Georgian Entertainment

12/07/1796

Information

A Peterborough Playbill give us another glimpse of life in Georgian Peterborough. It tells us that:

This present TUESDAY Evening JULY the 12th, 1796, will be presented a COMEDY called 'The SCHOOL for SCANDAL'. To which will be added a FARCE 'The ENCHANTED ISLAND' Or Free-born ENGLISHWOMAN. The whole concludes with an ELEGANT, GRAND, TRANSPARENT PAINTING of THE TEMPLE OF LOVE, Designed and Painted by an eminent Artist.

It tells interested parties that this week's schedule is for performances on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. I just wonder what was planned to happen on the Thursday. (Tebbs, H.F., Peterborough, Oleander Press, 1979)

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

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Towering Over Wothorpe

1600

Information

Wothorpe Towers is a grade 1 listed building on the edge of the Soke of Peterborough. It was commissioned by Thomas Cecil of Burghley House in around 1600 as a lodge. Being so close to Burghley Park, it did not have its own deer park, as many lodges do. The land was originally in the ownership of Crowland Abbey and a small nunnery existed there. Following the reformation the land was gained by Richard Cecil, who was Groom of the Robes in Henry VIII's court and Thomas Cecil's grandfather.

Sadly, the building is completely ruinous. The four towers thankfully remain and provide the building with its distinctive silhouette. They are four stories high, which allowed them to stand above the three-storey house. However the main living space has all been lost, with the exception of a central spine wall and a few additions.

The ruins of Wothorpe Towers is in private ownership, but the gardens are being landscaped for visitors.