View source for Peterborough

{{Short description|City in Cambridgeshire, England}}
{{About|the city in England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2011}}
{{Infobox UK place
| static_image_name = {{multiple image |perrow =1/2 |total_width=275px |border=infobox |align=center

|image1=Peterborough skyline with Cathedral.webp
|caption1= Skyline 
|image2=Deanery Garden Peterborough.JPG
|caption2= Deanery Garden
|image3=Peterborough_City_Centre_Cumbergate.jpg 
|caption3= [[St John the Baptist Church, Peterborough|Cumbergate]] 
|image4=Peterborough_Cathedral_-_western_facade_-_geograph.org.uk_-_4677339.jpg 
|caption4= The [[Peterborough Cathedral|Cathedral]]
 |image5=Peterborough_Town_Hall_01.jpg 
|caption5= The [[Peterborough Town Hall|Town Hall]]

|image6= Fletton_quays_Peterborough_city_entre.png
|caption6= [[Fletton]] Quays
 |image7=Guildhall,_Cathedral_Square,_Peterborough.jpg
|caption7= The [[Peterborough Guildhall|Guildhall]]

}}
| country = England
| official_name = Peterborough
| type = City
| coordinates = {{coord|52|33|58|N|00|14|11|W|display=inline,title}}
| label_position = left
| population = 215,673
| population_ref = (2021)<ref>{{cite web |title=Towns and cities, characteristics of built-up areas, England and Wales: Census 2021 |url=https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/housing/articles/townsandcitiescharacteristicsofbuiltupareasenglandandwales/census2021 |website=Census 2021 |publisher=Office for National Statistics |access-date=29 March 2024}}</ref>
| unitary_england = [[City of Peterborough]]
| region = East of England
| constituency_westminster = [[Peterborough (UK Parliament constituency)|Peterborough]]
| post_town = PETERBOROUGH
| postcode_district = PE1–PE8
| postcode_area = PE
| dial_code = 01733
| os_grid_reference = TL 19204 98638
| website = {{URL|peterborough.gov.uk}}
| shire_county = [[Cambridgeshire]]
}}
'''Peterborough''' ({{IPAc-en|audio=en-uk-Peterborough.ogg|ˈ|p|iː|t|ə(r)|b|ər|ə|,_|-|b|ʌr|ə}} {{respell|PEE|tər|bər|ə|,_-|burr|ə}}) is a [[City status in the United Kingdom|cathedral city]] in the [[City of Peterborough]] district in the [[Ceremonial counties of England|ceremonial county]] of [[Cambridgeshire]], England. The city is {{Convert|74|mi|km}} north of London, on the [[River Nene]]. As of the 2021 census, Peterborough had a population of 192,178,<ref>{{Cite web |title=United Kingdom: Countries and Major Urban Areas - Population Statistics, Maps, Charts |url=https://www.citypopulation.de/en/uk/cities/ua/?cityid=7240 |access-date=2025-01-03 |website=www.citypopulation.de}}</ref> while the population of the district was 215,673.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Custom report - Peterborough Local Authority 2021 Census Area Profile |url=https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/reports/localarea?compare=E06000031 |access-date=2025-01-03 |website=www.nomisweb.co.uk}}</ref>  

Human settlement in the area began before the [[Bronze Age]], as can be seen at the [[Flag Fen]] archaeological site to the east of the city centre. There is evidence of [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] occupation. The [[History of Anglo-Saxon England|Anglo-Saxon]] period saw the establishment of a monastery, [[Medeshamstede]], which later became [[Peterborough Cathedral]]. In the 19th century, the population grew rapidly after the coming of the railway. The area became known for its [[brickworks]] and engineering. After the Second World War, industrial employment fell and growth was limited until Peterborough was designated a [[New towns in the United Kingdom|new town]] in the 1960s. The main economic sectors now are financial services and distribution. 

The city was the administrative centre of the [[Soke of Peterborough]] in the [[Historic counties of England|historic county]] of [[Northamptonshire]], until the Soke was abolished in 1965. From 1965 to 1974, it formed part of the short-lived county of [[Huntingdon and Peterborough]] and since then has been part of Cambridgeshire. 

The [[City status in the United Kingdom|cathedral city]] of [[Ely, Cambridgeshire|Ely]] is {{Convert|24|mi|km}} east-southeast across the [[The Fens|Fens]] and the university city of [[Cambridge]] is {{Convert|30|mi|km}} to the southeast. The local topography is flat, and in places, the land lies 
below sea level.

==History==
=== Toponymy ===
The original name of the town was [[Medeshamstede]]. The town's name changed to ''Burgh'' from the late tenth century, possibly after Abbot Kenulf had built a [[defensive wall]] around the abbey which was dedicated to [[Saint Peter]]; eventually this developed into the form Peterborough. In the 12th century, the town was also known as ''Gildenburgh'', which is found in the Peterborough version of the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'' (see Peterborough Chronicle below) and a history of the abbey by the monk [[Hugh Candidus]].<ref>Garmonsway (pp.183 & 198–99); Mellows, 1949 (p.66). As a modern local historian has put it, this was "a rhetorical term," used in these 12th century local histories "to contrast the riches of the late Anglo-Saxon monastery with the decrease in income caused by later impositions and the despoliation of the monastic treasure by Hereward," see Tebbs, Herbert F. ''Peterborough: A History'' (p.23) The Oleander Press, Cambridge, 1979.</ref> The town does not appear to have been a [[Ancient borough|borough]] until at least the 12th century.<ref>Originating in a new name for the abbey at Medeshamstede, and not the town, the name ''Burh'' was adopted for the abbey in the late 10th century, see Garmonsway (p. 117), also Mellows, William Thomas (ed.) ''The Chronicle of Hugh Candidus a Monk of Peterborough'' (pp.38 & 480) Oxford University Press, 1949, {{OCLC|314897451}}; the addition of ''Peter'', the name of the abbey's principal titular saint, parallels development of e.g. the name [[Bury St. Edmunds Abbey|Bury St. Edmunds]] and will have served to distinguish between the two places. Exemplified in mediaeval records in the [[Medieval Latin|Latinised]] form {{Lang|la-x-medieval|Burgus Sancti Petri}}, this gave rise to the modern name Peterborough.</ref>

=== Early history ===
Peterborough and its surrounding areas around have been inhabited for thousands of years because it is where permanently drained land in [[The Fens]] is created by the [[River Nene]]. Remains of Iron Age settlement and what is thought to be religious activity can be seen at the [[Flag Fen]] archaeological site to the east of the city centre. The Romans established a fortified garrison town at [[Durobrivae (Water Newton)|Durobrivae]] on [[Ermine Street]], {{convert|5|mi|km|spell=in}} to the west in Water Newton, around the middle of the 1st century AD. Durobrivae's earliest appearance among surviving records is in the [[Antonine Itinerary]] of the late 2nd century.<ref>Parthey, Gustav and Pinder, Moritz (eds.) ''Itinerarivm Antonini Avgvsti et Hierosolymitanum: ex libris manu scriptis'' [http://www.roman-britain.org/antonine-itinerary.htm Iter Britanniarvm] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110703033434/http://roman-britain.org/antonine-itinerary.htm |date=3 July 2011}} (Iter V: Item a Londinio Luguvalio ad vallum mpm clvi ''sic'') Friederich Nicolaus, Berlin, 1848. See also Reynolds, Thomas ''Iter Britanniarum or that part of the itinerary of Antoninus which relates to Britain with a new comment'' J. Burges, Cambridge, 1799.</ref> There was also a large 1st century [[castra|Roman fort]] at [[Longthorpe, Peterborough|Longthorpe]], designed to house half a [[Roman legion|legion]], or about 3,000 soldiers;<ref>[http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/B/bigromandig/camesaw/3_495a.jsp They came, they saw] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905072827/http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/B/bigromandig/camesaw/3_495a.jsp |date=5 September 2008 }} Top 30 Roman sites (6), ''Channel 4 Television'' (Retrieved 20 July 2008).</ref> it may have been established as early as around AD&nbsp;44–48.<ref>{{PastScape|mnumber=364099 |access-date=20 July 2008}}</ref> Peterborough was an important area of ceramic production in the Roman period, providing [[Nene Valley Colour Coated Ware|Nene Valley Ware]] that was traded as far away as Cornwall and the [[Antonine Wall]], Caledonia.<ref>{{cite book |author=Fincham, Garrick |title=Durobbrivae: A Roman Town Between Fen and Upland |publisher=Tempus |location=Stroud |year=2004 |isbn=0-7524-3337-7 |pages=102–08}}</ref>

Peterborough is shown by its original name Medeshamstede to have possibly been an [[Angles (tribe)|Anglian]] settlement before AD&nbsp;655, when [[Sexwulf]] founded a monastery on land granted to him for that purpose by [[Peada of Mercia]], who converted to [[Christianity]] and was briefly ruler of the smaller [[Middle Angles]] sub-group. His brother [[Wulfhere of Mercia|Wulfhere]] murdered his own sons, similarly converted and then finished the monastery by way of [[Atonement in Christianity|atonement]].<ref name=lewis>{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51211 |title=Peterborough |editor=Samuel Lewis |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |year=1848 |work=A Topographical Dictionary of England |access-date=11 May 2013 |author-link=Samuel Lewis (publisher) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003153840/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51211 |archive-date=3 October 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Hereward the Wake]] rampaged through the town in 1069 or 1070. Outraged, Abbot Turold erected a fort or castle, which, from his name, was called Mont Turold: this mound, or hill, is on the outside of the deanery garden, now called Tout Hill, although in 1848 Tot-hill or Toot Hill.<ref name=Touthill>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1006846|desc=Touthill and site of castle bailey |access-date=11 May 2013}} [[Scheduled Monument]]</ref> The [[abbey]] church was rebuilt and greatly enlarged in the 12th century.<ref name=TTB>Tim Tatton-Brown and John Crook, ''The English Cathedral'', New Holland (2002) {{ISBN|1-84330-120-2}}</ref> The [[Peterborough Chronicle]], a version of the Anglo-Saxon one, contains unique information about the [[history of England]] after the [[Norman conquest of England|Norman conquest]], written here by monks in the 12th century.<ref>[[Bodleian Library|Bodleian]], MS. Laud 636 (E), see Ingram, James Henry (trans.) ''The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' J. M. Dent & Sons, London, 1823 ([https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/657 facsimile of the 1847 Everyman's Library ed. with additional readings from the translation of John Allen Giles] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929150833/http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/657 |date=29 September 2007 }} from [[Project Gutenberg]]. Retrieved 19 September 2007). {{OCLC|645704}}. A modern edition, comparing the Peterborough version with such others as survive, is in Garmonsway, George Norman (trans.) ''The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' J. M. Dent & Sons, London, 1972 & 1975. {{OCLC|63489126}}. For the Peterborough Chronicle's unique information, see also Clark, Cecily (ed.) ''The Peterborough Chronicle 1070–1154'' (pp. xxi–xxx) Oxford University Press, 1958.</ref> This is the only known prose history in English between the conquest and the later 14th century.<ref>[[J. A. W. Bennett|Bennett, Jack Arthur Walter]] ''Middle English Literature'' (ed. and completed by Douglas Gray), Oxford University Press, 1986.</ref> The burgesses received their first charter from "Abbot Robert" – probably Robert of Sutton (1262–1273).<ref name=chisholm>[[Hugh Chisholm|Chisholm, Hugh]] (ed.) ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' [[Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition|(11th ed.)]] vol.21 Cambridge University Press, 1911 (text in the public domain).</ref> The place suffered materially in the war between [[John, King of England|King John]] and the confederate barons, many of whom took refuge in the monastery here and in [[Crowland Abbey]], from which sanctuaries they were forced by the king's soldiers, who plundered the religious houses and carried off great treasures.<ref name=lewis/> The abbey church became one of [[Henry VIII]]'s retained, more secular, cathedrals in 1541,<ref name=Sweeting/> having been assessed at the Dissolution as having revenue of £1,972.7s.0¾d per annum.<ref name=lewis/>

[[File:Peterborough Cathedral March 2010.jpg|thumb|left|[[Peterborough Cathedral]] (1118–1375), the [[English Gothic architecture|Early English Gothic]] [[Cathedral architecture of Western Europe#West front|west front]]]]
When [[English Civil War|civil war]] broke out, Peterborough was divided between supporters of [[Charles I of England|King Charles I]] and the [[Long Parliament]]. The city lay on the border of the [[Eastern Association]] of counties which sided with Parliament, and the war reached Peterborough in 1643 when soldiers arrived in the city to attack Royalist strongholds at [[Stamford, Lincolnshire|Stamford]] and [[Crowland]]. The Royalist forces were defeated within a few weeks and retreated to [[Burghley House]], where they were captured and sent to [[Cambridge]].<ref>Davies, Elizabeth et al. [http://www.peterborough.gov.uk/community_information/about_peterborough/historical_peterborough/civil_war_and_return_of_peace.aspx ''Peterborough: A Story of City and Country, People and Places''] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120408222642/http://www.peterborough.gov.uk/community_information/about_peterborough/historical_peterborough/civil_war_and_return_of_peace.aspx |date=8 April 2012 }} (pp.18–19) Peterborough City Council and Pitkin Unichrome, 2001.</ref> While the Parliamentary soldiers were in Peterborough, however, they ransacked the cathedral, destroying the [[Lady chapel|Lady Chapel]], [[chapter house]], [[cloister]], high altar and choir stalls, as well as mediaeval decoration and records.<ref>[[Richard John King|King, Richard J.]] [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Great_Britain/England/_Topics/churches/_Texts/KINCAT* /Peterborough/1.html ''Handbook to the Cathedrals of England''] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210527223936/https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Great_Britain/England/_Topics/churches/_Texts/KINCAT%2A/Peterborough/1.html |date=27 May 2021 }} (p.77) John Murray, London, 1862. {{OCLC|27305221}}.</ref>

Among the privileges claimed by the abbot as early as the 13th century was that of having a prison for felons taken in the [[Soke of Peterborough]], a [[Liberty (division)|liberty]] within [[Northamptonshire]]. This afforded it administrative and judicial independence from the rest of the county, with it having a [[quarter sessions]] separate from the rest of Northamptonshire from 1349.<ref name="brandon-peterborough-past">{{cite book |last1=Brandon |first1=David |last2=Knight |first2=John |title=Peterborough Past |date=2001 |publisher=Phillimore |isbn=9781860771842}}</ref> In 1576 Bishop [[Edmund Scambler]] sold the [[Lord paramount|lordship]] of the hundred of ''Nassaburgh'', which was coextensive with the Soke, to Queen [[Elizabeth I]], who gave it to [[Lord Burghley]], and from that time until the 19th century he and his descendants, the Earls and [[Marquess of Exeter|Marquesses of Exeter]], had a separate gaol for prisoners arrested in the Soke.<ref name=chisholm/> The abbot formerly held four fairs, of which two, St. Peter's Fair, granted in 1189 and later held on the second Tuesday and Wednesday in July, and the Brigge Fair, granted in 1439 and later held on the first Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in October, were purchased by the [[municipal corporation|corporation]] from the [[Ecclesiastical Commissioners]] in 1876. The Bridge Fair, as it is now known, granted to the abbey by [[Henry VI of England|King Henry VI]], survives.<ref>"At the bridge of Peterborough by the River Nene, as well in the county of Huntingdon as in the county of Northampton, on all sides of the bridge."</ref> Prayers for the opening of the fair were once said at the morning service in the cathedral, followed by a civic proclamation and a sausage lunch at the [[Peterborough Town Hall|town hall]] which still takes place. The mayor traditionally leads a procession from the town hall to the fair where the proclamation is read, asking all persons to "behave soberly and civilly, and to pay their just dues and demands according to the laws of the realm and the rights of the City of Peterborough".<ref>Tebbs (p.125).</ref>

===Second World War===
There were 50 raids on the city, with seven houses destroyed. On January 15 1941 at 11pm, 5 high explosives landed near Walpole Street, one man was killed. On May 10 1941 at 3.35am, 4 high explosives landed near Priestgate, with two men killed; [[RAF Wittering]] was also bombed at around 3.15am.<ref>''Peterborough Standard'' Friday 27 October 1944, page 1</ref>

=== Modern history ===
Railway lines began operating locally during the 1840s, but it was the 1850 opening of the [[Great Northern Railway (Great Britain)|Great Northern Railway]]'s line from London to {{rws|York}} that transformed Peterborough from a market town to an industrial centre. [[Brownlow Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Exeter|Lord Exeter]] had opposed the railway passing through Stamford, so Peterborough, situated between two main terminals at London and [[Doncaster]], increasingly developed as a regional hub.<ref>Brooks, John [web.archive.org/web/20050513152328/http://www.towns.org.uk/market-towns-projects/Market-Towns-Food-and-Tourism-Guides~3.pdf {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071025090608/http://www.towns.org.uk/market-towns-projects/Market-Towns-Food-and-Tourism-Guides~3.pdf |date=25 October 2007 }} A Flavour of the Welland] (p.12) The Welland Partnership and Jarrold Publishing, Norwich, 2004.</ref>
[[File:Front of Burghley House 2009.jpg|thumb|right|[[Burghley House]] (1555–1587), seat of the Marquess of Exeter, hereditary Lord Paramount of Peterborough]]
Coupled with vast local clay deposits, the railway enabled large scale brickmaking and distribution to take place. The area was the UK's leading producer of bricks for much of the twentieth century. Brick-making had been a small seasonal craft since the early nineteenth century, but during the 1890s successful experiments at [[Fletton, Peterborough|Fletton]] using the harder clays from a lower level had resulted in a much more efficient process.<ref>Davies (pp.23–24).</ref> The market dominance during this period of the [[London Brick Company]], founded by the prolific Scottish builder and architect [[John Cathles Hill]], gave rise to some of the country's most well-known landmarks, all built using the ubiquitous Fletton Brick.<ref>[http://www.hanson.co.uk/samples/pdfs/Brick%20and%20cladding/London%20brick%20130%20years%20of%20history.pdf London Brick: 130 Years of History 1877–2007] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080529072411/http://www.hanson.co.uk/samples/pdfs/Brick%20and%20cladding/London%20brick%20130%20years%20of%20history.pdf |date=29 May 2008 }} Hanson Building Products, 2007.</ref> [[Perkins Engines]] was established in Peterborough in 1932 by [[Frank Perkins (engineer)|Frank Perkins]], creator of the Perkins diesel engine. Thirty years later it employed more than a tenth of the population of Peterborough, mainly at [[Eastfield, Peterborough|Eastfield]].<ref>Baker, Anne Pimlott "Perkins, Francis Arthur (1889–1967)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004.{{doi|10.1093/ref:odnb/48099}}.</ref> [[Baker Perkins]] had relocated from London to [[Westwood, Peterborough|Westwood]], now the site of [[HM Prison Peterborough]], in 1903, followed by [[Peter Brotherhood]] to [[Walton, Peterborough|Walton]] in 1906; both manufacturers of industrial machinery, they too became major employers in the city.<ref>Davies (pp.26–27).</ref> [[British Sugar]] has moved its headquarters to [[Hampton, Peterborough|Hampton]] from [[Woodston, Peterborough|Woodston]], the [[beet sugar]] factory, which opened there in 1926, was closed in 1991.<ref>[http://www.britishsugar.co.uk/RVEf0888db1fee94b65a660493aa115d694,,.aspx The History of British Sugar]British Sugar (Retrieved 5 January 2008). {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080116235959/http://www.britishsugar.co.uk/RVEf0888db1fee94b65a660493aa115d694%2C%2C.aspx |date=16 January 2008 }} {{cite web |url=http://www.britishsugar.co.uk/RVEf0888db1fee94b65a660493aa115d694%2C%2C.aspx |title=British Sugar |access-date=5 January 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411114019/http://www.britishsugar.co.uk/RVEf0888db1fee94b65a660493aa115d694%2C%2C.aspx |archive-date=11 April 2008 }}</ref>

