Up in Smoke

30/03/1886

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The City and Volunteer fire brigades attended a huge fire at English’s timber yards. They could do little to stop a blaze that destroyed three saw mills, the engine and boiler house, three timber sheds; four cranes; eleven railway trucks and a multitude of other machinery and stock pieces across the near 2-acre site. The cost of the damage was estimated to be around £20,000 - a significant sum in 1886. (Mellows, W.T., ‘Peterborough Municipal Jubilee’, Peterborough Standard, 1924)

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

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Etton Sheela Na Gig

1100-1200

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St Stephen’s church is in Etton, close to Glinton. The church itself dates from the thirteenth century, although there was an earlier building on the site. However, resting high at the top of the tower, just below the spire, is a figure that is likely to be older and relate to the earlier church. Most of the figures and imagery on the church are traditional heads and stylistic flora and fauna, however there is a figure of a woman lying on her side which looks completely incongruous to the location. The woman is what is known as a Sheela Na Gig, a woman drawing attention to her reproductive organs, and is likely to have been a fertility symbol. Sheela Na Gigs are common in Ireland, but also appear in England with a few in Spain and France. Some appear to be associated with childbirth, others to sex and fertility. What is curious about the figure is that she is missing the top of her head, strongly suggesting that she was reused or resituated; many Sheela Na Gigs appear high up in churches suggesting that they were moved to be hidden from view and that the once tolerated statue was resigned to obscurity when tastes changed. A great number of churches display figures with their genitals on show, but the Sheela Na Gig is a more unusual find and the Etton Sheela Na Gig is a wonderful example. The closest example of other Sheela Na Gigs is Ely Cathedral.

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Up in Smoke

30/03/1886

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Etton Sheela Na Gig

1100-1200

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