterborough Standard on this day decided to tell the story of 'The Peterborough Tortoise'. It said that the tortoise died in 1831, having lived for over 200 years and seen off seven bishops in that lifetime. Therein lies a problem, because seven bishops take us back to 1747 - a mere eighty-four years! A lifespan of 200 years in fact covers sixteen bishops. In 1936, an expert noted that the shell was in a good state of preservation but made no comment on its age. Sometime around 1990, the shell was found in a cupboard and was given to the museum. Experts tell us that she - for they say it is a female shell - was a large specimen, some 12in long. Over the years she was often described as a 'little terror'. It appears the tortoise was continually playing havoc with the plants in the bishop's garden. Apparently she loved strawberries and we are told that she followed the gardeners when they were gathering fruit, but was normally kept in check by being tied to a tree! (Peterborough Local History Society Magazine)

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

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Misbehaving Monks

08/07/1515

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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.