Peterborough

Watermark: "LEPARD 1 7"; collector's mark: W. G. Rawlinson (Lugt 2624)

Lettered upper left (above image): "The Itinerant"; lettered, upper right (above image): "NORTHMAPTONSHIRE"; lettered, lower left (below image): "Engraved by J.Walker, from an Original Drawing by W.Turner."; lettered, lower right (below image): "Published May 1st; 1796 by J. Walker No.16, Rosomans Street, London."; lettered, lower center: "PETERBOROUGH. | PETERBOROUGH | IS a small city in the County of Northampton, on the river Nen, 81 miles N.W. from London, In this Place (then | a village called Medeshamsted) Wolphere, King of Mercia, A.D. 655, laid the foundation of a stately monastery, dedi- | cated to St. Peter, which, after his death, was carried on by his brothers Penda and Ethelred, and their two sisters | Kinaburgha and Kineswith. In this monastery the Abbot of Croyland and his monks, flying for refuge from the Danes | in the year 870, were overtaken and murdered in a court, afterwards called the Monks' Church-yard, on account of | their having been all interred there, and to this day may be seen the tomb-stone, with the effigies, which was errected | over their common grave. In the Danish desolations, however, their building was demolished, its inhabitants destroyed, | and it lay in ruins for above 100 years when it was restored in greater beauty by Ethelwold Bishop of Winchester, with | the assistance of King Edgar, and of his Chancellor Adulph, who became abbot of it. Thus it continued an abbey - | church till the Dissolution, when Henry VIII. made the village a city, the abbot a bishop, and the monastery a cathedral, | with a chapter, consisting of a dean and fix prebendaries, who are lords of the manor, and elect all city officers. | Though formerly in the diocese of Lincoln, it now became a diocese of itself, comprosing the counties of Northhampton | and Rutland. | PETERBOROUGH has one parish church beside the Cathedral, which is a most noble Gothic fabric, and was much more | so before it was defaced in the Civil Wars. The west front, which is 156 feet in breadth, is Supported by three of the | tallest arches in England, and is particularly to be admired for its column-work. The Cloister is large, and the windows | stained with scripture-history, the history of Wolphere the founder, and the succession of its abbots. | In the Cathedral is a memorandum of one John Scarlet, the Sexton, who interred Queen Catherine, wife of Henry VIII. | and 50 years afterwards, Mary Queen of Scots. He lived 95 years, and is recorded as having buried the whole parish | twice over. | The city is governed by a mayor, recorder, and alderman, by a charter of Henry VIII. dated September 4, 1541, | and sends two members to Parliament. The present representatives (1797) are, Richard Benyon, Esq. and the Hon. | Lionel Damer. | After the town of PETERBOROUGH became a city, it was dignified with the title of an earldom in the person of John | Lord Mordaunt, created Earl of Peterborough by Charles I. 1627. This title still remains in the family of the Mor- | daunts, who are Earls both Peterborough and Monmouth.| As a bishopric PETERBOROUGH is the poorest, as a city the smallest, though as a town one of the oldest in England. | the river Nen, over which it has a wooden bridge, is navigable to it by barges, which bring coal, corn, &c. The | air is said to have been formerly unwholesome on account of its vicinity to the fens, but these having lately been drained, | a better circulation of air has been procurred, and the country, of course, rendered more salubrious. | The streets are well built, and there is a handsome market-house, over which are held the assizes and sessions. The | market is on Saturday, and the fairs for horses held on the 10th of July and the 2d of October."