Peterborough Cathedral, Peterborough

A one-day pilgrimage to Peterborough’s grand cathedral has been developed, starting at the colourful shrine church at Castor six miles to the west

Highlights

• Shrine stone of Hedda
• Former graves of Saxon saints
• Extensive mediaeval reliquary

In the sparse but devout interior of Peterborough’s cathedral, a small stone monument brings to life the long history of Christian worship here. The Hedda Stone is a curious Saxon sculpture, said to be a grave marker for St Hedda and his fellow monks, slaughtered during a Viking assault in 870. The same raiding party killed St Edmund at Hoxne in Suffolk.

St Hedda was abbot at the time, head of a community of 84 monks who were all killed. Some date the Hedda Stone to around the year 800, which suggests it was originally designed for an unknown purpose and subsequently reused as their shrine marker. It is a puzzling artefact, its shape reminiscent of other medieval reliquaries but made of solid stone, now thought most likely to be a saint’s grave marker.

There are 12 saints around its sides and four holes have been drilled into the front, possibly used to place very small relics according to the latest thinking. The date 870 has been carved on the end of the stone, a later addition since modern numerals only started to be used in the 15th century.

The first monastery was built in 655 under King Peada when Peterborough was known by its Saxon name of Medeshamstede (Bede’s History iv.6). The buildings were attacked twice, first during the Viking raid and second during a raid by Hereward the Wake, who led a guerrilla resistance to the Norman Conquest in 1069. The remaining buildings were then burned down in 1116. The current building dates from 1118 onwards.

It ceased being a monastery at the Dissolution, but Henry VIII decided to convert it into a new cathedral. Its magnificent west front is the most perfect English Gothic façade in existence, dating from the 13th century. The ceiling in the nave was originally painted in 1220, an eye-opening blend of religious, royal and zodiac motifs that is unique in England.

The abbey is associated with many other Saxon saints in addition to its martyrs. The holy bodies of St Kyenburga, St Kyneswitha and St Tibba were moved here in 963, translated from shrines at nearby Castor and Ryhall in Rutland.

Another of the cathedral’s relics was considered so precious it even had its own watchtower built into the walls of the building. This can still be seen in the St Oswald Chapel in the south transept, named after the Saxon saint whose arm was preserved in a reliquary here. It was a hugely popular place of pilgrimage up until the Reformation when the shrine was destroyed.

St Oswald was a kindly king who once gave away an entire royal banquet to the poor. In doing so, his chaplain St Aidan declared: “May this arm that has been so generous never perish.” He was killed at Oswestry and became famous for many miracles after death.

The monastery owned an exotic collection of other sacred artefacts from early Christian history that also perished at the Reformation. A 12th-century list written by the Peterborough monk Hugh Candidus includes part of the manger and swaddling clothes used by the infant Jesus, a piece of the five loaves with which Jesus fed the five thousand, and a fragment of the rod belonging to Aaron, the Old Testament prophet.

The medieval author described Abbot Aelfsy, who collected most of these artefacts, as working ‘like a laborious bee’. He served here from 1005 to 1055. The relic of St Oswald was gathered by his successor in 1060 from the church at Bamburgh. The abbey also housed a collection of more conventional relics including St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew – the cathedral’s patron saints – and St Thomas Becket. An enamelled reliquary can be seen in the V&A Museum in London, used to transport part of St Thomas Becket’s body from Canterbury to Peterborough in 1180, just 10 years after he was murdered. The relic was kept in the Becket Chapel, which now serves as the cathedral’s tea room.

Another grave survives. This is the resting place of Katherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII who was buried here in 1536. Their divorce was a major cause of the Reformation in England – though not the only one despite what some claim. Sweden had already held its Reformation by the time England joined in, and other northern European countries were soon to follow. Katherine was lucky in a way to die a natural death, a solitary figure who never came to terms with her change in circumstances. Deprived of her royal title in life, it has been restored on her monument: Katharine Queen of England. Four of the most divisive words in church history.

Directions

Peterborough Cathedral, Deans Court, Peterborough PE1 1XZ

www.peterborough-cathedral.org.uk

W3W: switch.bronze.look

GPS: 52.5725N 0.2406W

Peterborough railway station 700m

The cathedral is in the centre of the city, set in large parkland grounds. It is open everyday of the year (closed 26 December only) Mon–Sat 9am–5pm, Sun 12 noon–3pm. There was no charge other than requested donation at the time of research.