City of Khaki

06/12/1914

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Today men from the 5th Essex Regiment, the East Anglians, the Norfolk & Suffolk Army Service Corps, the Norfolk Regiment and the East Anglian Field Ambulance attended a church service in St John's. With over 3,000 troops in winter training quarters locally, many people commented that Peterborough had become a 'city of khaki'. (Bull, J & V., Perry, S. and Sturgess, R., Peterborough - a third portrait in old picture postcards, S.B. Publications, 1990)

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

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Cumbergate Workhouse Created

1721

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In 1721 a house that had been built by wool merchants was bought by the town Feoffees to be used as a workhouse. The house in question is on Cumbergate, which was the centre of the wool industry in Peterborough, and now sits next to the entrance to Queensgate. It is listed as 'The Almsrooms' on the British Listed Buildings website but was known recently for many years as Burghley Academy.

The house has been dated to the fifteenth century, making it one of the oldest timber-framed buildings in the city. It was converted in 1721 to make it suitable as a workhouse, with cell-like rooms over three floors.

In Edwardian times the building was converted from a workhouse into almshouses along with the construction of Miss Pear’s Almshouses. The north eastern extension was supposedly added and dormer windows removed as well as others replaced. The current rooms of the building reflect the separate living quarters of the inhabitants, but they were further renovated in the late 20th century. The Peterborough Town Plan Map from 1886 shows two long rows of small houses running out from the back of the main house culminating in a little courtyard area. Most of this has been lost, but it is still a splendid building with many original features worth viewing.

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City of Khaki

06/12/1914

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Cumbergate Workhouse Created

1721

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