Please rotate your device

How Not to Deal With Ice

Facebook
Twitter
Google+

28/02/1795

Information

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.

Nene Park , Ferry Meadows , Opened , Country Park , David Bellamy

Search and filter

Time periods
Themes
Significant Events
People
Buildings
Objects
Decades
Curriculum Subjects
Places
Locality

Opening of Ferry Meadows

Facebook
Twitter
Google+

1978

Information

Nene Park’s centrepiece, Ferry Meadows, was opened on 1 July 1978 by the broadcaster and environmentalist David Bellamy. In its first year of opening, the Park received 90,000 visits and is now one of the most visited country parks in the UK.

Related stories

  • Start of the Nene Park Story Prior to the creation of Nene Park, there were ver…

Links

  • Watch a video about the Park’s early years
Nene Park , Ferry Meadows , Opened , Country Park , David Bellamy

Discover, understand, and enjoy the rich and diverse stories which make the city of Peterborough what it is today.

ON THIS DAY…

How Not to Deal With Ice
See the story
GET INVOLVED NOW…
Teachers Public


  • Privacy Policy
  • Contributors
  • Copyright
Copyright ©2020 City Culture Peterborough. All rights reserved.
Log In Create account
  • Before people
  • First Settlers
  • Romans
  • Saxons, Vikings & Normans
  • Medieval
  • Tudors & Stuarts
  • Markets to Railways
  • Brick Town to New Town
  • Before people
  • First Settlers
  • Romans
  • Saxons, Vikings & Normans
  • Medieval
  • Tudors & Stuarts
  • Markets to Railways
  • Brick Town to New Town
Download acrobat reader