Yes, I remember Peterborough

Sunday, 26th September 2004
Page 1
Wild West Yorkshire nature diary

'the express-train drew up there Unwontedly.' Edward Thomas pulled up at Adlestrop at 12.45 p.m. on the 23rd June , 1914, and immortalised the 'willows, willow-herb, and grass, And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry' in his poem (see link below). I've sketched willows, scrub and straw bales on our journey but the unwonted delay at Peterborough (a problem with the engine) leaves me with a view more typical of the England of 2004. But I draw it just the same.

When I first started regularly making the trip to London when I was a student there in the 1970s, Peterborough was the architectural highlight of the journey with a view from the train of the abbey (now the cathedral), in which Henry VII's first wife lies (Catherine of Aragon; perhaps this country would still be catholic if she had provided Henry with a male heir. At least she kept her head although Henry didn't attend her funeral). A shopping centre now blocks out the view of the abbey, though the spires just poke up above the uninspiring architecture that the name Peterborough conjures up for railway travellers.

There's plenty of architectural interest around the abbey, but you wouldn't guess it from the station.

Related Links

Adlestrop by Edward Thomas

Peterborough Cathedral

Richard Bell, richard@willowisland.co.uk