On August 22, 1956, much of the old city centre was destroyed by the Great Fire of Peterborough.<ref>[https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/heritage-and-retro/retro/in-pictures-the-great-fire-of-peterborough-that-saw-john-lewis-store-destroyed-5328650 Memories of the Great Fire]</ref> The blaze started in the [[John Lewis|Robert Sayle]] shop on the corner of Cowgate and King Street and spread to a shoe shop, furniture store and the local [[fire station]].<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-cambridgeshire-67385107 BBC video of the fire]</ref> It caused over £250,000 worth of damage and was extinguished with assistance from the [[USAF]] at [[Alconbury]].<ref>[https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/history/gallery/devastating-1956-fire-left-lasting-32611334?int_source=nba The devastating fire of 1956]</ref>

The [[Norwich and Peterborough Building Society|Norwich and Peterborough]] (N&P) was formed by the merger of the Norwich Building Society and the Peterborough Building Society in 1986. It was the ninth largest building society at the time of its merger into the [[Yorkshire Building Society|Yorkshire Group]] in 2011.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-14623484 Members agree Yorkshire and N&P building societies merger] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181109150025/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-14623484 |date=9 November 2018 }} BBC News, 22 August 2011.</ref> N&P continued to operate under its own brand administered at Lynch Wood until 2018. Prior to merger with the [[Midlands Co-operative Society|Midlands Co-op]] in 2013, [[Anglia Regional Co-operative Society|Anglia Regional]], the UK's fifth largest co-operative society, was also based in Peterborough, where it was established in 1876.<ref>Brooks, Beth [http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/companies/central-england-co-op-born-out-of-midlands-anglia-merger/353614.article Central England Co-op born out of Midlands-Anglia merger] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304204204/http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/companies/central-england-co-op-born-out-of-midlands-anglia-merger/353614.article |date=4 March 2016 }} ''The Grocer'', 16 January 2014.</ref> The combined society began trading as [[Central England Co-operative]] in 2014.

Designated a [[New towns in the United Kingdom|New Town]] in 1967, [[Peterborough Development Corporation]] was formed in partnership with the city and county councils to house London's [[London overspill|overspill]] population in new [[Township (England)|townships]] sited around the existing urban area.<ref>Under the New Towns Act 1965 (1965 cap.59) cf. [http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1988/1410/contents/made The Peterborough Development Corporation (Transfer of Property and Dissolution) Order 1988] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430173018/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1988/1410/contents/made |date=30 April 2011 }} (SI 1988/1410); the designation was made on 21 July 1967, see {{London Gazette |issue=44377 |page=8515 |date=1 August 1967}}</ref> There were to be four townships, one each at [[Bretton, Peterborough|Bretton]] (originally to be called Milton, a hamlet in the [[Middle Ages]]), [[Orton, Peterborough|Orton]], [[Paston, Peterborough|Paston]]/ [[Werrington, Peterborough|Werrington]] and [[Castor, Cambridgeshire|Castor]]. The last of these was never built, but a fourth, called [[Hampton, Peterborough|Hampton]], is now taking shape south of the city. It was decided that the city should have a major indoor shopping centre at its heart. Planning permission was received in late summer 1976 and [[Queensgate shopping centre, United Kingdom|Queensgate]], containing over 90 stores and including parking for 2,300 cars, was opened by Queen [[Beatrix of the Netherlands]] in 1982. {{convert|34|mi|km}} of urban roads were planned and a network of high-speed landscaped thoroughfares, known as [[parkway]]s, was constructed.<ref>Hancock, Tom ''Greater Peterborough Master Plan'' Peterborough Development Corporation, 1971.</ref>

Peterborough's population grew by 45.4% between 1971 and 1991. New service sector companies like [[Thomas Cook Group|Thomas Cook]] and [[Phoenix Group|Pearl Assurance]] were attracted to the city, ending the dominance of the manufacturing industry as employers. An [[urban regeneration company]] named Opportunity Peterborough, under the chairmanship of [[Brian Mawhinney, Baron Mawhinney|Lord Mawhinney]], was set up by the [[Office of the Deputy Prime Minister]] in 2005 to oversee Peterborough's future development.<ref>[http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/EXPANSION-A-billion-reasons-to.959657.jp "Expansion: A billion reasons to be cheerful"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014032015/http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/EXPANSION-A-billion-reasons-to.959657.jp |date=14 October 2007 }}, ''Peterborough Evening Telegraph'', 2 March 2005.</ref> Between 2006 and 2012 a £1&nbsp;billion redevelopment of the city centre and surrounding areas was planned. The master plan provided guidelines on the physical shaping of the city centre over the next 15–20 years. Proposals are still progressing for the north of Westgate, the south bank and the station quarter, where [[Network Rail]] is preparing a major mixed use development.<ref name=plan>[http://www.gpp-peterborough.org.uk/regions/documents/ThePlanforPeterboroughCityCentreFebruary2005.pdf The Plan for Peterborough City Centre] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070616131754/http://www.gpp-peterborough.org.uk/regions/documents/ThePlanforPeterboroughCityCentreFebruary2005.pdf |date=16 June 2007 }} Peterborough City Council, East of England Development Agency and [[English Partnerships]], February 2005.</ref> Whilst recognising that the reconfiguration of the relationship between the city and station was critical, [[English Heritage]] found the current plans for Westgate unconvincing and felt more thought should be given to the vitality of the historic core.<ref>[http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/upload/pdf/UrbanPanelReviewPaperforPeterboroughMarch2006.pdf Urban Panel Review Paper for Peterborough] (see [http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20080110083020/http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/upload/pdf/UrbanPanelReviewPaperforPeterboroughMarch2006.pdf archived copy] in the [[UK Government Web Archive]], archived on 10 January 2008) [[Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England]] and [[Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment]], 16 March 2006.</ref>

In recent years Peterborough has undergone significant changes with numerous developments underway, most notably are Fletton Quays, a project to construct 350 apartments, various office spaces as well as a new home for [[Peterborough City Council]] with other projects within the development to include a [[Hilton Garden Inn]] hotel with a sky bar, a new passport office and various leisure, restaurant and retail opportunities. Other projects within the city include the extension to [[Queensgate shopping centre, United Kingdom|Queensgate Shopping Centre]], The Great Northern Hotel and more recently plans to extend the [[Peterborough railway station|railway station]] and long stay car park to facilitate more office space in the city centre and further parking.

==Governance==
{{main|Peterborough City Council}}
[[File:Town Hall, Peterborough - geograph.org.uk - 3900218.jpg|thumb|[[Peterborough Town Hall]]: Meeting place of the city council]]
There is one main tier of local government covering Peterborough, at [[Unitary authorities of England|unitary authority]] level, being [[Peterborough City Council]], which meets at [[Peterborough Town Hall]] and has its main offices at Sand Martin House on Bittern Way.<ref>{{cite web |title=Meetings calendar |url=https://democracy.peterborough.gov.uk/mgCalendarAgendaView.aspx?MR=0&M=5&DD=2024&CID=0&OT=&C=-1&D=27 |website=Peterborough City Council |access-date=27 May 2024 |archive-date=27 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240527173315/https://democracy.peterborough.gov.uk/mgCalendarAgendaView.aspx?MR=0&M=5&DD=2024&CID=0&OT=&C=-1&D=27 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/politics/new-era-peterborough-city-council-move-fletton-quays-579322|title=New era for Peterborough City Council with move to Fletton Quays|date=18 September 2018|publisher=Peterborough Today|accessdate=17 July 2020}}</ref> The city council is also a member of the [[Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority]], led by the directly elected [[Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough]].

The area governed by the city council is the [[non-metropolitan district|district]] of [[City of Peterborough|Peterborough]], which extends beyond the urban area of Peterborough itself to include surrounding villages and rural areas, particularly to the north-west and north-east. Peterborough's [[City status in the United Kingdom|city status]] is formally held by the local government district rather than the urban area.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=46334|page=7419|date=28 June 1974}}</ref> Much of the Peterborough urban area is [[unparished area|unparished]], but some of the suburbs are included in [[civil parishes]], including [[Bretton, Peterborough|Bretton]], [[Hampton Hargate and Vale]], [[Orton Longueville]], and [[Orton Waterville]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Election Maps |url=https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/election-maps/gb/ |publisher=Ordnance Survey |access-date=27 May 2024}}</ref>

===Administrative history===
Peterborough was an [[ancient parish]], which was historically in the [[Nassaburgh hundred]] of [[Northamptonshire]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Peterborough Ancient Parish / Civil Parish |url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10279690 |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=27 May 2024}}</ref> The parish was divided into five [[Hamlet (place)|hamlets]] or townships: [[Dogsthorpe]], [[Eastfield, Peterborough|Eastfield]], [[Longthorpe]], [[Newark, Peterborough|Newark]] and a Peterborough township covering the central part of the parish including the town. Within the Peterborough township was an [[extra-parochial area]] known as the Minster Precincts, covering St Peter's Abbey and its [[Cathedral close|close]]. When the former abbey church became [[Peterborough Cathedral]] in 1541, Peterborough was thereafter deemed to be a [[City status in the United Kingdom|city]]. The area originally holding city status was the Peterborough township plus the Minster Precincts.<ref name=1832commissioners>{{cite book |title=Reports from Commissioners on proposed division of Counties and boundaries of Boroughs: Volume II, Part II |date=1832 |page=159 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vEhJAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA156-IA7 |access-date=27 May 2024}}</ref>

Although made a city in 1541, at that time Peterborough was not a [[Borough status in the United Kingdom|borough]] (despite including the word in its name). Prior to the [[dissolution of the monasteries|dissolution]] of the abbey in 1539, the abbey had been the [[manorialism|manorial]] owner of the town; that ownership passed to the new cathedral authorities. A [[Peterborough (UK Parliament constituency)|Peterborough constituency]] was also created in 1541, covering the same area as the city.<ref name=1832commissioners/><ref>{{cite web |title=Peterborough |url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/constituencies/peterborough |website=The History of Parliament |access-date=27 May 2024 |archive-date=27 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240527173320/https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/constituencies/peterborough |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1790, a body of [[improvement commissioners]] was established to provide public services in the city.<ref>{{cite web |title=Local Government archives |url=https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/libraries-leisure-culture/archives/archives-a-to-z/archives-a-to-z-l-to-m |website=Cambridgeshire County Council |access-date=27 May 2024}}</ref> In 1874 Peterborough was incorporated as a [[municipal borough]], with the commissioners replaced by an elected council initially comprising a mayor, six [[aldermen]] and eighteen [[councillors]].<ref>Under the [[Municipal Corporations Act 1835]] ([[5 & 6 Will. 4]]. c. 76), Charter of Incorporation dated 17 March 1874.</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Peterborough Municipal Borough |url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10136805#tab02 |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=27 May 2024}}</ref>

The municipal borough was abolished in 1974 when the modern district was created, being a lower tier [[non-metropolitan district]], with the area also being transferred to Cambridgeshire at the same time.<ref>[[Local Government Act 1972]]</ref> In 1998 the Peterborough district was removed from the [[non-metropolitan county]] of Cambridgeshire (the area governed by [[Cambridgeshire County Council]]) to become a unitary authority, whilst remaining part of the [[ceremonial county]] of Cambridgeshire for the purposes of [[Lord-lieutenant|lieutenancy]] and [[shrievalty]].<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The Cambridgeshire (City of Peterborough) (Structural, Boundary and Electoral Changes) Order 1996|year=1996|number=1878|access-date=27 May 2024}}</ref>

== Economy ==
[[File:Cmglee Peterborough market.jpg|thumb|Peterborough market, Laxton Square]]
[[File:Cmglee Peterborough Queensgate.jpg|thumb|upright|North Square, Queensgate shopping centre]]

=== Regeneration ===
Figures plotting growth from 1995 to 2004, revealed that Peterborough had become the most successful economy among unitary authorities in the East of England. They also revealed that the city's economy had grown faster than the regional average and any other economy in the region.<ref>Hastings, David and Swadkin, Claire [http://www.statistics.gov.uk/elmr/02_07/downloads/ELMR02_07REI.pdf Regional economic indicators with a focus on the differences in regional economic performance] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070616131749/http://www.statistics.gov.uk/elmr/02_07/downloads/ELMR02_07REI.pdf |date=16 June 2007 }} Economic and Labour Market Review, vol.1 no.2 (pp.52–64) February 2007.</ref> It has a strong economy in the environmental goods and services sector and has the largest cluster of environmental businesses in the UK.<ref>[http://www.encluster.org/ Peterborough Environment Cluster] The UK Centre for Economic and Environmental Development (Retrieved 20 December 2007). {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071118202125/http://www.encluster.org/ |date=18 November 2007 }}</ref>

In 1994, Peterborough designated itself one of four environment cities in the UK and began working to become the country's acknowledged environment capital.<ref>[http://www.gpp-peterborough.org.uk/new_07/environcapital.html Peterborough – the UK's Environment Capital] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071216235959/http://www.gpp-peterborough.org.uk/new_07/environcapital.html |date=16 December 2007 }} Greater Peterborough Partnership (Retrieved 20 December 2007). {{cite web |url=http://www.gpp-peterborough.org.uk/new_07/environcapital.html |title=Greater Peterborough Partnership |access-date=20 December 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080412234708/http://www.gpp-peterborough.org.uk/new_07/environcapital.html |archive-date=12 April 2008}}</ref> Peterborough Environment City Trust (PECT), an independent charity, was set up at the same time to work towards this goal, delivering projects promoting healthier and sustainable living in the city.<ref>[http://www.pect.org.uk/about-us About Us] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100125100034/http://pect.org.uk/about-us |date=25 January 2010 }} Peterborough Environment City Trust (Retrieved 30 May 2010).</ref> Until 2017, PECT organised a yearly 'Green Festival' centered around Cathedral Square, Peterborough, which also benefited local artists and arts organisations through attracting Arts Council funding grants aided by arts facilitator organisation Metal.<ref name=":0" /> During the summer of 2018 the last Green Festival was held at Nene Park, in 2019 Peterborough's community environmental projects attracted ministerial attention from the environment secretary [[Michael Gove]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lamy |first=Joel |date=4 February 2019 |title=Environment Secretary Michael Gove praises Peterborough's eco-credentials on visit to community project |work=Peterborough Telegraph |url=https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/politics/environment-secretary-michael-gove-praises-peterboroughs-eco-credentials-visit-community-project-128543 |access-date=18 October 2021 |archive-date=20 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020033852/https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/politics/environment-secretary-michael-gove-praises-peterboroughs-eco-credentials-visit-community-project-128543 |url-status=live}}</ref> During the [[COVID-19 pandemic]] of 2020–21 Peterborough's culture and leisure umbrella charity, ''Vivacity'' ceased operating.<ref>{{Cite web |date=18 June 2020 |title=Peterborough leisure and libraries charity Vivacity shut by lockdown |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-53098697 |url-status=live |access-date=18 October 2021 |publisher=BBC News |archive-date=19 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019191658/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-53098697}}</ref>

The council and [[regional development agency]] have taken advice on regeneration issues from a number of internationally recognised experts, including [[Benjamin Barber]] (formerly an adviser to President [[Bill Clinton]]), Jan Gustav Strandenaes ([[United Nations]] adviser on environmental issues) and Patama Roorakwit (a Thai "community architect").<ref>Salman, Saba [https://www.theguardian.com/society/2008/oct/08/regeneration.peterborough "The civic engineer"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170131163925/https://www.theguardian.com/society/2008/oct/08/regeneration.peterborough |date=31 January 2017}}, ''The Guardian'', London and Manchester, 8 October 2008. <!---access-date= 2008-10-13-----></ref>

=== Employment ===
According to the [[2001 United Kingdom census|2001 census]], the workplace population of 90,656 is divided into 60,118 people who live in Peterborough and 30,358 people who commute in. A further 13,161 residents commute out of the city to work.<ref>[http://insighteast.org.uk/viewResource.aspx?id=12662 Commuting Profile for Peterborough] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710100547/http://www.insighteast.org.uk/viewResource.aspx?id=12662 |date=10 July 2011 }} East of England Regional Assembly, 11 April 2005.</ref> Earnings in Peterborough are lower than average. [[Median]] earnings for full-time workers were £11.93 per hour in 2014, less than the regional median for the East of England of £13.62 and the median hourly rate of £13.15 for [[Great Britain]] as a whole.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/reports/lmp/la/1946157202/report.aspx#tabearn |title=Earnings by residence (2014) |publisher=Office for National Statistics |access-date=1 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304042753/https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/reports/lmp/la/1946157202/report.aspx#tabearn |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> As part of the government's [[M11 Corridor|M11 corridor]], Peterborough is committed to creating 17,500 jobs with the population growing to 200,000 by 2020.<ref>[http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/environment/employment_projects_promise_jobs_to_end_worrying_trend_1_62225 "Employment: Projects promise jobs to end worrying trend"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120622034104/http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/environment/employment_projects_promise_jobs_to_end_worrying_trend_1_62225 |date=22 June 2012 }}, ''Peterborough Evening Telegraph'', 23 March 2006.</ref>

Future employment will also be created through the plan for the city centre launched by the council in 2003. Predictions of the levels and types of employment created were published in 2005.<ref name=plan/> These include 1,421 jobs created in retail; 1,067 created in a variety of leisure and cultural developments; 338 in three hotels; and a further 4,847 jobs created in offices and other workspaces. Recent relocations of large employers include both [[Tesco]] (1,070 employees) and [[Debenhams]] (850 employees) distribution centres.<ref>[http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/environment/jobs-boom-time-1-35758 "Jobs: Boom Time"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120622033857/http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/environment/jobs-boom-time-1-35758 |date=22 June 2012 }}, ''Peterborough Evening Telegraph'', 18 April 2005.</ref> A further 2,500 jobs were to be created in the £140&nbsp;million Gateway warehouse and distribution park. This was expected to compensate for the 6,000 job losses as a result of the decline in manufacturing, anticipated in a report cited by the cabinet member for economic growth and regeneration in 2006.<ref>[http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/environment/business-distribution-park-will-bring-2-500-jobs-to-city-1-66212 "Business: Distribution park will bring 2,500 jobs to city"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120622033951/http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/environment/business-distribution-park-will-bring-2-500-jobs-to-city-1-66212 |date=22 June 2012 }}, ''Peterborough Evening Telegraph'', 12 September 2006.</ref>

With traditionally low levels of unemployment, Peterborough is a popular destination for workers and has seen significant growth through migration since the postwar period. The leader of the council said in August 2006 that he believed that 80% of the 65,000 people who had arrived in [[East Anglia]] from the states that [[2004 enlargement of the European Union|joined the European Union in 2004]] were living in Peterborough.<ref>[http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/environment/limit-plea-fears-over-immigrants-1-65537 "Limit plea: Fears over immigrants"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120622033833/http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/environment/limit-plea-fears-over-immigrants-1-65537 |date=22 June 2012 }}, ''Peterborough Evening Telegraph'', 23 August 2006.</ref> To help cope with this influx, the council put forward plans to construct an average of 1,300 homes each year until 2021.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20051027140810/http://www.peterborough.gov.uk/page-230 Housing Strategy Statement 2004-7] Peterborough City Council, July 2004.</ref> Peterborough Trades Council, formed in 1898, is affiliated to the [[Trades Union Congress]].<ref>[http://www.ptuc.co.uk/about/ About PTUC] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150530203114/http://www.ptuc.co.uk/about/ |date=30 May 2015 }} Peterborough Trades Union Council (Retrieved 30 May 2015).</ref>

== Transport ==

===Rail===
[[Peterborough railway station]] is a principal stop on the [[East Coast Main Line]], 45–50 minutes' journey time from central London, with high-speed intercity services from [[London King's Cross railway station|King's Cross]] to [[Edinburgh Waverley railway station|Edinburgh Waverley]] operated by the [[London North Eastern Railway]] at around a 20-minute frequency. It is the northern terminus of slower commuter services from {{rws|Horsham}}, via {{rws|Gatwick Airport}} and central London, operated by [[Govia Thameslink Railway]].

