28/09/1963

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This Saturday was a day so many people did not want to happen - it was the last day the market would be held in the city centre. A weekly event since the twelfth century, it was now to be no more. Peterborians lamented that it was just not the same. A common complaint was that 'they' - the council - had 'transplanted the heart of the city and dumped it in Cattle Market Road'. Predictably, the younger generation had a different view: they thought it was a good move. There were all the mod cons and, best of all, it was covered and therefore dry. (Harper-Tee, John, 'The Peterborough Story', Peterborough Evening Telegraph, 1992)

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

966-970AD

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After it's destruction by vikings in 870 the monastery on the site is re-founded by the authority of King Edgar the Peaceful and Bishop Aethelwold of Winchester as a Benedictine Religious house. Aethelwold had a series of dreams and visions encouraging him to set out and refound the abbey, although he initially got lost and ended up in Oundle instead! Further visions put him on the right track and he rebuilt the abbey on its previous site.

A township starts to spring up to the eastern side of the monastic precincts, and the whole is bounded by a ditched and embanked burgh wall. Within a century, the monastery’s wealth increased dramatically, so it is often nicknamed ‘Guildenburgh’ – the ‘Golden Borough’.

870AD

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Peterborough monastery is said to have been attacked and destroyed by Viking invaders, most likely the ‘Great Heathen Army’ led by ‘Ivar the Boneless’ which invaded East Anglia this year. Some scholars have disputed the veracity of this event, but given the similar treatment meted out to other abbeys locally at this time the Viking attack seems credible. A relic of this original monastic church is the ‘Hedda Stone’ displayed in the Cathedral today.

Vikings , Ivar The Boneless , Hedda Stone

1013

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In 1013 the church of St. Peter’s in Maxey was destroyed by Vikings. The church was built to serve the communities of Lolham, Nunton and Maxey, of which little remains of Lolham and Nunton, making the church appear deserted. It was built in the Saxon period and was a sign that the local families had converted to the new Christian religion.

When the Vikings, or ‘Danes’ as local antiquarian and vicar W. D. Sweeting referred to them, arrived in England they were not Christian worshippers and they attacked many Christian buildings including Peterborough Abbey twice. Just like the attack on Peterborough abbey, it appears that the surrounding villages were also attacked and burnt to the ground. The attack did not destroy all of the houses or all of the church and worship was thought to have continued on the site until the remains were replaced by the first substantial church in 1113.

Vikings

Destruction by King Sweyn of Denmark

1013

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In 1013 King Sweyn of Denmark, also known as Sweyn Forkbeard, was reported to have arrived in the area north of Peterborough. He had been at war with the country for the last twenty years and devised horrendously painful and humiliating deaths for some of his victims. Unsurprisingly, when he arrived in this area, he destroyed seven villages to the north of Peterborough and murdered or captured all of the inhabitants. The villages were Northborough, Maxey, Bainton, Helpston, Etton, Glinton and Maxey. Thankfully he died in Gainsborough in 1014 after being declared King for only 40 days, and the villages and places of worship were quickly restored.

References

A Lumley Prior, Heroes and Villains, Village Tribune, Issue 98 East, 2016, p 30-31 https://issuu.com/dimension6000/docs/vt_98_east_web

D. McKenna, Sweyn Forkbeard: England's Forgotten Viking King, BBC News, 2013, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire

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The Abbey is Refounded

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End of an Era

28/09/1963

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The Abbey is Refounded

966-970AD

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Vikings Raid the Abbey

870AD

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Maxey Church Destroyed by Vikings

1013

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Destruction by King Sweyn of Denmark

1013

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The Abbey is Refounded

Vikings Raid the Abbey

Maxey Church Destroyed by V…