Peterborough is mentioned in MP on p 265 and p 290 (2nd ed.).

Peterborough began as a Saxon settlement. The Saxons built a village and an abbey next to it. It had been plundered by the Danes and rebuilt a couple of times. Around 1000 AD, a wall was built around the settlement to protect it from the Danes. It was called St Peters burgh. (Burgh was the Saxon word for a fortified settlement).
During the Middle Ages, Peterborough was a small and relatively unimportant town controlled by the Abbot. The original town stood east of the abbey.
In 1116 the abbey was destroyed by fire. A new abbey was built after 1118 and the Abbot moved the town to the west of it. He laid out a new marketplace there and new streets were built around it. The streets in Peterborough ending in gate (Cowgate, Priestgate, etc) are derived from the Danish word meaning street, gata.
In Medieval Peterborough, the main industry was weaving wool.
In the early 12th century, a leper hospital was built just outside Peterborough.
Henry VIII closed all the monasteries and abbeys in England. Peterborough Abbey was closed in 1539. However, in 1541 the abbey church was made a cathedral. Also in 1541, a school called the Kings school was founded.
The cathedral became the symbol of Peterborough. Mary Queen of Scots was buried in Peterborough Cathedral after her execution in 1587.
In the late 18th century Peterborough began to grow rapidly. The Napoleonic wars brought prosperity—there was a big demand for the town’s goods. Furthermore, 10,000 French prisoners of war were held at Norman Cross Prison.
This prison is the world’s first purpose-built prisoner-of-war camp. It was built in 1796-97 to hold prisoners of war from France and its allies during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. After the Treaty of Amiens the prison was emptied and in 1816, demolished. Norman Cross lies south of Peterborough, about 10 miles from the cathedral.

Peterborough Local History Society. https://peterboroughlocalhistorysociety.co.uk. Accessed 17 Nov. 2022
“A History of Peterborough.” Local Histories. https://localhistories.org/a-history-of-peterborough/. Accessed 17 Nov. 2022

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