It is a major railway junction where a number of cross-country routes converge:

* [[East Midlands Railway]] operates through services between {{rws|Norwich}}, {{rws|Nottingham}} and [[Liverpool Lime Street railway station|Liverpool Lime Street]] that call at Peterborough, as well as trains on the line to {{rws|Lincoln}}.
* [[CrossCountry]] provides connections west to {{rws|Leicester}} and [[Birmingham New Street railway station|Birmingham]], and east to {{rws|Ely}}, {{rws|Cambridge}} and {{rws|Stansted Airport}}.
* [[Greater Anglia]] also runs trains to and from {{rws|Ipswich}} via {{rws|Soham}}.<ref>[http://nationalrail.co.uk/stations/PBO.html Station Facilities for Peterborough] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070718060320/http://nationalrail.co.uk/stations/PBO.html |date=18 July 2007 }} [[National Rail]] Enquiries, 28 November 2006.</ref>
[[File:Peterborough 1850 iron bridge.jpg|thumb|[[Nene Viaduct|Historic cast iron railway bridge]] over the River Nene (1847), built by Sir [[William Cubitt|William]] and [[Joseph Cubitt]]]]

===Water===
The [[River Nene]], made navigable from the port at [[Wisbech]] to [[Northampton]] by 1761,<ref>Under the Nene Navigation Acts 1714 ([[12 Ann.]] c. 7), 1725 ([[11 Geo. 1]]. c. 19), 1756 ([[29 Geo. 2]]. c. 69) and 1794 ([[34 Geo. 3]]. c. 85).</ref> passes through the city centre. The [[Nene Viaduct]] carries the railway over the river. It was built in 1847 by Sir [[William Cubitt|William]] and [[Joseph Cubitt]].<ref>Gordon Bibble, ''Britanic's History Railway Buildings. An Oxford Gazetteer of Structures and Sites'', (p.195), Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2003 {{ISBN|978-0198662471}}</ref> William Cubitt was the chief engineer of Crystal Palace erected at Hyde Park in 1851. Apart from some minor repairs in 1910 and 1914 (the steel bands and cross braces around the fluted legs) the bridge remains as Cubitts built it. Now a Grade II* listed structure, it is the oldest surviving cast iron railway bridge in the UK.<ref>Labrum, Edward A. [https://books.google.com/books?id=Offfz1NSDt0C ''Civil Engineering Heritage: Eastern and Central England''] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130620110750/http://books.google.com/books?id=Offfz1NSDt0C&printsec=frontcover |date=20 June 2013 }} (pp.78–79) Thomas Telford, London, 1994. See also Cossey, F. "Cast Iron Railway Bridge at Peterborough" in [[Kenneth Hudson|Hudson, Kenneth]] (ed.) ''Industrial Archaeology'' vol. 4 (pp.138–147) David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1967.</ref> By the Town Bridge, the Customs House, built in the early eighteenth century, is a visible reminder of the city's past function as an inland port.<ref>Brandon, David and Knight, John ''Peterborough Past: The City and The Soke'' (p.54) Phillimore & Co., Chichester, 2001.</ref> The [[Environment Agency]] navigation starts at the junction with the Northampton arm of the [[Grand Union Canal]] and extends for {{convert|91|mi|km}} ending at Bevis Hall just upstream of Wisbech. The tidal limit used to be Woodston Wharf until the Dog-in-a-Doublet [[Lock (water transport)|lock]] was built {{convert|5|mi|km|spell=in}} downstream in 1937.<ref>[http://ea-lit.freshwaterlife.org/fedora/repository/ealit:2818/OBJ/20001183.pdf Navigations in the Anglian Region] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518081603/http://ea-lit.freshwaterlife.org/fedora/repository/ealit:2818/OBJ/20001183.pdf |date=18 May 2015}} Public Relations Department, National Rivers Authority, Anglian Region (NRA Anglian 88) 1994.</ref>

===Road===
{{Further|Road transport in Peterborough}}
The [[A1 road (Great Britain)|A1/A1(M) primary route]] (part of [[European route E15]]) broadly follows the path of the historic [[Great North Road (Great Britain)|Great North Road]] from [[St Paul's Cathedral]] in the heart of London, passing Peterborough (Junction 17), and continuing north a further {{convert|335|mi|km}} to central [[Edinburgh]]. In 1899 the [[British Electric Traction|British Electric Traction Company]] sought permission for a tramway joining the northern suburbs with the city centre. The system, which operated under the name [[Peterborough Tramways|Peterborough Electric Traction Company]], opened in 1903 and was abandoned in favour of motor buses in 1930, when it was merged into the [[First Norfolk & Suffolk|Eastern Counties Omnibus Company]].<ref>Brandon and Knight (pp.47–49).</ref> Today, bus services in the city are operated by several companies including [[Stagecoach East|Stagecoach]] (formerly [[Stagecoach Cambridgeshire|Cambus and Viscount]]) and [[Delaine Buses]]. Despite its large-scale growth, Peterborough has the fastest peak and off-peak travel times for a city of its size in the UK, due to the construction of the parkways. The [[Local transport plan|Local Transport Plan]] anticipated expenditure totalling around £180&nbsp;million for the period up to 2010 on major road schemes to accommodate development.<ref>[http://www.peterborough.gov.uk/traffic,_travel_and_parking/strategies,_policies_and_plans/transport_planning/ltp2.aspx The Second Local Transport Plan] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423201730/http://www.peterborough.gov.uk/traffic,_travel_and_parking/strategies,_policies_and_plans/transport_planning/ltp2.aspx |date=23 April 2012}} Peterborough City Council, March 2006.</ref>

The combination of rail connections to the [[Port of Felixstowe]] and to the East Coast Main Line as well as a road connection via the A1(M) has led to Peterborough being proposed as the site of a {{cvt|334|acres|km2}} rail-road logistics and distribution centre to be known as Magna Park.<ref>[http://consult.peterborough.gov.uk/portal/planning/peterborough/cs/cspo?pointId=1202897463405#section-1202897463405 Regional Freight Interchange]{{Dead link|date=May 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Peterborough City Council (Retrieved 21 January 2012).</ref>

===Green Wheel and City Cycling===
[[File:Green Wheel cycle route sign, Glinton - geograph.org.uk - 3533144.jpg|thumb|Green Wheel signpost]]
The Peterborough Millennium [[Green Wheel]] is a {{convert|50|mi|km|adj=on}} network of cycleways, footpaths and bridleways which provide safe, continuous routes around the city with radiating spokes connecting to the city centre. The project has also created a sculpture trail, which provides functional, landscape artworks along the Green Wheel route and a Living Landmarks project involving the local community in the creation of local landscape features such as mini woodlands, ponds and hedgerows.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2007/mar/03/norfolk "Cycle Guide: The Green Wheel"] , ''The Guardian'', London and Manchester, 3 March 2007.</ref> Another long-distance footpath, the [[Hereward Way]], runs from [[Oakham]] in Rutland, through Peterborough, to [[East Harling]] in Norfolk.<ref>Noyes, T.B. [http://visitely.eastcambs.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Hereward%20Way.pdf The Hereward Way: A Walking Route Across the Fens Oakham to Thetford (also part of European route E2 Ely to Oakham)] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160122210426/http://visitely.eastcambs.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Hereward%20Way.pdf |date=22 January 2016 }} The Ramblers' Association (Peterborough Group), 1985 (Republished 2004 and published online 2007).</ref> While cycling within the city received a boost during the COVID-19 pandemic with the introduction of new cycle lanes in busy streets, plans to connect the villages to the west of Peterborough with a new cycle track have been refused permission and some cycle lane decisions have been reversed in the city centre during easing of the corona virus lockdowns.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Alexander |first=Rob |date=1 July 2021 |title=Plans for a new 'cycle highway' near Peterborough turned down |url=https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/politics/council/plans-for-a-new-cycle-highway-near-peterborough-turned-down-3292318 |url-status=live |access-date=18 October 2021 |website=peterboroughtoday.co.uk/ |archive-date=19 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019063838/https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/politics/council/plans-for-a-new-cycle-highway-near-peterborough-turned-down-3292318}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Lamy |first=Joel |date=22 July 2021 |title=Mayor urged to intervene over 'misuse' of Peterborough cycling funds |url=https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/transport/mayor-urged-to-intervene-over-misuse-of-peterborough-cycling-funds-3317504 |url-status=live |access-date=18 October 2021 |website=peterboroughtoday.co.uk |archive-date=19 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019081007/https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/transport/mayor-urged-to-intervene-over-misuse-of-peterborough-cycling-funds-3317504}}</ref>

== Demography ==
=== Population ===
The City of Peterborough local authority area has a population of {{English district population|GSS=E06000031}} ({{English statistics year}}).<ref name=popstats>{{United Kingdom district population citation|England}}</ref> It is forecast to reach 230,000 in 2031 and 240,000 by around 2041.<ref>CCC 2020-based population forecasts, Peterborough, 2020–2041</ref>
[[File:Old Customs House, Peterborough - geograph.org.uk - 166965.jpg|thumb|Customs House (1790) on the north bank of the river, from the Town Bridge]]
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left"
|-
! Year !! City !! Soke!! Redistricted
|-
| 1901 || 30,872 || 41,122 || 46,986
|-
| 1911 || 33,574 || 44,718 || 53,114
|-
| 1921 || 35,532 || 46,959 || 58,186
|-
| 1931 || 43,551<ref>Enlarged to include former Gunthorpe CP, Longthorpe CP, Paston CP, Peterborough Without CP, Walton CP and Werrington CP from Peterborough RD in 1929.</ref> || 51,839 || 63,745
|-
| 1939<ref>Because of the Second World War there was no census taken in 1941. However, following the passage into law (on 5 September) of the [[National Registration Act 1939]], a population count was carried out on 29 September which was, in effect, a census.</ref> || 49,248 || 58,303 || 69,855
|-
| 1951 || 53,417 || 63,791 || 76,555
|-
| 1961 || 62,340 || 74,758 || 89,794
|-
|1971 || 69,556 || 85,820<ref>Aggregate of Peterborough MB, Peterborough RD and Barnack RD for illustration from 1965. [http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/ A vision of Britain through time] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907160421/http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/ |date=7 September 2008 }} presents long-run change by redistricting historical statistics to modern units.</ref> || 105,323
|-
|1981 || colspan="3"|131,696<ref>Enlarged to include former Peterborough RD, Barnack RD, Thorney RD, Old Fletton UD and Orton Longueville CP from Norman Cross RD in 1974.</ref>
|-
|1991 || colspan="3"|155,050
|-
|2001 || colspan="3"|156,060
|-
|2011 || colspan="3"|183,600 (+ 16.6%)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/mro/news-release/census-shows-increase-in-population-in-the-east-of-england/pdfeastenglandnr0712.pdf |title=Census shows increase in population in the East of England |publisher=Office for National Statistics |date=16 July 2012 |access-date=12 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924124324/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/mro/news-release/census-shows-increase-in-population-in-the-east-of-england/pdfeastenglandnr0712.pdf |archive-date=24 September 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
|2021 || colspan="3"|215,700 (+17.5%)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ons.gov.uk/visualisations/censuspopulationchange/E06000031/ |title=How the population changed in Peterborough, Census 2021 – ONS}}</ref>
|-
|}

Peterborough's population growth was reportedly the second fastest of any British city over the ten years from 2004 to 2013, driven partly by immigration.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/business/business-news/peterborough-loses-top-spot-as-uk-s-fastest-growing-city-in-new-report-1-6526432 |title=Peterborough loses top spot as UK's fastest growing city in new report |first=Paul |last=Grinnell |work=Peterborough Telegraph |date=19 January 2015 |access-date=9 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150710125244/http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/business/business-news/peterborough-loses-top-spot-as-uk-s-fastest-growing-city-in-new-report-1-6526432 |archive-date=10 July 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Ethnicity ===
According to the [[2011 United Kingdom census|2011 census]], 82.5% of Peterborough's residents categorised themselves as [[White people|white]], 2.8% of [[Mixed (United Kingdom ethnicity category)|mixed ethnic groups]], 11.7% [[British Asian|Asian]], 2.3% [[Black British|black]] and 0.8% other. Amongst the white population, the largest categories were indigenous groups, those being English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish/British (70.9%), and [[Other White|other white]] (10.6%). Those of [[British Pakistanis|Pakistani ethnicity]] accounted for 6.6% of the population and those of [[British Indians|Indian ethnicity]] 2.5.%. The largest black group were those of African ethnicity (1.4%).<ref name=2011ethnicity>{{cite web |url=http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census/key-statistics-for-local-authorities-in-england-and-wales/rft-table-ks201ew.xls |title=2011 Census: Ethnic group, local authorities in England and Wales |publisher=Office for National Statistics |date=11 December 2012 |access-date=12 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116113321/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census/key-statistics-for-local-authorities-in-england-and-wales/rft-table-ks201ew.xls |archive-date=16 January 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Pbguildhall.jpg|thumb|right|[[Peterborough Guildhall|The Guildhall]] or [[Market Cross|Butter Cross]] (1669–1671), Cathedral Square, Peterborough]]
Peterborough is home to one of the largest concentrations of [[Italian diaspora|Italian immigrants]] in the UK. This is mainly as a result of [[workforce|labour]] recruitment in the 1950s by the London Brick Company in the southern Italian regions of [[Apulia]] and [[Campania]]. By 1960, approximately 3,000 Italian men were employed by London Brick, mostly at the [[Fletton]] works.<ref>Colpi, Terry ''The Italian Factor: The Italian Community in Great Britain'' (p.149) Mainstream Publishing, Edinburgh, 1991.</ref> In 1962, the [[Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo|Scalabrini Fathers]], who first arrived in 1956, purchased an old school and converted it into a mission church named after the [[patron saint]] of workers [[Saint Joseph]] (San Giuseppe). By 1991, over 3,000 [[baptism|christenings]] of [[Italian Briton|second-generation Italians]] had been carried out there.<ref>Colpi (p.235).</ref> In 1996, it was estimated that the Italian community of Peterborough numbered 7,000, making it the third largest in the UK after London and [[Bedford]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.sussex.ac.uk/webteam/gateway/file.php?name=paper27.pdf&site=11 |title=Italians in Peterborough: between integration, encapsulation and return |first1=Mariacaterina |last1=Tubito |first2=Russell |last2=King |publisher=University of Sussex |series=Research Papers in Geography |isbn=1874465274 |date=October 1996 |access-date=21 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150204202132/https://www.sussex.ac.uk/webteam/gateway/file.php?name=paper27.pdf&site=11 |archive-date=4 February 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> The 2011 Census recorded 1,179 residents born in Italy.<ref>{{cite web |title=2011 Census: QS203EW Country of birth (detailed), local authorities in England and Wales |url=http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census/key-statistics-for-local-authorities-in-england-and-wales/rft-table-qs203ew.xls |publisher=Office for National Statistics |date=11 December 2012 |access-date=20 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924115034/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census/key-statistics-for-local-authorities-in-england-and-wales/rft-table-qs203ew.xls |archive-date=24 September 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In the late twentieth century the main source of immigration was from new [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] countries.<ref>{{cite web |author=Robinson, Nick |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22339080 |title=How has immigration changed Britain? |publisher=BBC News |date=30 April 2013 |access-date=16 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150420013832/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22339080 |archive-date=20 April 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> The 2011 Census showed that a total of 24,166 migrants moved to Peterborough between 2001 and 2011. The city has experienced significant immigration from the [[A8 countries]] that joined the European Union in 2004, and in 2011, 14,134 residents of the city were people born in Central and Eastern Europe.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/community/community-news/2011-census-show-highest-migration-levels-to-peterborough-in-seven-decades-1-4576279 |title=2011 Census show highest migration levels to Peterborough in seven decades |first=Dawn |last=Fellowes |work=Peterborough Telegraph |date=12 December 2012 |access-date=20 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150521032631/http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/community/community-news/2011-census-show-highest-migration-levels-to-peterborough-in-seven-decades-1-4576279 |archive-date=21 May 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

