City Heritage: The master mason who shaped Peterborough and beyond
On 14th February, 1824 John Thompson Junior arrived in the city of Peterborough. He was the son of John Thompson Senior who founded a small company of stone and marble masons in Peterborough in the late 1810s to the early 1820s.
The firm was involved in ecclesiastical restoration work and also worked on institutional buildings and country houses.
John Thompson Junior was also a builder and stone mason. He would go on to become famous for building and restoring churches and cathedrals across Britain and Ireland. At Peterborough Cathedral he completed work on the Central Tower and West Front. In addition, he completed work at Lincoln, Rochester, Chester, Winchester, Hereford and many other Cathedrals and Churches. He also played an important role in the local community and he would go on to become mayor of Peterborough four times.
John Thompson Junior would pass away in 1897 and following his death, in 1898 the building firm became John Thompson & Sons Ltd. The firm went into receivership in 1932, fulfilled its contracts and subsequently took no new work from 1938.
The photograph is of a diver who worked on the Winchester Cathedral restoration and it is within the John Thompson collection. Photograph reference number: JTA/1/97 (Reference numbers can be found on our online database.)
If you wish to learn more about the Thompson family and their work, Peterborough Archive service holds a large collection you can view. We hold Photographs of Ecclesiastical, Country House and Municipal Buildings, Correspondence, Miscellaneous Items, Written Information on Estimates, Specification of Works, Sketches, Technical Drawings and Records of Staff. In addition we hold information sheets produced by Andrew Cole that will give you valuable and interesting information about the work John Thompson did.
To visit Peterborough Archives call 01733 864160 or email [email protected].
Staffed opening hours are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 10am to 1pm. For more information visit: peterboroughlibraries.org.uk/archives