Civic Pride: Our ever-changing city centre is all mapped out

This from a lad who had definitely been to King’s Lynn but never Kidderminster.

I would imagine flying in a hot air balloon to foreign places or possible hurtling round the globe in a Morgan 3-wheeler roadster. I used to run my finger along rivers and roads or craggy coastlines in my well-thumbed atlas. My mum and dad used to smile at my childish obsession.

I probably knew full well that these transports of delights would never happen but it was fun to fantasise about the world from the cosy safety of my own Dogsthorpe bedroom. Don’t forget, you’re reading about a bloke who gets a nosebleed when he travels south of the river.

My interest in maps was rekindled a couple of weeks ago when some friends (and ardent Posh supporters) showed me a 1949 map they had acquired. The map had been prepared by the City of Peterborough County Planning Committee and clearly showed the Dogsthorpe area just before it was built.

Older areas of the city – Garton End, parts of Eastfield and New England were there and I was reminded of how much land in the centre of the city was designated ‘allotments’. Indeed the land between the back of our own house in Newark Avenue and Sycamore Avenue was allotments until comparatively recently, when the extensive sheltered accommodation was built.

This prompted me to look again at my facsimiles of old maps. One, from 1836, refers to Standgound Severals’, Boon Fields, Wood Fields (ironically now the Dogsthorpe estate where I now live) and of course Dodsthorpe itself, then a mere cluster of a few houses around the Bluebell pub in Welland Road. Other delightful names, which locals are still familiar with, were much more prominent than they are now – Car Dyke, Milking Nook, Edgerley Bar, Boon Fields and Cuckolds Haven – I could go on.

Roll on nearly 100 years and, by 1922, Whittlesea has become Whittlesey and settlements at Walton, Paston, Millfield, Fletton and Woodstone have become much more prominent.

By the end of the 20th century Peterborough has expanded even more and words such as Bretton, Orton Malborne and Goldhay, have entered our vocabulary. Indeed, in 2024, the city has grown so much there are areas, Hampton and Cardea in particular, where even a longstanding Peterborian such as myself would be well and truly lost.

So it was that, earlier this year, I was delighted to be asked by Pep Cipriano and Terri Flack from Peterborough Positive to have a look at a first draft of their revised city centre map. This free pocket-sized map is now available and is handy for both residents and visitors to the city alike. For this edition the Civic Society was really flattered that the locations of all Peterborough’s blue plaques are included.

As I pored over the final draft of the map I was reminded of just how much our city centre has to offer. Copies of the map are now available at the Cathedral, Museum and a number of city centre retail outlets. Grab yours now!

Of course Peterborough Positive’s new map is merely the latest in a long line of maps of our ever- changing city. There is renewed pressure for growth - the country urgently needs more housing and Peterborough is one of the cities that may yet again be expected to grow.

I’m sure that the subject of expansion will be a topic for a future column. Until that time I shall just muse about what a map of Peterborough will look like in 2055!

•On Monday 14 October, the Civic Society’s monthly talk is ‘Parks and Gardens in Our Landscape’ the speaker being Rev David Bond who serves as Associate Priest of All Saints’ Church at Stamford.

David is also a keen lover of cricket and a Civic Society member.

We are at our usual venue of St Marks Church Hall, Lincoln Road, Peterborough, PE1 2SN. Doors open at 7.15pm for 7.45 start. Non-members are welcome but we rely totally on subscriptions and donations, therefore we request that a donation of £5.00 is made, unless they become members of the Society on the night. Membership forms will be available.

All welcome – see you there!