According to a report published by the police in 2007, recent migration had resulted in increased translation costs and a change in the nature of crime in the county, with an increase in [[Driving under the influence|drink driving]] offences, knife crime and an international dimension added to activities such as running [[cannabis (drug)|cannabis]] factories and [[trafficking in human beings|human trafficking]]. The number of foreign nationals arrested in the north of the county rose from 894 in 2003, to 2,435 in 2006, but the report also said that "inappropriately negative" community perceptions about migrant workers often complicate routine incidents, raising tensions and turning them "critical". It also noted there was "little evidence that the increased numbers of migrant workers have caused significant or systematic problems in respect of community safety or cohesion".<ref>[http://www.cambs.police.uk/images/newsitem/download/190907growth.pdf The changing demography of Cambridgeshire: implications for policing] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927113505/http://www.cambs.police.uk/images/newsitem/download/190907growth.pdf |date=27 September 2007 }} Cambridgeshire Constabulary and Cambridgeshire Police Authority, 19 September 2007.</ref> In 2007, [[Julie Spence]], the then [[Chief Constable]] emphasised that the fact that the demographic profile of Cambridgeshire had changed dramatically from one where 95% of teenagers were white four years previously to one of the country's fastest growing diverse populations, and said it had a positive impact on development and jobs.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/sep/20/immigrationandpublicservices.immigration |title=Ministers to assess migrant groups' impact on public services |first=Alan |last=Travis |work=The Guardian |date=20 September 2007 |access-date=16 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150716101608/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/sep/20/immigrationandpublicservices.immigration |archive-date=16 July 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 2008, the [[BBC]] broadcast ''The Poles are Coming!'', a documentary on the impact of [[Polish people|Polish]] migration to Peterborough by [[Tim Samuels]], as part of its ''White Season''.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/white/poles.shtml The Poles are Coming!] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080323024639/http://www.bbc.co.uk/white/poles.shtml |date=23 March 2008 }} Is white working class Britain becoming invisible? A season of programmes on BBC Two (Retrieved 19 March 2008).</ref>

The number of languages in use is growing where previously few languages other than English were spoken. {{As of|2006}}, Peterborough offered classes in Italian, [[Urdu]] and [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]] in its primary schools.<ref>[http://www.cilt.org.uk/pdf/pubs/positively_plurilingual.pdf Positively Plurilingual: The contribution of community languages to UK education and society] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071128094815/http://www.cilt.org.uk/pdf/pubs/positively_plurilingual.pdf |date=28 November 2007 }} (p.6) CILT the National Centre for Languages, 2006.</ref>{{needs update|date=June 2025}}

=== Religion ===
[[File:Peterborough precinct.JPG|thumb|right|Norman gateway below the chapel of St. Nicholas (1177–1194), Minster Precincts]]
Christianity has the largest following in Peterborough, in particular the [[Church of England]], with a significant number of parish churches and a cathedral. 56.7% of Peterborough's residents classified themselves as Christian in the 2011 Census.<ref name=CensusRel>{{cite web |url=http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census/key-statistics-for-local-authorities-in-england-and-wales/rft-table-ks209ew.xls |title=Table KS209EW 2011 Census: Religion, local authorities in England and Wales |publisher=Office for National Statistics |date=11 December 2012 |access-date=1 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130126035854/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census/key-statistics-for-local-authorities-in-england-and-wales/rft-table-ks209ew.xls |archive-date=26 January 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> It was reported in 2007 that recent immigration to the city had also seen the Roman Catholic population increase substantially.<ref>Walton, Jemma [http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/features/how_immigration_has_led_to_the_rebirth_of_the_catholic_church_1_73672 "How immigration has led to the rebirth of the Catholic Church"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120622033751/http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/features/how_immigration_has_led_to_the_rebirth_of_the_catholic_church_1_73672 |date=22 June 2012 }}, ''Peterborough Evening Telegraph'', 27 February 2007.</ref> Other [[Christian denomination|denominations]] are also in evidence; the latest church to be constructed is a £7&nbsp;million "superchurch," [[Kingsgate Community Church|KingsGate]], formerly Peterborough Community Church, which can seat up to 1,800 worshippers.<ref>Sandall, Jonathan [http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/environment/peterborough_superchurch_to_open_1_66594 "Peterborough superchurch to open"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120622033910/http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/environment/peterborough_superchurch_to_open_1_66594 |date=22 June 2012 }}, ''Peterborough Evening Telegraph'', 21 September 2006.</ref> In comparison with the rest of England, Peterborough has a lower proportion of Christians, [[Buddhists]], [[Hindus]], [[Jews]] and [[Sikhs]]. The city has a higher percentage of [[Muslims]] than England as a whole (9.4% compared to 5% nationally).<ref name=CensusRel/> The majority of Muslims reside in the [[Millfield, Peterborough|Millfield]], [[West Town, Peterborough|West Town]] and [[New England, Peterborough|New England]] areas of the city, where two large mosques (including the Faidhan-e-Madina Mosque and Husaini Islamic Center-Peterborough) are based.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2675759.stm |title=Mosque due to open in Peterborough |date=2003 |access-date=19 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180120070925/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2675759.stm |archive-date=20 January 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> Peterborough also has both Hindu (Bharat Hindu Samaj)<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bharathindusamaj.co.uk/ |title=Bharat Hindu Samaj Temple |website=bharathindusamaj.co.uk |access-date=19 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180120071545/http://www.bharathindusamaj.co.uk/ |archive-date=20 January 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> and Sikh (Singh Sabha Gurdwara) temples in these areas.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://sgsspeterborough.org/ |title=Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara Peterborough |website=sgsspeterborough.org|access-date=19 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180120070310/http://sgsspeterborough.org/ |archive-date=20 January 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[Anglican Diocese of Peterborough]] covers roughly {{convert|1200|mi2|km2}}, including the whole of Northamptonshire, Rutland and the Soke of Peterborough. The parts of the city that lie south of the river, which were historically in [[Huntingdonshire]], fall within the [[Diocese of Ely]], which covers the remainder of Cambridgeshire and western Norfolk. The current [[Bishop of Peterborough]] has been appointed [[Assistant Bishop]] in the Diocese of Ely, with pastoral care for these [[parishes]] delegated to her by the [[Bishop of Ely]].<ref>[http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/latest-news/religion-bishops-bridge-boundaries-aboard-boat-1-150260 "Religion: Bishops bridge boundaries aboard boat"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304071909/http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/latest-news/religion-bishops-bridge-boundaries-aboard-boat-1-150260 |date=4 March 2016}}, ''Peterborough Evening Telegraph'', 2 August 2004.</ref><ref>[http://www.ely.anglican.org/news_events/media/press/details.html?id=26 Bridging the divide in a city] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070307175451/http://www.ely.anglican.org/news_events/media/press/details.html?id=26 |date=7 March 2007 }} Diocese of Ely, Ref. 0471, 29 July 2004.</ref> The city falls wholly within the Roman Catholic [[Diocese of East Anglia]] (which has its seat at the [[St John the Baptist Cathedral, Norwich|Cathedral Church]] of Saint [[John the Baptist]], Norwich) and is served by [[Saint Peter and All Souls Church]], built in 1896 and decorated in the Gothic style.<ref>Waszak, Peter "The Revival of the Roman Catholic Church in Peterborough c. 1793–1910" in ''Peterborough's Past'' vol.3 Peterborough Museum Society, 1988.</ref> The [[Greek Orthodox]] Community of [[Cyril of Jerusalem|Saint Cyril]], Patriarch of Jerusalem was established in 1991 under the [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] [[Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain]].<ref>[http://www.northamptongreekcommunity.co.uk/ Neighbouring Greek Communities] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110324172225/http://www.northamptongreekcommunity.co.uk/ |date=24 March 2011 }} Northampton Greek Community (Retrieved 31 October 2010).</ref>

== Culture ==
=== Education ===
{{See also|List of schools in Peterborough}}
[[File:Anglia Ruskin University Peterborough.jpg|thumb|University House, [[Anglia Ruskin University]] Peterborough.]]
Peterborough has one independent boarding school: [[The Peterborough School]] at Westwood House, founded in 1895. The school caters for girls and now boys up to the age of 18. Peterborough's state schools have recently undergone significant change. Five of the city's fifteen secondary schools were closed in July 2007, to be demolished over the coming years. [[John Mansfield School|John Mansfield]] (now an adult learning centre), Hereward (formerly Eastholm, now City of Peterborough Academy, sponsored by the Greenwood Dale Foundation Trust) and [[Deacon's School|Deacon's]] were replaced with the flagship [[Thomas Deacon Academy]], designed by [[Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank|Lord Foster of Thames Bank]] which opened in September 2007.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/6629655.stm |title=No playground for 'super school' |date=6 May 2007 |access-date=19 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180119235621/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cambridgeshire/6629655.stm |archive-date=19 January 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Queen Katharine Academy]] (previously The Voyager School), which has specialist media arts status, replaced Bretton Woods and Walton Community School. It is part of the Thomas Deacon Education Trust. The schools that remain have been extended and enlarged. Over £200&nbsp;million was spent and the changes on-going to 2010.<ref>[http://www.peterborough.gov.uk/page-5618 Secondary School Review] Peterborough City Council (Retrieved 15 April 2007). {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070416115959/http://www.peterborough.gov.uk/page-5618 |date=16 April 2007 }}</ref> [[The King's School, Peterborough|The King's School]] is one of seven schools established, or in some cases re-endowed and renamed, by King [[Henry VIII]] during the [[dissolution of the monasteries]] to pray for his soul.<ref>[[Orme, Nicholas]] The King's school has an "outstanding" status and is widely considered the best in Peterborough.[http://www.oxforddnb.com/public/themes/95/95744.html School founders and patrons in England, 597–1560] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070210091634/http://www.oxforddnb.com/public/themes/95/95744.html |date=10 February 2007 }} ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'' Oxford University Press, October 2006.</ref> In 2006, 39.4% of Peterborough [[local education authority]] pupils attained five grades A* to C, including English and Mathematics, in the [[General Certificate of Secondary Education]], lower than the national average of 45.8%.<ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/6250433.stm "How different LEAs performed"] , ''BBC News Online'', 19 January 2007.</ref>

The city has two colleges of [[further education|further]] and [[higher education]], [[Peterborough College]] (established in 1946 as Peterborough Technical College) and [[City College Peterborough]] (known as Peterborough College of Adult Education until 2010). By 2004, Peterborough College attracted over 15,000 students each year from the UK and abroad and was ranked in the top five per cent of colleges in the UK.<ref>Nasta, Tony [http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20150407120515/http://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/index.php?q%3Dfiledownloading/%26id%3D796593%26type%3D1%26refer%3D0 Statutory Inspection of Peterborough Regional College] under Section 3 of the School Inspections Act 1996 (1996 cap.57) [[Office for Standards in Education]] and Adult Learning Inspectorate, 17 October 2006.</ref> Greater Peterborough [[University Technical College]] is a new education facility set to open in September 2015.<ref>[http://gputc.com/about-us About us] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150618195818/http://gputc.com/about-us |date=18 June 2015 }} Greater Peterborough University Technical College (Retrieved 21 April 2015).</ref>

In 2020, planning permission was granted for a new university campus, ARU Peterborough, which subsequently opened its doors in September 2022 on Bishops Road, a five-minute walk from the City Centre.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.aru.ac.uk/student-life/life-on-campus/aru-peterborough-campus |title=ARU Peterborough campus |publisher=[[Anglia Ruskin University]] |access-date=30 December 2024}}</ref> It is operated by [[Anglia Ruskin University]] with four faculties: Business, Innovation and Entrepreneurship; Creative and Digital Arts and Sciences; Agriculture, Environment and Sustainability; Health and Education. The new campus took its first cohort of students in 2022, expecting to recruit up to 12,500 by 2028. ARU Peterborough is not expected to receive independent degree awarding powers before 2030, when a review is to take place to determine its future as part of Anglia Ruskin University or whether it should become an independent entity.{{cn|date=December 2024}} <!-- Until it becomes independent, we can't say that it is a "new University". Legally, it is still part of ARU. -->

The former public library on Broadway was funded by Scottish philanthropist [[Andrew Carnegie]] and opened in 1906;<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/gray_matter/8828163.When_libraries_were_given__not_taken_away/ |title=When libraries were given, not taken away |first=Christopher |last=Gray |work=The Oxford Times |date=2 February 2011 |access-date=22 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150530182429/http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/gray_matter/8828163.When_libraries_were_given__not_taken_away/ |archive-date=30 May 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> Carnegie was made first freeman of the city on the day of the opening ceremony.<ref>{{cite book |author=Hucklesby, John |title=People of Peterborough: Famous, infamous and interesting people from the history of Peterborough |publisher=Peterborough Museum Publications |location=Peterborough |year=2009 |pages=114–16}}</ref>

=== Arts ===
[[File:RAH frieze, Peterborough Cathedral.jpg|thumb|right|250px|A section of the ''Triumph of Arts and Sciences'' at the [[Royal Albert Hall]] (1867–1871), depicting Peterborough Cathedral]]
Peterborough enjoys a wide range of events including the annual [[East of England Show]], [[Peterborough Festival]] and [[Campaign for Real Ale|CAMRA]] beer festival, which takes place on the river embankment in late August.<ref>[http://www.enjoyengland.com/destinations/find/east-of-england/cambridgeshire/peterborough.aspx Destination Guide for Peterborough] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070418104402/http://www.enjoyengland.com/destinations/find/east-of-england/cambridgeshire/peterborough.aspx |date=18 April 2007 }} [[English Tourist Board]] (Retrieved 20 April 2007).</ref> The yearly festivals have attracted arts funding and enabled further community projects within the city.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Barns |first=Brad |date=31 January 2020 |title=Peterborough artists open pop-up studio in Queensgate |work=Peterborough Telegraph |url=https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/whats-on/things-to-do/peterborough-artists-open-pop-studio-queensgate-1380507 |access-date=18 October 2020 |archive-date=19 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019210228/https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/whats-on/things-to-do/peterborough-artists-open-pop-studio-queensgate-1380507 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=13 August 2016 |title=FUTURE FLOODLANDS, PETERBOROUGH GREEN FESTIVAL |url=http://archive.idea1.org.uk/event/future-floodlands-peterborough-green-festival/ |url-status=live |access-date=18 October 2021 |website=Idea1 |archive-date=19 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019064256/http://archive.idea1.org.uk/event/future-floodlands-peterborough-green-festival/}}</ref> Nationally published cartoonist John Elson,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Newsdesk |first=Bury |date=2 October 2021 |title=Cartoonist John Elson's take on the fuel crisis |work=Suffolk News |url=https://www.suffolknews.co.uk/bury-st-edmunds/news/humour-behind-the-headlines-9218512/ |access-date=5 March 2022}}</ref> from Peterborough, has provided imagery for many of the events.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=1 October 2017 |title=Beer Around 'Ere, 197 |url=https://peterborough.camra.org.uk/dl.php?id=134105 |access-date=5 March 2022 |website=Peterborough CAMRA}}</ref>

The city acts as the central hub for the region's visual arts community, with the Peterborough Artists Open Studio organisation (PAOS), celebrating its 21st anniversary year as of 2021.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Barns |first=Brad |date=20 June 2021 |title=Peterborough Artists' Open Studios (PAOS) comes of age in 2021 as it celebrates its 21st anniversary year. |work=Peterborough Telegraph |url=https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/arts-and-culture/art/peterborough-artists-open-studios-where-and-when-to-visit-3278381 |access-date=18 October 2021 |archive-date=19 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019163729/https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/arts-and-culture/art/peterborough-artists-open-studios-where-and-when-to-visit-3278381 |url-status=live}}</ref> A number of statues by the British sculptor [[Antony Gormley]] were re-installed in the city in 2018. Removed for repair works from their original setting on concrete pillars next to the rowing lake in Nene Park, they can now be seen on top of buildings surrounding Cathedral Square in the town centre.<ref>{{Cite web |last=the moment MAGAZINE |date=23 May 2018 |title=Antony Gormley: looking up… |url=https://www.themomentmagazine.com/history/looking-up/ |url-status=live |access-date=18 October 2021 |website=themomentmagazine.com |archive-date=20 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020212256/https://www.themomentmagazine.com/history/looking-up/}}</ref>

The Key Theatre, built in 1973, is situated on the embankment, next to the [[River Nene]]. The theatre aims to provide entertainment, enlightenment and education by reflecting the rich culture Peterborough has to offer. The programme is made up of home-grown productions, national touring shows, local community productions and one-off concerts. There is disabled access, an infrared hearing system for the deaf and hard of hearing and there are also regular signed performances.<ref>''The Key Times'' is the theatre's newspaper, available free of charge from the last Saturday of each month.</ref>

In 1937, the [[Odeon Cinemas|Odeon Cinema]] opened on Broadway, where it operated successfully for more than half a century. In 1991, the Odeon showed its last film to the public and was left to fall into a state of disrepair, until 1997, when a local entrepreneur purchased the building as part of a larger project, including a restaurant and art gallery. The Broadway, designed by Tim Foster Architects, was one of the largest theatres in the region and offered a selection of live entertainment, including music, comedy and films.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071014032051/http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/FIRST-GLIMPSE-OF-MECCA-TO.420793.jp "First Glimpse of Mecca to Movies"], ''[[Peterborough Evening Telegraph]]'', 18 April 2001.</ref> In 2009, it was severely damaged by arsonists, resulting in closure when its insurers refused to pay the claim due to faulty fire detection systems.<ref>Baker, Marie [http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/Broadway-devastated-by-major-arson.4912542.jp "Broadway devastated by major fire blaze"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090504055416/http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/Broadway-devastated-by-major-arson.4912542.jp |date=4 May 2009 }}, ''Peterborough Evening Telegraph'', 26 January 2009.</ref>

The [[Embassy Theatre, Peterborough|Embassy Theatre]], a large [[Art Deco]] building designed by [[David Evelyn Nye]], also opened on Broadway in 1937. Nye was usually a cinema architect, and this was his only theatre. The Embassy was converted into a cinema in 1953, becoming the [[Associated British Cinemas|ABC]] and later the [[Cannon Films|Cannon Cinema]], before it was closed in 1989. Since 1996, the premises have been occupied by the [[Mitchells & Butlers|Edwards bar chain]].<ref>[http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/Peterborough/50.htm 50th Anniversary 1937–1987 Souvenir Brochure] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907090733/http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/Peterborough/50.htm |date=7 September 2008 }} Cannon Cinema, Peterborough, 1987.</ref><ref name=embassy>{{cite web |title=Embassy (Peterborough) |url=http://www.theatrestrust.org.uk/resources/theatres/show/482-embassy-peterborough |publisher=The Theatres Trust |access-date=23 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429082418/http://www.theatrestrust.org.uk/resources/theatres/show/482-embassy-peterborough |archive-date=29 April 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The John Clare Theatre within the new central library,<ref>Managed on behalf of the council by [http://www.vivacity-peterborough.com/libraries-and-archives/ Vivacity] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120202170637/http://www.vivacity-peterborough.com/libraries-and-archives/ |date=2 February 2012 }}, an independent, not-for-profit organisation with charitable status; there are also nine branch libraries and a mobile library.</ref> again on Broadway, is home to the Peterborough Film Society. One of the region's leading venues, the Cresset in [[Bretton, Peterborough|Bretton]], provides a wide range of events for the residents of the city and beyond, including theatre, comedy, music and dance. Peterborough has a 13-screen [[Showcase Cinemas|Showcase Cinema]], an [[ice rink]] and two indoor swimming pools open to the general public.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

