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How Not to Deal With Ice

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28/02/1795

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A nationwide extreme cold spell thawed suddenly and unexpectedly on this Sunday. Thick, broken ice was washed down and formed a complete bank across the rive at the bridge. It stopped the current, threatening major flooding in the town. One man attempted to resolve the situation by blowing up the ice with gunpowder wrapped in oilskins. However, he became stuck on an ice floe close to the explosive with his boat adrift. To save himself he plunged into the river and was eventually rescued by four men in a boat. Soon after, the gunpowder exploded, blowing ice everywhere and generating a massive flood which caused a great disaster for hundreds of families living on the banks of the Nene. What they did to 'gunpowder man' is not recorded! (Currie, Ian, Frost, Freezes and Fairs: Chronicles of the Frozen Thames and Harsh Winters in Britain from 1000AD, Frosted Earth, 1996)

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

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Opening of Peterborough City Hospital

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2010

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Peterborough City Hospital was opened to patients in November 2010. It replaced the Peterborough District Hospital and the Edith Cavell Hospital, being built on the Edith Cavell site in Bretton.  The hospital was built under the Private Finance Initiative.

The Hospital has 612 beds and, as well as the usual facilities, it also houses a Cancer Centre, a Cardiology Centre, a Women’s and Children’s Unit and Adult and Paediatric Emergency Centres.

The official opening was carried out by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in November 2012.

References:

Peterborough Today. 15 November 2012

https://www.nwangliaft.nhs.uk/our-hospitals/peterborough-city-hospital/



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Opening of Peterborough District Hospital.

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1968

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After the Second World war the Memorial Hospital was no longer big enough to deal with Peterborough's health needs and in 1968 it closed and Peterborough District Hospital opened, incorporating the Memorial Hospital as the Memorial Wing.

Peterborough District Hospital had 357 beds, five operating theatres, an accident and emergency department, outpatients clinics, as well as radiology and pathology services, an  intensive care unit  and surgical and medical specialist units.

In 1988 Edith Cavell Hospital in Bretton was opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, it was built to complement the services provided by Peterborough District Hospital.

Peterborough District Hospital closed in 2010.

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Thorpe Road , Bretton , Memorial Hospital , Edith Cavell Hospital

Peterborough Development Corporation

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1968

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Peterborough was designated as a third-wave New Town in July 1967. In February 1968 the Peterborough Development Corporation was set up. The corporation's task was to provide homes, work and the full range of facilities and services for an additional 70,000 people, drawn mainly from the Greater London area.

Many new housing areas were developed, including Bretton and Ravensthorpe. Based in Peterscourt in the city, it worked in close collaboration with Peterborough City Council, the Huntingdon and Peterborough County Council and, from 1974, Cambridgeshire County Council.

The Development Corporation was officially wound-up in September 1988.

New Town , Building , Bretton , Ravensthorpe

Roman Curses in Bretton?

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300-400AD

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A Roman well was discovered in Bretton during an archaeological dig. The well was lined with thick stone slabs leading archaeologists to believe the well was probably special to the people who used it.

There were many things found in the bottom of the well. These included shoes, nails and animal bones. They also found three pieces of tree bark, birch tree bark to be exact. The bark was neatly folded up and appeared to be placed in the well deliberately, but what was it for? When a specialist saw the folded bark she described them as looking like curse tablets. Curse tablets were often pieces of bark or lead where people wrote a nasty note in the hope of cursing someone. They were folded up and thrown into water where they believed the gods would read them and act on the curse.

Unfortunately, there are no signs of writing or scratching on the bark that would indicate they were used as curse tablets, but they had been sitting in the well for over 1600 years! They could have been folded over food as an offering to the well, or used as a container as birch bark still is today. There is, however, something exciting about discovering a potential angry curse from 1600 years though and we can only wonder at what could have been written on there and who was being cursed...

Image by Capri23auto at Pixabay

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