Peterborough is an industrial city attractively situated on the north bank of the River Nene, on the edge of the Fens. Traditionally an agricultural center, it now has large factories producing diesel engines and other heavy machinery. The principal attraction for visitors is the cathedral, one of the finest Norman churches
in England. The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Andrew was built between 1118 and 1238.
The town, "Peter's borough", grew up round the Saxon monastery of Medehamstede, founded about 655 by the first Christian king of Mercia, on the site now occupied by the cathedral. The monastery was destroyed by the Danes in 870 and rebuilt as a Benedictine foundation by Ethelwold, Bishop of Winchester (963-984) in 972. Rebuilding after a fire in 1116 was completed in 1238. Relics of St Oswald and Thomas Becket made the abbey into a place of pilgrimage and enabled it to become very wealthy. The fact that it was the site of the grave of Catherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII, was probably instrumental in saving the abbey from being dissolved and torn down during the Reformation; in 1541 Peterborough was promoted to the status of a cathedral see.
Peterborough has many sites of interest and hosts several annual events including the East of England Show and the Peterborough Festival.
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