A diverse range of restaurants can be found throughout the city, including [[Han Chinese|Chinese]], [[Indian cuisine|Indian]], [[Thai cuisine|Thai]] and many [[Italian cuisine|Italian]] restaurants. Peterborough has recently{{when|date=October 2023}} been used as the setting in popular literature: ''[[A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian]]'' by [[Marina Lewycka]],<ref>[http://www.orangeprize.co.uk/opf/books.php4?bookid=180 Orange Broadband prize for Fiction] 2005 shortlist title ''A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian'' by Marina Lewycka (336 pp. Viking, London, 2005) Orange Home UK (Retrieved 26 January 2008). {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071206201325/http://www.orangeprize.co.uk/opf/books.php4?bookid=180 |date=6 December 2007 }}</ref> ''[[A Spot of Bother]]'' by [[Mark Haddon]]<ref>Ness, Patrick [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/aug/26/fiction.markhaddon "Pleasant incidents"]  (review of ''A Spot of Bother'' by Mark Haddon, 390 pp. Jonathan Cape, London, 2006), ''The Guardian'', London and Manchester, 26 August 2006.</ref> and, the first in a projected series, ''Long Way Home'', a debut novel by Eva Doran.<ref>Wilson, Laura [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jan/23/crime-fiction-roundup-reviews Crime fiction roundup – reviews] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160605153911/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jan/23/crime-fiction-roundup-reviews |date=5 June 2016 }} ''The Guardian'', 23 January 2014.</ref>

=== Sport ===
[[File:Peterborough United's South Family Stand beginning to fill up - geograph.org.uk - 154824.jpg|thumb|[[London Road Stadium]]]]
[[Peterborough United Football Club]], known as "The Posh", has been the local football team since 1934. They play their home matches at [[London Road stadium|London Road]] on the south bank of the River Nene. Peterborough United have a history of cup giant-killings.<ref>Plummer, Russell ''Peterborough United on the FA Cup Trail'', [http://www.theposh.premiumtv.co.uk/page/History/0,,10427~149280,00.html Part 1: "Sixty Years of Highlights in the Greatest Knockout Event"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080723171635/http://www.theposh.premiumtv.co.uk/page/History/0,,10427~149280,00.html |date=23 July 2008 }} and [http://www.theposh.premiumtv.co.uk/page/History/0,,10427~149310,00.html Part 2: "Sunderland Disaster to Glory in Defeat at Old Trafford"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080723171803/http://www.theposh.premiumtv.co.uk/page/History/0%2C%2C10427~149310%2C00.html |date=23 July 2008 }}, Peterborough United Football Club, 3 & 4 January 2002.</ref> They set the record for the highest number of league goals (134, [[Terry Bly]] alone scoring 52) in the [[1960–61 in English football|1960–61 season]], when they won the [[Football League Fourth Division|Fourth Division]] title in their first season in the [[English Football League|Football League]]. The club's highest finish position to date was 10th place in [[Football League First Division|Division One]], then the second tier of English football, in the [[1992–93 in English football|1992–93 season]].<ref>[http://www.theposh.premiumtv.co.uk/page/History/0,,10427~397399,00.html Posh Stats and Records] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080808121259/http://www.theposh.premiumtv.co.uk/page/History/0%2C%2C10427~397399%2C00.html |date=8 August 2008 }} Peterborough United Football Club, 9 May 2007.</ref> Irish property developer [[Darragh MacAnthony]] was appointed chairman in 2006 and is now owner, having undertaken a lengthy purchase from [[Barry Fry]] who remains director of football, having also been manager of the club from 1996 to 2005. Peterborough also has a non-league club, [[Peterborough Sports F.C.|Peterborough Sports]], who play in the [[National League North]].

As well as [[association football|football]], Peterborough has teams competing in [[rugby union|rugby]], [[cricket]], [[field hockey|hockey]], [[ice hockey]], [[Rowing (sport)|rowing]], athletics, [[American football|American]] and [[Australian rules football]]. Although [[Cambridgeshire County Cricket Club|Cambridgeshire]] is not a first-class cricket county, [[Northamptonshire County Cricket Club|Northamptonshire]] staged some home matches in the city between 1906 and 1974. [[Town Ground, Peterborough|Peterborough Town Cricket Club]] and the City of Peterborough Hockey Club compete at their shared ground in Westwood.<ref>Peterborough Town changed its name for the 2006/7 season following a merger with Peterborough Athletic Hockey Club, see [http://www.cityofpeterboroughhockeyclub.co.uk/ City of Peterborough Hockey Club] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430011838/http://www.cityofpeterboroughhockeyclub.co.uk/ |date=30 April 2011 }} for more details.</ref>

After reforming in 2005,<ref>[http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/peterboroughlionsrfc/a/club-history-8506.html Club History] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150106072646/http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/peterboroughlionsrfc/a/club-history-8506.html |date=6 January 2015 }} Peterborough Lions Rugby Football Club (Retrieved 7 May 2015).</ref> rugby union club [[Peterborough Lions RFC]] now compete in [[National League 3 Midlands]].<ref>[http://www.englandrugby.com/fixtures-and-results/competitions/midlands-division/ Midlands Division] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150310035331/http://www.englandrugby.com/fixtures-and-results/competitions/midlands-division/ |date=10 March 2015 }} Fixtures and Results, Rugby Football Union (Retrieved 7 May 2015).</ref> Meanwhile, the city's oldest rugby team, [[Peterborough RUFC]], play at Second Drove (otherwise known as "Fortress Fengate"),<ref>Bath, David [http://www.prufc.com/rugger.pdf A History of Rugby Union in the Peterborough Area with special reference to the history of Peterborough Rugby Union Football Club] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070616131749/http://www.prufc.com/rugger.pdf |date=16 June 2007 }} An extended version of a paper delivered to the Peterborough Burgh Society, October 2002.</ref> and have struggled in recent seasons. Relegation in 2013–14 season, from [[Midlands 1 East]],<ref>[http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/peterborough/s/table-44973.html?table=division-7358 Midlands 1 East] League Table, Peterborough Rugby Union Football Club (Retrieved 7 May 2015).</ref> has been followed by a season in the lower-mid table of the [[Midlands 2 East (South)]].<ref>[http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/peterborough/s/table-44973.html?table=division-9948 Midlands 2 East (South)] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402101836/http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/peterborough/s/table-44973.html?table=division-9948 |date=2 April 2015 }} League Table, Peterborough Rugby Union Football Club (Retrieved 7 May 2015).</ref>

Peterborough City Rowing Club moved from its riverside setting to the current Thorpe Meadows location in 1983. The spring and summer regattas held there attract rowers and scullers from competing clubs all over the country. Every February the adjacent River Nene is host to the head of the river race, which again attracts hundreds of entries.<ref>[http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/sport/rowing-hunt-and-gilbert-strike-gold-for-city-1-61279 "Rowing: Hunt and Gilbert strike gold for City"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120622033936/http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/sport/rowing-hunt-and-gilbert-strike-gold-for-city-1-61279 |date=22 June 2012 }}, ''Peterborough Evening Telegraph'', 7 February 2006.</ref> Peterborough Athletic Club train and compete at the embankment athletics arena. In 2006, after 10 years, the [[Great Eastern Run]] returned to the racing calendar. Around 3,000 runners raced through the flat streets of Peterborough for the half-marathon, supported by thousands of spectators along the course.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070813151804/http://www.peterborough.gov.uk/page-10916 The Story Behind The Return of The Great Eastern Run] Peterborough City Council (Retrieved 30 September 2007).</ref>

[[Peterborough Phantoms]] are the city's ice hockey team, playing in the [[National Ice Hockey League|NIHL]] at Planet Ice Peterborough, located on Mallard Way in Bretton. [[Motorcycle speedway]] is also a popular sport in Peterborough, with race meetings held at the [[East of England Showground]]. The team, known as the [[Peterborough Panthers]], have operated regularly in the [[Elite League (speedway)|Elite League]].<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20080423204442/http://www.peterboroughspeedway.net/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=15 Club Honours]}} Peterborough Speedway Showcase (Retrieved 19 March 2008).</ref> The Showground hosts the annual British Motorcycle Federation Rally each May. In 2009, Peterborough hosted one of the first rounds of the [[Tour Series]], a new series of televised town and city centre cycling races. {{As of|2015}}, the city has hosted a round of the Tour Series each year since, with the exception of 2013.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/racing/british-racing/2014-pearl-izumi-tour-series-schedule-114887 |title=Is this the 2014 Pearl Izumi Tour Series schedule? |first=Nick |last=Bull |work=Cycling Weekly |date=14 February 2015 |access-date=15 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150716074209/http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/racing/british-racing/2014-pearl-izumi-tour-series-schedule-114887 |archive-date=16 July 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/article/20150226-road-Details-of-venues-and-teams-for-the-2015-Pearl-Izumi-Tour-Series-announced-0 |title=2015 Tour Series dates announced |publisher=British Cycling |date=26 February 2015 |access-date=15 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150716061959/https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/article/20150226-road-Details-of-venues-and-teams-for-the-2015-Pearl-Izumi-Tour-Series-announced-0 |archive-date=16 July 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In March 2017 the first [[bandy]] session in England for over a century was held in Peterborough, in the form of [[rink bandy]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.icehockeyreview.co.uk/2017/03/bandy-try-it-session-at-planet-ice.html |title=Bandy "Try It" Session at Planet Ice Peterborough, Sunday 19th March |date=11 March 2017 |publisher=Ice Hockey Review |access-date=28 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116130525/http://www.icehockeyreview.co.uk/2017/03/bandy-try-it-session-at-planet-ice.html |archive-date=16 November 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>
In 2018 Peterborough Bandy Club was founded.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://emmacatherinesport.wordpress.com/2018/06/28/bandy-a-guide-to-peterboroughs-newest-and-coolest-sport/ |title=Bandy: A guide to Peterborough's newest and coolest sport… |date=28 June 2018 |access-date=29 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180629211248/https://emmacatherinesport.wordpress.com/2018/06/28/bandy-a-guide-to-peterboroughs-newest-and-coolest-sport/ |archive-date=29 June 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> At the [[2022 Women's Bandy World Championship]] Great Britain made its debut in the tournament, represented by a Peterborough team.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0bxxpyx Britain in the Bandy World Championships]</ref>

=== Media ===
There is a major radio [[Peterborough Transmitter|transmitter]] at [[Morborne]], approximately {{convert|8|mi|km|spell=in}} west of Peterborough, for national [[FM radio]] ([[BBC Radio]]s 1–4 and [[Classic FM (UK)|Classic FM]]) and [[BBC Radio Cambridgeshire]] which is the [[BBC Local Radio]] station that covers the city. This facility includes a {{convert|154|m|ft|abbr=off|adj=on}} high guyed radio mast which collapsed in 2004 after a fire and has since been re-built.<ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cambridgeshire/3970807.stm "Mast fire 'could be deliberate'"] , ''BBC News Online'', 1 November 2004.</ref><ref>[http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/environment/fire_mast_blaze_brings_radio_blackout_1_152228 "Fire: Mast blaze brings radio blackout"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120622033731/http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/environment/fire_mast_blaze_brings_radio_blackout_1_152228 |date=22 June 2012 }}, ''Peterborough Evening Telegraph'', 1 November 2004.</ref> Another transmission site at [[Gunthorpe, Peterborough|Gunthorpe]] in the north east of the city transmits [[AM radio|AM]]/[[Mediumwave|MW]] and local FM radio. The site is only {{convert|3|m|ft|abbr=off}} [[Above mean sea level|above sea level]] and has an {{convert|83|m|ft|abbr=off|adj=on}} high active insulated guyed mast situated on it. 

The national commercial multiplex, [[Digital One]], is also available in the city.<ref>[http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/rau/newsroom/news-release/01/pr161.htm Radio Authority awards local digital multiplex licence for Peterborough] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014005055/http://ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/rau/newsroom/news-release/01/pr161.htm |date=14 October 2007 }} [[Radio Authority]], News Release 161/01, 9 November 2001.</ref> 

Peterborough is covered by six local radio stations and one regional station, though only two community stations broadcast from the city. These are Salaam FM, catering for the local Muslim population, which started broadcasting on 106.2&nbsp;MHz in 2016<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/salaam-radio-goes-on-air-1-7469044 |title=Salaam radio goes on air |website=peterboroughtoday.co.uk|access-date=18 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107025122/http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/salaam-radio-goes-on-air-1-7469044 |archive-date=7 November 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> and Peterborough Community Radio (PCR FM), a station formed as a result of a merger between former internet stations Peterborough FM and Radio Peterborough, which started broadcasting on 103.2&nbsp;MHz in 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/whats-on/new-peterborough-radio-station-to-hit-the-airwaves-on-good-friday-1-7909600 |title=New Peterborough radio station to hit the airwaves on Good Friday |website=peterboroughtoday.co.uk|access-date=18 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170415104820/http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/whats-on/new-peterborough-radio-station-to-hit-the-airwaves-on-good-friday-1-7909600 |archive-date=15 April 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Heart Cambridgeshire]] (now [[Heart East]]), the original [[independent local radio]] station launched as Hereward Radio in 1980 and becoming [[Heart Peterborough]] in 2009,<ref>Lawrence, Kev [http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/opinion/columnists/kev-lawrence-goodbye-hereward-radio-1-122609 "Goodbye Hereward Radio"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151121195038/http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/opinion/columnists/kev-lawrence-goodbye-hereward-radio-1-122609 |date=21 November 2015 }}, ''Peterborough Evening Telegraph'', 6 January 2009.</ref> still holds a large section of the market on 102.7&nbsp;MHz but relocated to Cambridge in 2012,<ref>Uren, Adam [http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/what-s-on/latest-leisure-lifestyle/heart-fm-to-leave-city-and-go-to-cambridge-1-3061338 "Heart FM to leave city and go to Cambridge"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151121200803/http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/what-s-on/latest-leisure-lifestyle/heart-fm-to-leave-city-and-go-to-cambridge-1-3061338 |date=21 November 2015 }}, ''Peterborough Evening Telegraph'', 16 September 2011.</ref> where it began sharing the localised programming (of mainly national output) with [[Heart Cambridge]].<ref>Clarkson, Stuart [http://radiotoday.co.uk/2011/09/heart-cambridgeshire-to-leave-peterborough/ "Heart Cambridgeshire to leave Peterborough"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908154239/http://radiotoday.co.uk/2011/09/heart-cambridgeshire-to-leave-peterborough/ |date=8 September 2015 }}, RadioToday, 19 September 2011.</ref> Hereward's sister station, [[The Worlds Greatest Music Station|WGMS]], was launched on the old 1332&nbsp;kHz (225 meters) frequency in 1992; known as [[Classic Gold 1332|Classic Gold]] from 1994 to 2007, it is now part of [[The Heart Network|Heart's]] sister [[Gold (British radio network)|Gold Radio]] network, but has no programming made in Peterborough. [[Connect Radio 106.8|Connect Radio]] (from 1999 to 2010, known as Lite FM), was the city's second commercial station on 106.8;MHz, but was sold and rebranded as [[Smooth East Midlands]] on 1 October 2019.

Local TV coverage is provided by ''[[BBC Look East]]'' and ''[[ITV News Anglia]]''. 

The ''[[Peterborough Evening Telegraph|Peterborough Telegraph]]'' (established 1948) is the city's newspaper. The ''Telegraph'' is  owned by [[National World|National World Publishing Ltd]]. Its website, Peterborough Today, is updated six days a week. The ''PT's'' sister paper, the ''Peterborough Citizen'' (1898), was a weekly paper delivered free to many homes in the city. The ''[[Peterborough Herald and Post]]'' (1989, a replacement for the ''Peterborough Standard'', established 1872) ceased publication in 2008.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070817043330/http://www.trinitymirror.com/brands/regionals/midlands/mwm/ Midland Weekly Media] Trinity Mirror (Retrieved 18 September 2007).</ref> The publisher [[Emap]], which specialises in the production of magazines and the organisation of business events and conferences, traces its origins back to Peterborough in 1854.<ref>Newton, David ''Men of Mark: Makers of East Midland Allied Press'' Emap, Peterborough, 1977.</ref> The 33rd Mayor of Peterborough, Sir [[Richard Winfrey]] <small>[[Justice of the peace|JP]]</small>, founder of what would become the East Midland Allied Press, was perhaps the last person to read the [[Riot Act]] in 1914.<ref>Walton, Jemma [http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/features/part_2_fen_men_to_the_marrow_who_have_served_us_down_through_the_years_1_79675 "Part 2: 'Fen men to the marrow' who have served us down through the years"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120622034025/http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/features/part_2_fen_men_to_the_marrow_who_have_served_us_down_through_the_years_1_79675 |date=22 June 2012 }}, ''Peterborough Evening Telegraph'', 14 June 2007.</ref>

Peterborough has been used as a location for various television programmes and films. The 1982 BBC production of ''[[The Barchester Chronicles]]'' was filmed largely in and around Peterborough. In 1983 opening scenes for the 13th [[James Bond]] film, ''[[Octopussy]]'', starring Sir [[Roger Moore]], were filmed at Orton Mere. A music video for the song "[[Breakthru (song)|BreakThru]]" by the band [[Queen (band)|Queen]] was also shot on the preserved [[Nene Valley Railway]] in 1989. In 1995 [[Pierce Brosnan]] filmed train crash sequences for the 17th Bond film, ''[[GoldenEye]]'', at the former sugar beet factory. A scene for the film ''[[The Da Vinci Code (film)|The Da Vinci Code]]'' was filmed at Burghley House during five weeks' secret filming in 2006; and actor, [[Lee Marvin]], found himself camping in Ferry Meadows during the filming of ''[[The Dirty Dozen: Next Mission]]'' in 1985.<ref>[http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/features/peterborough-on-the-big-screen-1-101029 "Peterborough on the big screen"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120902132538/http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/features/peterborough-on-the-big-screen-1-101029 |date=2 September 2012 }}, ''Peterborough Evening Telegraph'', 13 June 2008.</ref> In October 2008 Hollywood returned to Wansford for the filming of the musical ''[[Nine (2009 live-action film)|Nine]]'', starring [[Penélope Cruz]] and [[Daniel Day-Lewis]].<ref>[http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/environment/in-pictures-hollywood-stars-steam-into-peterborough-1-118781 "Nene Valley Railway used for filming of Nine"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120902132559/http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/environment/in-pictures-hollywood-stars-steam-into-peterborough-1-118781 |date=2 September 2012 }}, ''Peterborough Evening Telegraph'', 7 November 2008.</ref>

