1940: Over 500 men between the ages of 20 and 23 registered for 'call-up' at the Peterborough Labour Exchange on this Saturday. Of these only five registered a conscientious objection. In the end 490 actually signed up. 64 with the Navy and 130 with the RAF. The rest offered no definite preference. Not surprisingly, bearing in mind the industrial landscape of Peterborough, there was more than the usual number of recruits who were in reserved occupations - mainly engineering. (Gray, David, Peterborough at War 1939-1945, David Gray, 2011)
Taken from The Peterborough Book of Days by Brian Jones, The History Press, 2014.
On the 13th May 1786 Mr Robert Shelston was found dead in his yard in Eye. An inquest revealed his death had been caused by a fatal blow to the head: he had been murdered. After an investigation and conversation with several witnesses, the conclusion was made that Henry Love, also of Eye, was the perpetrator.
Henry Love was found playing ninepins in Market Deeping. He was arrested and taken to the Angel Inn in Peterborough, where he confessed to the murder quite freely. (1)
He went before Justice of the Peace Robert Blake on 12th July, where he was sentenced for execution on Borough Fen common the week after. Love was described as 'most astonishingly illiterate and of a sanguine disposition.' He'd also confessed to planning to rob and murder farmer Mr Richardson, also of Eye, before he'd been arrested. (2)
On Friday 21st July, Henry Love walked the five mile journey from the gaol in Peterborough to Borough Fen via Eye. He was attacked by angry villagers as he entered Eye. Henry was so badly beaten that he needed support to walk to the execution tree. He was hanged from the tree and from there his body was taken to an out building overnight in Peterborough. His body was used for dissection by doctors. (3)
(1) Stamford Mercury, Friday 19th May 1786, p. 3.
(2) Stamford Mercury, Friday 14th July 1786, p. 3
(3) Stamford Mercury, Friday 21st July 1786, p. 3.
Consecrated in 1847, Eye church stands proud in the middle of the village of Eye near Peterborough. Dedicated to St Matthew, the church took eleven months to build, commencing on 11th May 1846. It was once a formidable sight across the fens with its 38-metre spire visible for miles. The spire was added a few years after the church was built, but was removed in the 1980s after it became dangerous.
The church of St Matthews replaced an earlier building that had served the residents of Eye since medieval times, but possibly had Anglo-Saxon origins.
Image: Eye: parish church of St. Matthew cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Chris Downer - geograph.org.uk/p/1605503
Reference: Eye Church, Eye Peterborough Website, www.eyepeterborough.co.uk/heri... heritage="" eye-church="">
In the centre of Eye village on the High Street there was a public house known as the Spade and Shovel. The building was originally thatched, which was a contributing factor in the building’s destruction in October 1891.
The landlord, George Reynolds, had reported smelling burning before he went to bed but could not locate any evidence of it, so assumed the smell was from the chimney. Reports differed as to what happened next. All of the regional papers claimed that the landlord's wife slept away that night because she was fearful of a fire and the landlord slept with two friends who set an alarm to wake them in the early hours of the morning just in case. However the Peterborough Standard claimed he was awoken by a neighbour who had spotted the roof was alight. Mr Reynolds thankfully survived, but the building did not. The local fire engine was ancient and unfit for the job in hand and failed to put out the fire.
A boy on a pony was sent to get the Peterborough Fire brigade, who were newly formed after the disastrous infirmary fire of 1884, but they arrived too late to save the building, the roof having already collapsed before their arrival. They were able to stop the neighbouring thatched building being destroyed though and were very efficient in their arrival. The Spade and Shovel was demolished and replaced by the building presently standing but it is no longer in use as a public house.
References:
Eye, Northampton Mercury, 16 October 1891, p. 8.
A Public House Destroyed by Fire, 17 October 1891, p. 7.
Image by Myriams-Fotos from Pixabay
Consecrated in 1847, Eye church stands proud in the middle of the villag…
In the centre of Eye village on the High Street there was a public house…