1941: Following a Ministry of Home Security circular on the carrying of gas masks, a Mrs Mellows organised four lectures aimed principally at housewives of active servicemen, on how to handle a gas situation. The second talk was held on this day. Each lecture covered: latest information about gas attacks; first aid for gas casualties; how to protect yourself and dealing with incendiary bombs and fires. All lectures were very well attended. (Gray, David, Peterborough at War 1939-1945, David Gray, 2011)
Taken from The Peterborough Book of Days by Brian Jones, The History Press, 2014.
Around 1017 King Cnut, King of Denmark, England and Norway (also known as King Canute) stayed in Nassington, which was a royal holding. He arrived with a large retinue, including Aethelric Bishop of Dorchester on Thames. King Cnut’s hall, the remains of which lay beneath the present Prebendal Manor, was discovered in 1986. After Cnut’s death in 1035 the hall continued to be owned by the succeeding kings.
Reference:
Prebendal Manor
Image:
14th Century portrait of Cnut the Great
The people we know as the Vikings originated from northeast Europe where the Scandinavian countries of Norway, Sweden and Denmark are today. They were called the “Norsemen” or “Vikings” from a Norse word that probably meant “pirate” - vikingr.
From the late 8th to late 11th centuries Vikings pirated, traded, raided but also settled in many countries. Norse settlements were established in, amongst others, the British Isles, Ireland, Iceland, Greenland, Normandy, and the Baltic coast. They also voyaged as far as the Mediterranean, North Africa, the Middle East, and North America.
The first Viking raids in Anglo-Saxon England were devastating. The Vikings targeted monasteries (including Peterborough Abbey in 870), and the monks described them as heathens, bent on theft, pillage and devastation. But there is more to the story of the Vikings than just violence and brutality, they created art, told stories, used runes for writing, farmed, fished and explored!
References:
Peterborough Museum Exhibition
The Children of Ash and Elm by Neil Price, Allen Lane, 2020
Vikings life and legend Edited by Williams, Gareth, Pentz, Peter, Wemhoff, Matthias. The British Museum Press, 2014
Image:
Viking Ship Lofotr licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
Image of Viking voyages, attribution- en:User:Bogdangiusca, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, v
Around 1017 King Cnut, King of Denmark, England and Norway (also known a…