== Landmarks ==
[[File:Longthorpe Tower1.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Longthorpe Tower]] (1310), a Grade I listed building]]
[[Peterborough Cathedral]], formally the Cathedral Church of [[Saint Peter]], [[Paul of Tarsus|Saint Paul]] and [[Saint Andrew]], whose statues look down from the three high gables of the West Front, was founded as a [[monastery]] in AD&nbsp;655 and re-built in its present form between 1118 and 1238. It has been the seat of the Bishop of Peterborough since the [[diocese]] was created in 1541, when the last abbot was made the first bishop and the abbot's house was converted into the episcopal palace.<ref name=lewis/> Peterborough Cathedral is one of the most intact large [[Romanesque architecture|Norman]] buildings in England and is renowned for its imposing early [[English Gothic architecture|English Gothic]] West Front which, with its three enormous arches, is without [[Cathedral architecture of Western Europe|architectural precedent]] and with no direct successor. The cathedral has the distinction of having had two queens buried beneath its paving: [[Catherine of Aragon]] and [[Mary, Queen of Scots]]. The remains of Queen Mary were removed to [[Westminster Abbey]] by her son [[James VI and I|James I]] when he became King of England.<ref name=Sweeting>Sweeting, Walter Debenham ''The Cathedral Church of Peterborough: A Description of its Fabric and a Brief History of the Episcopal See'' (pp.3–35) G. Bell & Sons, London, 1898 ([https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13618 facsimile of the 1926 reprint of the 2nd ed. of Bell's Cathedrals] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070610203511/http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/13618 |date=10 June 2007 }} from [[Project Gutenberg]]. Retrieved 23 April 2007).</ref>

The general layout of Peterborough is attributed to Martin de Vecti who, as abbot from 1133 to 1155, rebuilt the settlement on dry limestone to the west of the monastery, rather than the often-flooded marshlands to the east. Abbot Martin was responsible for laying out the market place and the wharf beside the river. Peterborough's 17th-century [[Peterborough Guildhall|Guildhall]] was built in 1671 by John Lovin, who also restored the bishop's palace shortly after the [[Stuart Restoration|restoration]] of King [[Charles II of England|Charles II]]. It stands on columns, providing an open ground floor for the butter and poultry markets which used to be held there. The Market Place was renamed Cathedral Square and the adjacent Gates Memorial Fountain moved to Bishop's Road Gardens in 1963, when the (then weekly) market was transferred to the site of the old cattle market.<ref>Skinner, Julia (with particular reference to the work of Robert Cook) ''Did You Know? Peterborough: A Miscellany'' (pp.33, 25 & 16) The Francis Frith Collection, Salisbury, 2006.</ref>

[[Peterscourt]] on City Road was designed by Sir [[George Gilbert Scott]] in 1864, housing St. Peter's Teacher Training College for men until 1938. The building is mainly listed for the 18th century doorway, brought from the [[Guildhall, London|London Guildhall]] following war damage.<ref>[http://www.heritageexplorer.org.uk/web/he/searchdetail.aspx?id=7659&crit=semi Heritage Explorer: Images for Learning]{{Dead link|date=May 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} National Monuments Record, English Heritage (Retrieved 4 July 2010).</ref> Nearby [[Peterborough Castle|Tout Hill]], the site of a castle bailey, is a [[scheduled monument]].<ref name=Touthill /> The city has a large [[Victorian era|Victorian]] park containing formal gardens, children's play areas, an aviary, bowling green, tennis courts, pitch and putt course and tea rooms. [[Central Park, Peterborough|The Park]] has been awarded the [[Green Flag Award]], the national standard for parks and green spaces, by the [[Civic Voice|Civic Trust]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20051221040643/http://www.greenflagaward.org.uk/downloads/GreenFlagAwardWinnersBrochure.pdf Green Flag Award Winners] (p.13) The Civic Trust, 21 July 2006. [http://www.peterborough.net/civicsociety/index.asp Peterborough Civic Society] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070908010721/http://www.peterborough.net/civicsociety/index.asp |date=8 September 2007 }} is registered with the Civic Trust.</ref> A [[Cross of Sacrifice]] was erected in Broadway cemetery by the [[Commonwealth War Graves Commission|Imperial War Graves Commission]] in the early 1920s.<ref>[http://www.peterborough.gov.uk/pdf/CD043_Buildings_of_Local_Importance_in_Peterborough_March_2013_web.pdf Buildings of Local Importance in Peterborough] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141031214710/http://www.peterborough.gov.uk/pdf/CD043_Buildings_of_Local_Importance_in_Peterborough_March_2013_web.pdf |date=31 October 2014 }} (p. 88) Peterborough City Council, March 2013.</ref> [[Peterborough Lido|The Lido]], a striking building with elements of [[art deco]] design, was opened in 1936 and is one of the few survivors of its type still in use.<ref>Brandon and Knight (pp.111–112).</ref>

[[Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery]], built in 1816, housed the city's first infirmary from 1857 to 1928. The museum has a collection of some 227,000 objects, including local archaeology and social history, from the products of the Roman pottery industry to Britain's oldest known murder victim; a collection of marine fossil remains from the [[Jurassic]] period of international importance; the manuscripts of [[John Clare]], the "Northamptonshire Peasant Poet" as he was commonly known in his own time;<ref>Grainger, Margaret ''A Descriptive Catalogue of the John Clare Collection'' Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery, 1973.</ref> and the Norman Cross collection of items made by French prisoners of war. These prisoners were kept at [[Norman Cross Prison|Norman Cross]] on the outskirts of Peterborough from 1797 to 1814, in what is believed to be the world's first purpose-built prisoner of war camp. The art collection contains an impressive variety of paintings, prints and drawings dating from the 1600s to the present day. Peterborough Museum also holds regular temporary exhibitions, weekend events and guided tours.

[[Burghley House]] to the north of Peterborough, near Stamford, was built and mostly designed by [[William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley|Sir William Cecil]], later 1st Baron Burghley, who was [[Lord High Treasurer]] to Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign.<ref>Leatham, Victoria ''Burghley: The Life of a Great House'' The Herbert Press, London, 1992. See also Becker, Alida [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CEEDC1639F934A15751C1A964958260 "This Old House"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014214059/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CEEDC1639F934A15751C1A964958260 |date=14 October 2007 }} (review of ''Life at Burghley: Restoring One of England's Great Houses'' by the same author), ''The New York Times'', 27 December 1992.</ref> The [[English country houses|country house]], with a park laid out by [[Lancelot 'Capability' Brown]] in the 18th century, is one of the principal examples of 16th-century English architecture.<ref>[[Roger Turner (garden designer)|Turner, Roger]] ''Capability Brown and the Eighteenth Century English Landscape'' (pp.110–112) Phillimore & Co., Chichester, 1999.</ref> The estate, still home to his descendants, hosts the [[Burghley Horse Trials]], an annual three-day [[eventing|event]]. Another Grade I [[listed building]], [[Milton Hall]] near Castor, ancestral home of the Barons and later [[Earl Fitzwilliam|Earls Fitzwilliam]], also dates from the same period. For two centuries following the restoration the city was a [[pocket borough]] of this family.<ref>[http://www.peterborough.gov.uk/page-5807 Wentworth-Fitzwilliam family of Milton] Peterborough City Council (Retrieved 22 September 2007). {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070916115959/http://www.peterborough.gov.uk/page-5807 |date=16 September 2007 }}</ref>

The [[John Clare Cottage]] in the village of Helpston was purchased by the John Clare Trust in 2005. The cottage, home of John Clare from his birth in 1793 until 1832, has been restored using traditional building methods to create a resource where visitors can learn about the poet, his works and how rural people lived in the early 19th century.<ref>[http://www.clarecottage.org Welcome to John Clare Cottage] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190521224643/http://www.clarecottage.org/ |date=21 May 2019 }} John Clare Trust (Retrieved 21 April 2015).</ref> The John Clare Cottage and Thorney Heritage Museum form part of the Greater Fens Museum Partnership, along with Peterborough Museum and Flag Fen.

[[Longthorpe Tower]], a 14th-century three-storey tower and fortified manor house in the care of [[English Heritage]], is situated about {{cvt|2|mi|km|1}} west of the city centre. It is a scheduled monument, and contains the finest and most complete set of domestic paintings of their period in northern Europe.<ref>Salter, Mike ''The Castles of East Anglia'' (p.21) Folly Publications, Malvern, 2001.</ref> Nearby [[Thorpe Hall (Peterborough)|Thorpe Hall]] is one of the few mansions built in the [[Commonwealth of England|Commonwealth]] period. A maternity hospital from 1943 to 1970, it was acquired by the [[Sue Ryder Foundation]] in 1986 and is currently in use as a hospice.<ref>Brandon and Knight (p.17).</ref>

[[Flag Fen]], the Bronze Age archaeological site, was discovered in 1982, when a team led by Dr [[Francis Pryor]] carried out a [[Archaeological field survey|survey]] of [[Dike (construction)|dykes]] in the area. Probably religious, it comprises a large number of poles arranged in five long rows, connecting [[Whittlesey]] with Peterborough across the wet fenland. The museum exhibits many of the artefacts found, including what is believed to be the oldest wheel in Britain. An exposed section of the Roman road known as the [[Fen Causeway]] also crosses the site.<ref>[[Francis Pryor|Pryor, Francis]] ''Flag Fen: Life and Death of a Prehistoric Landscape'' Tempus Publishing, Stroud, 2005.</ref>

The [[Nene Valley Railway]], which is now a {{convert|7.5|mi|km|adj=on}} [[heritage railway]], was one of the last passenger lines to fall under the [[Beeching Axe]] in 1966, although it remained open for freight traffic until 1972. In 1974, the former [[development corporation]] bought the line, which runs from the city centre to [[Yarwell Junction]] just west of [[Wansford, Cambridgeshire|Wansford]] via [[Orton Mere]] and the {{convert|500|acre|ha|abbr=off}} [[Ferry Meadows]] country park, and leased it to the Peterborough Railway Society.<ref>Rhodes, John ''The Nene Valley Railway'', Turntable Publications, Sheffield, 1976.</ref> [[Railworld]] is a railway museum located beside [[Peterborough Nene Valley railway station]].

The [[Nene Park, Peterborough|Nene Park]], which opened in 1978, covers a site {{cvt|3.5|mi|km|1}} long, from slightly west of Castor to the centre of Peterborough. The park has three lakes, one of which houses a watersports centre. Ferry Meadows, one of the major destinations and attractions signposted on the [[Green Wheel]], occupies a large portion of Nene Park. Orton Mere provides access to the east of the park.<ref>[http://changingplaces.urbed.com/cgi-bin/main.cgi?org_code=87uytrsqp0gtgtgtgy&option=article&doc_id=238 Changing Places: Case Studies of the Urban Renaissance] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928060127/http://changingplaces.urbed.com/cgi-bin/main.cgi?org_code=87uytrsqp0gtgtgtgy&option=article&doc_id=238 |date=28 September 2007 }} The Urban and Economic Development Group (Retrieved 2 May 2007).</ref>

Southey Wood, once included in the Royal [[Rockingham Forest|Forest of Rockingham]], is a mixed woodland maintained by the [[Forestry Commission]] between the villages of Upton and Ufford.<ref>[http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/26329A43-D6EC-4B36-BAC2-E9F10A14A96C/0/SoutheyWood.pdf Woodland Wildlife Walk: Southey Wood] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080626132917/http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/26329A43-D6EC-4B36-BAC2-E9F10A14A96C/0/SoutheyWood.pdf |date=26 June 2008 }} Cambridgeshire County Council, 2004.</ref> Nearby, [[Castor Hanglands NNR|Castor Hanglands]], [[Barnack Hills & Holes NNR|Barnack Hills and Holes]] and [[Bedford Purlieus NNR|Bedford Purlieus]] [[national nature reserve (United Kingdom)|national nature reserve]]s are each [[site of special scientific interest|sites of special scientific interest]].<ref>[http://www.english-nature.org.uk/about/teams/team_photo/CastorHanglands2.pdf Castor Hanglands NNR] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070611014922/http://www.english-nature.org.uk/about/teams/team_photo/CastorHanglands2.pdf |date=11 June 2007 }} [[English Nature]], 2004.</ref><ref>Barkham, John [https://www.jstor.org/pss/3038022 Review of] ''Bedford Purlieus: Its History, Ecology and Management'' by George Frederick Peterken and Robert Colin Welch (eds.) Journal of Biogeography, vol.3 no.3 (pp.322–323) September 1976.</ref> In 2002, the Hills and Holes, one of [[Natural England]]'s 35 spotlight reserves, was designated a [[special area of conservation]] as part of the [[Natura 2000]] network of sites throughout the [[European Union]].<ref>[http://www.english-nature.org.uk/about/teams/team_photo/BarnackleafletAW.pdf Barnack Hills and Holes NNR] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080626132912/http://www.english-nature.org.uk/about/teams/team_photo/BarnackleafletAW.pdf |date=26 June 2008 }} [[English Nature]], 2004.</ref>

== Notable people ==
{{See also|List of people from Peterborough}}

==Before 1950==
[[File:William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley from NPG (2).jpg|thumb|upright|right|[[William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley|William Cecil]], 1st Baron Burghley (1520–1598), in [[Order of the Garter|Garter]] robes<ref>[http://www.peterborough.gov.uk/page-5792 Cecil Family, Marquess of Exeter] Peterborough City Council (Retrieved 22 September 2007). {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070916115959/http://www.peterborough.gov.uk/page-5792 |date=16 September 2007 }}</ref>]]
The [[utilitarian]] philosopher, [[Doctor of Divinity|Dr]] [[Richard Cumberland (philosopher)|Richard Cumberland]], was 14th Lord Bishop of Peterborough from 1691 until his death in 1718;<ref>Parkin, Jon [http://oxforddnb.com/view/article/6887?docPos=1 Cumberland, Richard (1632–1718)] {{Webarchive |url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130116185706/http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/6887?docPos=1 |date=16 January 2013 }} ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'' Oxford University Press, 2004 (subscription required {{doi|10.1093/ref:odnb/6887}}. Retrieved 30 September 2007).</ref> and Norfolk-born nurse and humanitarian, [[Edith Cavell]], who received part of her education at Laurel Court in the Minster Precinct, is commemorated by a plaque in the cathedral and by the name of the hospital.<ref> Daunton, Claire [http://oxforddnb.com/view/article/32330 Cavell, Edith Louisa (1865–1915)] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116185713/http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/32330 |date=16 January 2013 }} ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'' Oxford University Press, 2004 (subscription required {{doi|10.1093/ref:odnb/32330}}. Retrieved 30 April 2007).</ref> A gravedigger called Old Scarlett, whose portrait can be seen above the west door of Peterborough Cathedral, is considered a folk hero. He died in 1594 at the age of 98, having spent much of his life as the sexton at Peterborough Cathedral; having buried two monarchs, he has also been suggested as the inspiration for the gravedigger in Shakespeare's ''[[Hamlet]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Reed |first=John |date=2005 |title=Old Scarlett: The Gravedigger of Peterborough |url=https://www.timetravel-britain.com/articles/churches/scarlett.shtml |url-status=live |access-date=18 October 2021 |website=timetravel-britain.com |archive-date=17 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817220124/https://timetravel-britain.com/articles/churches/scarlett.shtml}}</ref> Two prominent historical figures were born locally, [[Hereward the Wake]], an outlaw who led resistance to the [[Norman conquest of England|Norman Conquest]] and now lends his name to several places and businesses in the city;<ref>Mellows, William Thomas (ed.) ''The Peterborough Chronicle of Hugh Candidus'' (p.41) Peterborough Natural History, Scientific and Archæological Society, 1941.</ref> and St. [[John Payne (martyr)|John Payne]], one of the group of prominent Catholics [[martyred]] between 1535 and 1679 and later designated the [[Forty Martyrs of England and Wales]], who was [[Beatification|beatified]] by [[Pope Leo XIII]] in 1886 and [[Canonization|canonised]] with the other 39 by [[Pope Paul VI]] in 1970.<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/homilies/1970/documents/hf_p-vi_hom_19701025_it.html Canonizzazione di Quaranta Martiri dell’Inghilterra e del Galles] {{Webarchive |url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101204112311/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/homilies/1970/documents/hf_p-vi_hom_19701025_it.html |date=4 December 2010}} ''Omelia del Santo Padre Paolo VI'' The [[Holy See]], 25 October 1970.</ref>

Peterborough is the birthplace of many notable people, the astronomer [[George Alcock]], one of the most successful visual discoverers of [[nova]]s and [[comet]]s;<ref>[http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/JBAA./0111//0000064.000.html Obituary of George Eric Deacon Alcock] {{Webarchive |url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071014031857/http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/seri/JBAA./0111/0000064.000.html |date=14 October 2007 }} Journal of the British Astronomical Association, vol.111 no.2 (pp.64–66) February 2001.</ref> [[John Clare]], from Helpston, the nineteenth century poet;<ref>Robinson, Eric H. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/5441?docPos=2 Clare, John (1793–1864)] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116172138/http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/5441?docPos=2 |date=16 January 2013 }} ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'' Oxford University Press, 2004 (subscription required {{doi|10.1093/ref:odnb/5441}}. Retrieved 10 September 2007).</ref> artist, [[Christopher Perkins (artist)|Christopher Perkins]] – brother of Frank;<ref>Collins, R. D. J. [http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/dnzb/default.asp?Find_Quick.asp?PersonEssay=4P9 Perkins, Christopher Edward (1891–1968)] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100524131240/http://dnzb.govt.nz/dnzb/default.asp?Find_Quick.asp%3FPersonEssay=4P9 |date=24 May 2010 }} ''[[Dictionary of New Zealand Biography]]'' vol.4 Auckland University Press, 1998.</ref> and Sir [[Henry Royce]], 1st [[Baronet]] of Seaton, engineer and co-founder of [[Rolls-Royce Plc|Rolls-Royce]].<ref>Jeremy, David J. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/35860 Royce, Sir (Frederick) Henry, baronet (1863–1933)] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116172239/http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/35860 |date=16 January 2013 }} ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'' Oxford University Press, 2004 (subscription required {{doi|10.1093/ref:odnb/35860}}. Retrieved 10 September 2007).</ref> Physician, actor and author, "Sir" [[John Hill (author)|John Hill]], credited with 76 separate works in the ''[[Dictionary of National Biography]]'', the most valuable of which dealing with [[botany]], is also said to have been born here.<ref>O'Connor, Barry [http://oxforddnb.com/view/article/13281?docPos=9 Hill, Sir John (bap. 1714, d. 1775)] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116185728/http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/13281?docPos=9 |date=16 January 2013 }} ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'' Oxford University Press, 2004 (subscription required {{doi|10.1093/ref:odnb/13281}}. Retrieved 30 September 2007).</ref> The socialist writer and illustrator, [[J. F. Horrabin|Frank Horrabin]], who was born in the city, and was elected as the Labour Member of Parliament in [[1929 UK general election|1929]].<ref>Cole, Margaret [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/33995 Horrabin, James Francis (1884–1962)] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116172214/http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/33995 |date=16 January 2013 }} (rev. Amanda L. Capern) ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'' Oxford University Press, 2004 (subscription required {{doi|10.1093/ref:odnb/33995}}. Retrieved 6 October 2007).</ref>

