Cowgate, Peterborough City Centre

 

The photograph above shows the end of Cowgate as it was in the early part of the 1970s. The well known 'Crescent Bridge' can be seen in the background (right-hand side). The Peterborough Railway Station car park is now situated on this site. The photograph was taken from a very old book and had the following accompanying text:

From the western side of the Crescent Roundabout the pattern of the roads of sixty years ago can still be seen.

Ahead is the end of Cowgate where the level crossing of the railway divided it from Thorpe Road and to the right is the entrance to Station Road and St. Leonard's Street which were there only seperated by a strip of pavement and a row of bollards. To the left is the entrance to the railway yard which then housed the Goods Station and Coal Depot.

The level crossing had two sets of gates with sufficient room between them for a horse and vehicle. It was similar to the crossing at Walton before the recent alterations but on the right hand side was the entrance to the subway which had been built in response to public demand for a bridge after a pedastrian had been killed at the crossing in 1884. The bridge which swept all of them away was opened in 1912 and took it's name from the crescent of Georgian houses on the site of W.H. Smith's on the Thorpe Road side which was pulled down at the same time.

Cowgate photographed in 1974. The infamous Armstrongs shop can be seen behind the 'Eastern Counties' double decker bus.

Peterborough General Electric Co. Ltd., Cowgate photographed in 1956.

Photograph taken towards the end of Cowgate taken in 1956. Armstrongs can be seen on the right hand side.

The aftermath of the Robert Sayle fire in 1956. The fire destroyed two main blocks of the building. Robert Sayle would not return to Peterborough until 1982 in the form of John Lewis.

A further two photographs of the aftermath of the Robert Sayle fire in 1956.

A birds-eye view of Cowgate photographed during Summer, 2006.

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