Licence to Crenellate

18/07/1308

Information

On this day, Peterborough Abbey received a licence to crenellate the gate of the abbey and two chambers lying between the gate and the church. It was the exterior of the King's Lodgings and the Knights' Chamber - which Abbot Godfrey had recently erected over the palace gateway - that received the crenellations, which remain to this day. (Mellows, W.T., The King's Lodging at Peterborough, Peterborough Natural History Society, 1933)

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

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Woodstons Fair

1268

Information

Its position abutting the Nene has provided Woodston with both fertile growing land and access to and from the water. This access has made it desirable as a place to disembark if travelling from the west, for the Peterborough toll could be avoided. It is possible that Wharf Road was the toll road used.

The Abbot of Thorney had been granted the right to hold a regular market in Yaxley by William the Conqueror. Goods and people travelling there would disembark in Woodston, which was also in the possession of Thorney Abbey. The abbot asked for a market to be held in Woodston on the day before Yaxley market in 1268.

In the same year the abbot requested a fair to celebrate 'the vigil and feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist'. Woodston fair would fall on the 29th August, despite sounding like something more appropriate for 31st October! There is no evidence that this fair ever took place, but a fair to celebrate a beheading must have been an interesting sight.

Reference:

https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/hunts/vol3/pp233-236

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