==After 1950==
Musicians include Sir [[Thomas Armstrong (conductor)|Thomas Armstrong]], organist, conductor and former principal of the [[Royal Academy of Music]];<ref> [[James Blades]], percussionist; [Richard Stoker|Stoker, Richard]] [http://oxforddnb.com/view/article/54713?docPos=4 Armstrong, Sir Thomas Henry Wait (1898–1994)] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116185702/http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/54713?docPos=4 |date=16 January 2013 }} ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'' Oxford University Press, 2004 (subscription required {{doi|10.1093/ref:odnb/54713}}. Retrieved 24 April 2007).</ref> [[Andy Bell (singer)|Andy Bell]], lead vocalist of the [[Synthpop|electronic pop]] duo [[Erasure (duo)|Erasure]];<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/england/norfolk "Erasure uncovered in Norwich"] , ''BBC News Online'', 10 February 2003.</ref> Barrie Forgie, leader of the [[BBC Big Band]];<ref>[http://www.vinylvulture.co.uk/features/bb_funk2.php The Barry Forgie Orchestra] Vinyl Vulture (Retrieved 24 April 2007). {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070416115959/http://www.vinylvulture.co.uk/features/bb_funk2.php |date=16 April 2007 }}</ref> [[Don Lusher]], trombonist and former professor of the [[Royal College of Music]] and the [[Royal Marines]] School of Music;<ref>Voce, Steve [http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article1164544.ece "Obituary of Gordon Douglas Lusher"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930195958/http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article1164544.ece |date=30 September 2007 }}, ''The Independent'', London, 7 July 2006.</ref> [[Paul Nicholas]], actor and singer;<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0629417/bio Biography of Paul Nicholas] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170220091900/http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0629417/bio |date=20 February 2017 }} [[Internet Movie Database]] (Retrieved 24 April 2007).</ref> [[Maxim Reality]] and [[Gizz Butt]] of [[The Prodigy]]<ref>Montalbano, Dan [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/author-in-a-spot-of-bother-for-horrible-view-of-peterborough-414064.html "The city of Hereward the Wake"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160821154343/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/author-in-a-spot-of-bother-for-horrible-view-of-peterborough-414064.html |date=21 August 2016 }}, ''The Independent'', London, 31 August 2006.</ref> and [[Aston Merrygold]] of [[Brit Award]]-winning pop group [[JLS (Group)|JLS]].<ref>[http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/newsspecialreports/X-Factor-Aston-Merrygold-and.4632607.jp "X Factor: Aston Merrygold and The JLS journey"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081218065826/http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/newsspecialreports/X-Factor-Aston-Merrygold-and.4632607.jp |date=18 December 2008 }}, ''Peterborough Evening Telegraph'', 27 October 2008.</ref> Comedian [[Ernie Wise]] lived on Thorpe Avenue for many years, next door to Canadian baritone and actor [[Edmund Hockridge]].<ref>Patrick, Neil [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/mar/18/edmund-hockridge "Obituary of Edmund Hockridge: Canadian actor and singer whose life story read like the script of a musical"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160927194456/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/mar/18/edmund-hockridge |date=27 September 2016 }}, ''The Guardian'', London and Manchester, 18 March 2009.</ref> [[Jimmy Savile]] also lived in the city in the early 1990s.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/local/tributes_how_sir_jimmy_savile_fixed_it_for_good_causes_in_peterborough_1_3201036 |author=Briggs, S. |title=Tributes: How Sir Jimmy Savile fixed it for good causes in Peterborough |website=Peterborough Telegraph |date=1 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202235250/http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/local/tributes_how_sir_jimmy_savile_fixed_it_for_good_causes_in_peterborough_1_3201036 |archive-date=2 December 2013 |access-date=5 June 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Other media personalities include actors [[Simon Bamford]], known for the 'Hellraiser' franchise, [[Adrian Lyne]], director of ''[[Fatal Attraction]]'',<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.imdc.com/name/nm0001490/?ref_=tt_ov_dr |title=Adrian Lyne, IMDb |access-date=2 August 2016 |archive-date=28 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728073248/http://www.imdc.com/name/nm0001490/?ref_=tt_ov_dr |url-status=dead }}</ref> Oscar Jacques, known for playing Tom Tupper in the [[CBBC (TV channel)|CBBC]] Series ''[[M.I. High]]'', [[Luke Pasqualino]], known for his roles in ''[[Skins (TV series)|Skins]]'' and ''[[The Musketeers (2014 TV series)|The Musketeers]]'';<ref>Reinis, Nick [http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/features/Luke-lands-a-skate-role.4904282.jp "Luke lands a skate role in E4's Skins"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090203065432/http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/features/Luke-lands-a-skate-role.4904282.jp |date=3 February 2009 }}, ''Peterborough Evening Telegraph'', 22 January 2009.</ref> television presenter, [[Sarah Cawood]], who grew up in Maxey;<ref>[https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-112901120 "Inside out: Health Check – Sarah Cawood (Features)"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728073252/https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-112901120/inside-out-health-check-sarah-cawood |date=28 July 2020 }}, ''Liverpool Daily Post'', 3 February 2004.</ref> BBC [[Formula One]] presenter, [[Jake Humphrey]];<ref>[https://archive.today/20120913004916/http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/features/Peterborough39s-famous-faces.5520490.jp?articlepage=2 "Peterborough's famous faces"], ''Peterborough Evening Telegraph'', 4 August 2009.</ref> football journalist and [[Talksport]] radio presenter, [[Adrian Durham]];<ref>Kirby, Terry [http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article1222816.ece "Author in a Spot of Bother for 'horrible' view of Peterborough"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070520181900/http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article1222816.ece |date=20 May 2007 }}, ''The Independent'', London, 31 August 2006.</ref> and the biologist, author and broadcaster, Prof. [[Brian J. Ford]], who attended the King's School and still lives in Eastrea near Whittlesey.<ref>Pearson, Mark [http://www.brianjford.com/ab05eta.htm "Teaching via the Internet"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014023021/http://brianjford.com/ab05eta.htm |date=14 October 2007 }}, ''Peterborough Evening Telegraph'', 7 October 2005 (facsimile of p.23 from the Brian J. Ford Website. Retrieved 24 April 2007).</ref> Local businessman, [[Peter Boizot]], founder of the [[Pizza Express]] restaurant chain and [[Deputy Lieutenant]] of Cambridgeshire, has supported the cultural and sporting life of Peterborough and received its highest accolade, the freedom of the city.<ref>Muir, Jonny [https://archive.today/20120912000632/http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/features/Five-are-honoured-with-freedom.3256706.jp "Five are honoured with freedom nominations"], ''Peterborough Evening Telegraph'', 4 October 2007.</ref> The [[thalidomide]] victim [[Terry Wiles]], subject of the 1979 film ''[[On Giant's Shoulders]]'', was born in the city.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.eafa.org.uk/catalogue/5229 |title=Terry Wiles: Man's Estate – a BBC East documentary from 1980 profiling the life of thalidomide sufferer Terry Wiles – East Anglian Film Archive |access-date=20 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910042049/http://www.eafa.org.uk/catalogue/5229 |archive-date=10 September 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.terrywiles.20m.com/ |title=The Terry Wiles Website |access-date=20 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615055422/http://www.terrywiles.20m.com/ |archive-date=15 June 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In the sporting world, former [[Tottenham Hotspur]] and [[England national football team|England]] footballer, [[David Bentley]], was born in the city,<ref>[http://soccernet-akamai.espn.go.com/players/profile?id=23602&cc=4716 Profile for David Bentley] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013135522/http://soccernet-akamai.espn.go.com/players/profile?id=23602&cc=4716 |date=13 October 2007 }} ESPNsoccernet (Retrieved 27 May 2007).</ref> as was [[Louis Smith (gymnast)|Louis Smith]], who at the [[2008 Summer Olympics|2008 games]] became [[Great Britain at the Olympics|Great Britain]]'s first gymnast to win an individual Olympic medal in a century.<ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics/gymnastics/7566647.stm "Smith wins historic bronze for GB"] , ''BBC News Online'', 17 August 2008.</ref> Chelsea Football player, currently on loan at [[Luton Town]] footballer [[Isaiah Brown]], was born in Peterborough, before joining Leicester City and later West Bromwich Albion, becoming the second youngest player to play in the Premier League.<ref>{{Hugman|23537|Izzy Brown|access-date=26 July 2017}}</ref> [[Harry Wells (rugby union)|Harry Wells]], a [[rugby union]] player for [[Leicester Tigers]] in [[Premiership Rugby]], was born in Peterborough and attended [[The King's (The Cathedral) School]].{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

== Geography ==
=== Climate ===
According to the [[Köppen climate classification|Köppen classification]] the [[British Isles]] experience a [[oceanic climate|maritime climate]] characterised by relatively cool summers and mild winters. Compared with other parts of the country, East Anglia is slightly warmer and sunnier in the summer and colder and frostier in the winter. Owing to its inland position, furthest from the landfall of most [[Atlantic]] depressions, Cambridgeshire is one of the driest counties in the UK, receiving, on average, around {{cvt|600|mm|ft}} of rain per year.<ref>Brown, Chris [http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/environment/policy/Env_Report_1998.htm State of the Environment Report 1998] {{webarchive |url=https://archive.today/20080907032549/http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/environment/policy/Env_Report_1998.htm |date=7 September 2008}} Chapter 11: Physical Background (pp.305–306) Cambridgeshire County Council (Retrieved 19 July 2007).</ref> The Met Office weather station at [[Wittering, Cambridgeshire|Wittering]], within the unitary authority of Peterborough, recorded a maximum temperature of {{cvt|39.9|C|F}} on 19 July 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |publisher=Ogimet |url=https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/weather/uk-heatwave-2022-peterborough-narrowly-avoids-40-degree-milestone-as-wittering-temperature-teeters-on-399c-3775171 |title=Peterborough Today |access-date=13 February 2025 }}</ref> The lowest temperature in recent years was {{cvt|-13.4|C|F}} during February 2012.<ref>{{Cite web |publisher=Tutiempo |url=http://www.tutiempo.net/en/Climate/Wittering/02-2012/34620.htm |title=2012 Temperature |access-date=5 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606235239/http://www.tutiempo.net/en/Climate/Wittering/02-2012/34620.htm |archive-date=6 June 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref>

{{Weather box |location = [[RAF Wittering|Wittering]],{{efn|Weather station is located {{convert|8.9|mi|1|abbr=out}} from the Peterborough city centre.}} elevation: {{cvt|73|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}, 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1957–present
| collapsed = 
| metric first = y
| single line = y
| Jan record high C = 15.1
| Feb record high C = 17.8
| Mar record high C = 23.1
| Apr record high C = 26.3
| May record high C = 27.6
| Jun record high C = 33.3
| Jul record high C = 39.9
| Aug record high C = 35.2
| Sep record high C = 31.0
| Oct record high C = 28.2
| Nov record high C = 17.5
| Dec record high C = 15.5
| Jan high C = 7.1
| Feb high C = 7.9
| Mar high C = 10.4
| Apr high C = 13.4
| May high C = 16.5
| Jun high C = 19.5
| Jul high C = 22.1
| Aug high C = 21.7
| Sep high C = 18.7
| Oct high C = 14.4
| Nov high C = 10.1
| Dec high C = 7.4
| year high C = 14.1
| Jan mean C = 4.3
| Feb mean C = 4.6
| Mar mean C = 6.6
| Apr mean C = 9.0
| May mean C = 11.9
| Jun mean C = 14.9
| Jul mean C = 17.2
| Aug mean C = 17.0
| Sep mean C = 14.5
| Oct mean C = 10.9
| Nov mean C = 7.1
| Dec mean C = 4.6
| year mean C = 10.2
| Jan low C = 1.5
| Feb low C = 1.4
| Mar low C = 2.7
| Apr low C = 4.6
| May low C = 7.4
| Jun low C = 10.3
| Jul low C = 12.3
| Aug low C = 12.3
| Sep low C = 10.2
| Oct low C = 7.4
| Nov low C = 4.0
| Dec low C = 1.8
| year low C = 6.4
| Jan record low C = -13.9
| Feb record low C = -13.5
| Mar record low C = -12.0
| Apr record low C = -5.5
| May record low C = -1.3
| Jun record low C = 0.8
| Jul record low C = 5.2
| Aug record low C = 4.8
| Sep record low C = 1.0
| Oct record low C = -3.9
| Nov record low C = -7.6
| Dec record low C = -10.9
| precipitation colour = green
| Jan precipitation mm = 47.0
| Feb precipitation mm = 38.9
| Mar precipitation mm = 39.0
| Apr precipitation mm = 44.2
| May precipitation mm = 49.6
| Jun precipitation mm = 52.9
| Jul precipitation mm = 55.5
| Aug precipitation mm = 59.9
| Sep precipitation mm = 52.9
| Oct precipitation mm = 63.3
| Nov precipitation mm = 57.5
| Dec precipitation mm = 53.0
| year precipitation mm = 613.6
| unit precipitation days = 1.0 mm
| Jan precipitation days = 10.1
| Feb precipitation days = 9.3
| Mar precipitation days = 8.7
| Apr precipitation days = 8.8
| May precipitation days = 8.4
| Jun precipitation days = 9.0
| Jul precipitation days = 9.1
| Aug precipitation days = 9.2
| Sep precipitation days = 8.3
| Oct precipitation days = 10.2
| Nov precipitation days = 11.2
| Dec precipitation days = 10.7
| year precipitation days = 113.1
| Jan sun = 63.4
| Feb sun = 86.2
| Mar sun = 124.8
| Apr sun = 167.9
| May sun = 204.9
| Jun sun = 195.3
| Jul sun = 207.1
| Aug sun = 192.9
| Sep sun = 151.8
| Oct sun = 113.0
| Nov sun = 73.7
| Dec sun = 64.2
| year sun = 1645.1
| source 1 = [[Met Office]]<ref name="Met Averages">{{cite web |url=https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/climate/gcrem99cb |title=Wittering 1991–2020 averages |access-date=13 June 2019 |publisher=Met Office}}</ref>
| source 2 = Starlings Roost Weather<ref>{{cite web |url=http://starlingsroost.ddns.net/weather/ukobs/temp_month_record_tmax_map.php |title=Monthly Extreme Maximum Temperature |access-date=3 February 2023 |publisher=Starlings Roost Weather |archive-date=1 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230201173843/http://starlingsroost.ddns.net/weather/ukobs/temp_month_record_tmax_map.php |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://starlingsroost.ddns.net/weather/ukobs/temp_month_record_tmin_map.php |title=Monthly Extreme Minimum Temperature |access-date=3 February 2023 |publisher=Starlings Roost Weather |archive-date=1 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230201173844/http://starlingsroost.ddns.net/weather/ukobs/temp_month_record_tmin_map.php |url-status=dead }}</ref>
}}

=== Topography ===
[[File:Peterborough River Nene.jpg|thumb|right|The [[River Nene]] embankment, seen from Frank Perkins Parkway]]
East Anglia is most notable for being almost flat (it is mainly on a floodplain). During the [[Last Glacial Period|Ice Age]] much of the region was covered by ice sheets and this has influenced the topography and nature of the soils.<ref>Brown (p.301).</ref> Much of Cambridgeshire is low-lying, in some places below present-day mean sea level.<ref>Brown (p.304).</ref> The lowest point on land is supposedly just to the south of the city at [[Holme, Cambridgeshire|Holme Fen]], which is {{convert|2.75|m|ft|abbr=off}} below sea level. The largest of the many settlements along the [[Fen]] edge, Peterborough has been called the ''Gateway to the Fens''.<ref>Dixon, Rachel [https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2015/oct/27/peterborough-lets-go-to-pubs-hotels-sights-cathedral Let’s go to … Peterborough] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180404072945/https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2015/oct/27/peterborough-lets-go-to-pubs-hotels-sights-cathedral |date=4 April 2018}} The Guardian, 27 October 2015.</ref> Before they were drained [[the Fens]] were liable to periodic flooding so [[Arable land|arable farming]] was limited to the higher areas of the Fen edge, with the rest of the [[The Fens|Fenland]] dedicated to [[pastoral farming]]. In this way, the mediaeval and early modern Fens stood in contrast to the rest of southern England, which was primarily arable. Since the advent of modern drainage in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the Fens have been radically transformed such that arable farming has almost entirely replaced pastoral.<ref>Broadberry, Stephen et al. [https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/staff/sbroadberry/wp/agricenglandmedieval.pdf English Agricultural Output 1250–1450: Some Preliminary Estimates] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706112448/http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/staff/sbroadberry/wp/agricenglandmedieval.pdf |date=6 July 2017 }} (p.10) University of Warwick, 27 November 2008.</ref> The unitary authority extends north west to the settlements of [[Wothorpe, Cambridgeshire|Wothorpe]] and [[Wittering, Cambridgeshire|Wittering]] and east beyond [[Thorney, Cambridgeshire|Thorney]] into the historic [[Isle of Ely]] and includes the [[Orton, Peterborough|Ortons]], south of the River Nene. It borders Northamptonshire to the west, Lincolnshire to the north, and the Cambridgeshire districts of [[Fenland District|Fenland]] and [[Huntingdonshire]] to the south and east. The city centre is located at 52°35'N [[latitude]] 0°15'W [[longitude]] or [[Ordnance Survey]] [[British national grid reference system|national grid reference]] TL&nbsp;185&nbsp;998.

