A Guide to Peterborough Cathedral / Comprising a brief history of the monastery from its foundation to the present time, with a descriptive account of its architectural peculiarities and recent improvements; compiled from the works of Gunton, Britton, and original & authentic documents

by George S. Phillips

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The most probable etymology of this word is that which is given by Britton in his History of Peterborough Cathedral, viz.—"Mede or Mead, a meadow; ham, a sheltered habitation; and sted, stead, or stad, a bank, station, or place of rest."

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In cleaning out the river, a little below the bridge, in June, 1820, a dagger was found, which is supposed to have belonged to these Danes. It is in the possession of the present Bishop.

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At a meeting of the Archæological Society at Peterborough, in 1861, Mr. Bloxam read a paper in which he denied the authenticity of this monument, which had previously been regarded as one of the oldest monumental stones extant. Mr. Bloxam regards it as a Norman, and not a Saxon work, and some centuries later in date than the massacre of the monks. He considers that the figures are not martyred monks with their abbot, but Christ and his eleven disciples. It has been further conjectured by Canon Westcott that it is part of the shrine erected over the relics of St. Kyneburgha, which were removed from Castor to Peterborough during the Abbacy of Elsinus, A.D. 1005-1055. A fragment of sculpture in the same style is built into the west wall of the South Transept.

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A Saxon King of Northumbria and the second Christian monarch of that province. An interesting account of this prince, and of the extraordinary miracles said to have been performed by his remains after death, will be found in a larger edition of the Guide to the Cathedral, by Thos. Craddock, Esq. Price 2.6 & 15.

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Britton says, on the authority of Gunton, that they sent the secretary of the monastery over to Denmark, on purpose to obtain it. It is, however, more probable that Hereward, knowing the disposition of the Norman abbot would lead him to enrich himself at the expense of the monastery, took this means of removing temptation out of the way of Thorold, and subsequently restored the treasure to the monastery, when there was no longer any danger of its being appropriated by the abbot.