'''Urban areas'''<br />
''Townships are in bold type. In addition to the surrounding villages, Bretton, Orton Longueville and Orton Waterville are parished. The city council also works closely with Werrington neighbourhood association which operates on a similar basis to a parish council.''<br />
'''[[Bretton, Peterborough|Bretton]]''' – [[Dogsthorpe, Peterborough|Dogsthorpe]] – [[Eastfield, Peterborough|Eastfield]] – [[Eastgate, Peterborough|Eastgate]] – [[Fengate, Peterborough|Fengate]] – [[Fletton, Peterborough|Fletton]] – [[Gunthorpe, Peterborough|Gunthorpe]] – '''[[Hampton, Peterborough|The Hamptons]]''' – [[Longthorpe, Peterborough|Longthorpe]] – [[Millfield, Peterborough|Millfield]] – [[Netherton, Peterborough|Netherton]] – [[Newark, Peterborough|Newark]] – [[New England, Peterborough|New England]] – '''[[Orton, Peterborough|The Ortons]]''' – [[Parnwell, Peterborough|Parnwell]] – [[Paston, Peterborough|Paston]] – [[Ravensthorpe, Peterborough|Ravensthorpe]] – [[Stanground, Peterborough|Stanground]] – [[Walton, Peterborough|Walton]] – '''[[Werrington, Peterborough|Werrington]]''' – [[West Town, Peterborough|West Town]] – [[Westwood, Peterborough|Westwood]] – [[Woodston, Peterborough|Woodston]]

'''Rural areas'''<br />
''[[Civil parishes]] do not cover the whole of England and mostly exist in rural hinterland. They are usually administered by parish councils which have various local responsibilities.''<br />
[[Ailsworth, Cambridgeshire|Ailsworth]] – [[Bainton, Cambridgeshire|Bainton]] – [[Barnack, Cambridgeshire|Barnack]] – [[Borough Fen, Cambridgeshire|Borough Fen]] – [[Castor, Cambridgeshire|Castor]] – [[Deeping Gate, Cambridgeshire|Deeping Gate]] – [[Etton, Cambridgeshire|Etton]] – [[Eye, Cambridgeshire|Eye]] – [[Eye Green, Cambridgeshire|Eye Green]] – [[Glinton, Cambridgeshire|Glinton]] – [[Helpston, Cambridgeshire|Helpston]] – [[Marholm, Cambridgeshire|Marholm]] – [[Maxey, Cambridgeshire|Maxey]] – [[Newborough, Cambridgeshire|Newborough]] – [[Northborough, Cambridgeshire|Northborough]] – [[Peakirk, Cambridgeshire|Peakirk]] – [[Southorpe, Cambridgeshire|Southorpe]] – [[St. Martin's Without, Cambridgeshire|St. Martin's Without]] – [[Sutton, Peterborough|Sutton]] – [[Thorney, Cambridgeshire|Thorney]] – [[Thornhaugh, Cambridgeshire|Thornhaugh]] – [[Ufford, Cambridgeshire|Ufford]] – [[Upton, Peterborough|Upton]] – [[Wansford, Cambridgeshire|Wansford]] – [[Wittering, Cambridgeshire|Wittering]] – [[Wothorpe, Cambridgeshire|Wothorpe]]

These are further arranged into 24 electoral [[Wards of the United Kingdom|wards]] for the purposes of local government.<ref>[http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/161/contents/made The City of Peterborough (Electoral Changes) Order 2003] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501043447/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/161/contents/made |date=1 May 2011 }} (SI 2003/161) and [http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2004/721/contents/made The City of Peterborough (Electoral Changes) (Amendment) Order 2004] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501043455/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2004/721/contents/made |date=1 May 2011 }} (SI 2004/721), see [[Boundary Committee for England]] report to the [[Electoral Commission (United Kingdom)|Electoral Commission]] [http://www.lgbce.org.uk/__documents/lgbce-documents/all-reviews/eastern/cambridgeshire/peterborough-unitary-authority-ua/peterborough_4441-4045__e__.pdf ''Final Recommendations on the Future Electoral Arrangements for Peterborough''] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430004901/http://www.lgbce.org.uk/__documents/lgbce-documents/all-reviews/eastern/cambridgeshire/peterborough-unitary-authority-ua/peterborough_4441-4045__e__.pdf |date=30 April 2011 }}, 9 July 2002.</ref> 15 wards comprise the Peterborough constituency for elections to the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]], while the remaining nine fall within the North West Cambridgeshire constituency.<ref>Clegg, William [http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pbc/review_areas/downloads/ACR_Cambs_Peterborough.doc ''General Review of Parliamentary Constituency boundaries in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927113505/http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pbc/review_areas/downloads/ACR_Cambs_Peterborough.doc |date=27 September 2007 }} ([http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20090517205200/http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pbc/review_areas/downloads/ACR_Cambs_Peterborough.doc archived copy] as at 17 May 2009 from the [[UK Government Web Archive]]) Assistant Commissioner's report to the Chairman and Members of the [[Boundary Commission for England]], 18 March 2004 and [http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pbc/review_areas/downloads/FR_NR_Cambridgeshire_Peterborough.doc ''Final Recommendations for Parliamentary Constituencies in the Counties of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070128155507/http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pbc/review_areas/downloads/FR_NR_Cambridgeshire_Peterborough.doc |date=28 January 2007 }} ([http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20090517205155/http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pbc/review_areas/downloads/FR_NR_Cambridgeshire_Peterborough.doc archived copy] as at 17 May 2009 from the [[UK Government Web Archive]]) Boundary Commission for England, 19 January 2005.</ref>

=== Linguistics ===
Peterborough lies in the middle of several distinct regional accent groups and as such has a hybrid of Fenland [[East Anglian English|East Anglian]], [[East Midlands English|East Midland]] and London [[Estuary English]] features. The city falls just north of the A vowel [[isogloss]] and as such most native speakers will use the [[Phonological history of English short A|flat A]], as found in ''cat'', in words such as ''last''. [[Yod-dropping|''Yod''-dropping]] is often heard from Peterborians, as in the rest of East Anglia, for example ''new'' as {{IPA|/nuː/}}. However, the large number of newcomers has impacted greatly on the [[English English|English]] spoken by the younger generation. Common so-called Estuary English features such as [[L-vocalization|''L''-vocalisation]], [[T glottalization|T glottalisation]] and [[Th-fronting|''Th''-fronting]] give today's Peterborough accent a definite [[South East of England|south-eastern]] sound.<ref>Britain, David [http://www.essex.ac.uk/linguistics/papers/errl_41c.pdf Surviving Estuary English: Innovation diffusion, koineisation and local dialect differentiation in the English Fenland] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927113505/http://www.essex.ac.uk/linguistics/papers/errl_41c.pdf |date=27 September 2007 }} Essex Research Reports in Linguistics, vol.41 (pp.74–103) University of Essex, Department of Language and Linguistics, 2002.</ref>

=== Affiliations ===
{{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in the United Kingdom}}
[[Town twinning]] started in Europe after the Second World War. Its purpose was to promote friendship and greater understanding between the people of different European cities. A twinning link is a formal, long-term friendship agreement involving co-operation between two communities in different countries and endorsed by both local authorities. The two communities organise projects and activities addressing a range of issues and develop an understanding of historical, cultural, lifestyle similarities and differences. Peterborough is twinned with the following municipalities:<ref>[http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/business/business-news/peterborough-s-twin-towns-1-126722 "Peterborough's twin towns"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304072304/http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/business/business-news/peterborough-s-twin-towns-1-126722 |date=4 March 2016 }}, ''Peterborough Evening Telegraph'', 11 March 2009.</ref>

* [[Alcalá de Henares]], Spain (birthplace of [[Catherine of Aragon|Queen Katherine]], 1986)
* [[Ballarat]], Australia (1947)<ref>{{cite news| url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-299584079/view?sectionId=nla.obj-312100791&partId=nla.obj-300188037#page/n62/mode/1up |title=English Town Calls Up Ballarat |date=24 April 1947 |work=Building and Engineering |pages=61 |access-date=17 October 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thecourier.com.au/story/509039/voice-of-friendship-from-old-country/ |title=Voice of friendship from 'Old Country' |date=25 September 2008 |access-date=17 October 2023 |website=thecourier.com.au}}</ref>
* [[Bourges]], France (1957)<ref name="Archant twinning">{{cite web |url=http://www.completefrance.com/language-culture/twin-towns |title=British towns twinned with French towns |access-date=11 July 2013 |work=Archant Community Media Ltd |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130705094933/http://www.completefrance.com/language-culture/twin-towns |archive-date=5 July 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Forlì]], Italy (1981)
* [[Viersen]], Germany (1981)
* [[Vinnytsia]], Ukraine (1991)

[[Bourges]] and [[Forlì]] are also twinned with each other. The city also has more informal friendship links with [[Foggia]], Italy; [[Kwe Kwe]], Zimbabwe; [[Pécs]], Hungary; and all [[Peterborough (disambiguation)|Peterboroughs]] around the world.<ref>[http://www2.peterborough.gov.uk/community_information/international_links.aspx International Links] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141107150315/http://www.peterborough.gov.uk/community_information/international_links.aspx |date=7 November 2014 }} Peterborough City Council (Retrieved 22 April 2015).</ref><ref>[http://www.visitpeterborough.com/information/town-twinning.aspx Town Twinning] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190315183626/http://www.visitpeterborough.com/information/town-twinning.aspx |date=15 March 2019 }} Visit Peterborough (Retrieved 22 April 2015).</ref> The county of Cambridgeshire has been twinned with [[Viersen (district)|Kreis Viersen]], Germany since 1983.<ref>[https://archive.today/20150422174539/http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/40year-twinning-relationship-Cambridgeshire-German-region-Kreis-Viersen-fallen-victim-spending-cuts/story-22365047-detail/story.html "How 40-year twinning relationship between Cambridgeshire and German region of Kreis Viersen has fallen victim to spending cuts"], ''Cambridge News'', 18 November 2013.</ref>

==Paleontology==
[[Fossil]]s of a [[Hybodontiformes|hybodontiform]] fish ''[[Planohybodus]]'' were found in the [[Callovian]] (Middle [[Jurassic]]) deposits near Peterborough. The [[type species]] ''Planohybodus peterboroughensis'' was named after Peterborough in 2008.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rees |first1=Jan |last2=Underwood |first2=Charlie J. |date=January 2008 |title=Hybodont Sharks of the English Bathonian and Callovian (Middle Jurassic) |journal=Palaeontology|volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=117–147 |doi=10.1111/j.1475-4983.2007.00737.x |bibcode=2008Palgy..51..117R |issn=0031-0239|doi-access=free }}</ref>

==Freedom of the City==
The following people, military units and organisations and groups have received the [[Freedom of the City]] of Peterborough.

{{Incomplete list|date=October 2021}}

===Individuals===
* [[Peter Boizot]]: 2007
* [[Wyndham Thomas]], British architect, 19 September 2015
* [[Louis Smith (gymnast)|Louis Smith]]: 21 March 2017<ref>{{Cite news |date=21 March 2017 |title=Louis Smith in Freedom of City of Peterborough honour|publisher=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-39337044 |access-date=12 October 2020 |archive-date=22 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170322211410/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-39337044 |url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[James Fox (rower)|James Fox]]: 21 March 2017
* Lee Manning: 21 March 2017
* [[Tommy Robson]]: 12 March 2020.<ref>{{Cite news |date=12 March 2020 |title=Peterborough United 'legend' Tommy Robson awarded freedom of the city|publisher=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-51850500 |access-date=12 October 2020 |archive-date=4 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200604184310/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-51850500 |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Military units===
* [[RAF Wittering]]: 1983.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/our-region/peterborough/video-freedom-of-the-city-parade-is-great-escape-for-raf-wittering-s-100th-anniversary-1-7584566 |title=VIDEO: Freedom of the City parade is 'Great Escape' for RAF Wittering's 100th anniversary |access-date=17 March 2020 |archive-date=3 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161003104907/http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/our-region/peterborough/video-freedom-of-the-city-parade-is-great-escape-for-raf-wittering-s-100th-anniversary-1-7584566 |url-status=live}}</ref>
* 158 (Royal Anglian) Transport Regiment, [[Royal Logistic Corps]] [[Army Reserve (United Kingdom)|(Volunteers)]]: 25 July 2009.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/environment/anglian_regiment_given_freedom_of_the_city_1_135964 |title=Anglian regiment given freedom of the city |work=Peterborough Telegraph |date=25 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003162212/http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/environment/anglian_regiment_given_freedom_of_the_city_1_135964 |archive-date=3 October 2012 |url-status=dead |access-date=17 March 2020 }}</ref>
* 115 (Peterborough) Squadron [[Air Training Corps]]: 28 April 2014.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.raf.mod.uk/aircadets/news/peterborough-squadron-granted-freedom-of-the-city/ |title=Peterborough Squadron granted Freedom of the City |website=RAF Air Cadets |access-date=17 March 2020 |archive-date=22 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200522204525/https://www.raf.mod.uk/aircadets/news/peterborough-squadron-granted-freedom-of-the-city/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Organisations and groups===
* [[The Salvation Army]] (Peterborough Branch): 4 March 2015.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.peterboroughsa.org.uk/freedomofthecity.htm |title=The Salvation Army celebrating receipt of Freedom of Peterborough |access-date=7 December 2021 |archive-date=7 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211207202533/https://www.peterboroughsa.org.uk/freedomofthecity.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* [[Royal British Legion]] (Peterborough Branch): 28 July 2021.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/people/royal-british-legion-receiving-freedom-of-peterborough-is-high-honour-3324631 |title=Royal British Legion receiving Freedom of Peterborough is 'high honour' |last=Lamy |first=Joel |date=27 July 2021 |website=The Peterborough Telegraph |access-date=7 October 2021 |archive-date=7 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211007040042/https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/people/royal-british-legion-receiving-freedom-of-peterborough-is-high-honour-3324631 |url-status=live}}</ref>

== References ==
===Notes===
{{Notelist}}

=== Footnotes ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
{{Refbegin|colwidth=30em}}
* [[John Banham|Banham, John]] ''Final Recommendations for the Future Local Government of Cambridgeshire'' HMSO, London, 1994.
* Banham, John ''Final Recommendations on the Future Local Government of Basildon & Thurrock, Blackburn & Blackpool, Broxtowe, Gedling & Rushcliffe, Dartford & Gravesham, Gillingham & Rochester upon Medway, Exeter, Gloucester, Halton & Warrington, Huntingdonshire & Peterborough, Northampton, Norwich, Spelthorne and the Wrekin'' HMSO, London, 1995.
* Bennett, Jack Arthur Walter ''Middle English Literature'' (ed. and completed by Douglas Gray) Oxford University Press, 1986 ({{ISBN|0-19-812214-4}}).
* Brandon, David and Knight, John ''Peterborough Past: The City and The Soke'' Phillimore & Co., Chichester, 2001 ({{ISBN|1-86077-184-X}}).
* Chisholm, Hugh (ed.) ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (11th ed., 28 vols.) Cambridge University Press, 1911 (text in the public domain).
* Clark, Cecily (ed.) ''The Peterborough Chronicle 1070–1154'' Oxford University Press, 1958 ({{ISBN|0-19-811136-3}}).
* Colpi, Terry ''The Italian Factor: The Italian Community in Great Britain'' Mainstream Publishing, Edinburgh, 1991 ({{ISBN|1-85158-344-0}}).
* Davies, Elizabeth et al. ''Peterborough: A Story of City and Country, People and Places'' Peterborough City Council and Pitkin Unichrome, 2001 ({{ISBN|1-84165-050-1}}).
* Garmonsway, George Norman (trans.) ''The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' J. M. Dent & Sons, London, 1972 & 1975 ({{ISBN|0-460-87038-6}}).
* Grainger, Margaret ''A Descriptive Catalogue of the John Clare Collection'' Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery, 1973 ({{ISBN|0-904108-00-7}}).
* Hancock, Henry Drummond ''Report and Proposals for the East Midlands General Review Area'' (LGCE Report No.3) HMSO, London, 1961.
* Hancock, Henry Drummond ''Report and Proposals for the Lincolnshire and East Anglia General Review Area'' (LGCE Report No.9) HMSO, London, 1965.
* Hancock, Tom ''Greater Peterborough Master Plan'' Peterborough Development Corporation, 1971.
* Ingram, James Henry (trans.) ''The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' J. M. Dent & Sons, London, 1823 (1847 Everyman's Library ed. with additional readings from the translation of [[John Allen Giles]]).
* King, Richard John ''Handbook to the Cathedrals of England'' John Murray, London, 1862.
* Labrum, Edward A. ''Civil Engineering Heritage: Eastern and Central England'' Thomas Telford, London, 1994 ({{ISBN|0-7277-1970-X}}).
* Leatham, Victoria ''Burghley: The Life of a Great House'' The Herbert Press, London, 1992 ({{ISBN|1-871569-47-8}}).
* [[Colin Matthew|Matthew, Henry Colin Gray]] and [[Brian Harrison (historian)|Harrison, Brian Howard]] (eds.) ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (60 vols.) Oxford University Press in association with the British Academy, 2004–2006 ({{ISBN|0-19-861411-X}}).
* Mellows, William Thomas (ed.) ''The Chronicle of Hugh Candidus a Monk of Peterborough'', Oxford University Press, 1949 (scholarly ed. in [[Latin language|Latin]]).
* Mellows, William Thomas (ed.) ''The Peterborough Chronicle of Hugh Candidus'' (trans.) Peterborough Natural History, Scientific and Archæological Society, 1941 (popular ed. in English).
* Newton, David ''Men of Mark: Makers of East Midland Allied Press'' Emap, Peterborough, 1977 ({{ISBN|0-9505954-0-3}}).
* Parthey, Gustav and Pinder, Moritz (eds.) ''Itinerarivm Antonini Avgvsti et Hierosolymitanum: ex libris manu scriptis'' Friederich Nicolaus, Berlin, 1848.
* Pryor, Francis ''Flag Fen: Life and Death of a Prehistoric Landscape'' Tempus Publishing, Stroud, 2005 ({{ISBN|0-7524-2900-0}}).
* Rhodes, John ''The Nene Valley Railway'' Turntable Publications, Sheffield, 1976 ({{ISBN|0-902844-60-1}}).
* Salter, Mike ''The Castles of East Anglia'' Folly Publications, Malvern, 2001 ({{ISBN|1-871731-45-3}}).
* Skinner, Julia (with particular reference to the work of Robert Cook) ''Did You Know? Peterborough: A Miscellany'' The Francis Frith Collection, Salisbury, 2006 ({{ISBN|1-84589-263-1}}).
* Sweeting, Walter Debenham ''The Cathedral Church of Peterborough: A Description of its Fabric and a Brief History of the Episcopal See'' G. Bell & Sons, London, 1898 (1926 reprint of the 2nd ed. of Bell's Cathedrals).
* Tebbs, Herbert F. ''Peterborough: A History'' The Oleander Press, Cambridge, 1979 ({{ISBN|0-900891-30-0}}).
* Turner, Roger ''Capability Brown and the Eighteenth Century English Landscape'' Phillimore & Co., Chichester, 1999 ({{ISBN|1-86077-114-9}}).
* Youngs, Frederic A. ''Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England'' (2 vols.) The Offices of the Royal Historical Society, University College London, 1991 ({{ISBN|0-86193-127-0}}).
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Peterborough}}
{{Spoken Wikipedia|En-uk-Peterborough-article.ogg|date=27 November 2007}}
{{Wikivoyage|Peterborough}}
* [http://www.peterborough.gov.uk/ Peterborough City Council]

{{Peterborough}}
{{Cambridgeshire}}
{{The Fens}}
{{River Nene}}
{{UK cities}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Peterborough| ]]
[[Category:Cities in the East of England]]
[[Category:Towns in Cambridgeshire]]
[[Category:Planned communities in England]]
[[Category:Planned communities established in the 1960s]]
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[[Category:Former civil parishes in Cambridgeshire]]