Church Street, Peterborough City Centre

The following six photographs were taken by a local gentleman, Harold Burleigh Thompson. Mr. Thompson was born in 1897 and was laid to rest in the grounds of Paston Church. Mr. Thompson's wife kept an album of his photographs until she passed away in the mid 1990s. The album was then passed on to their grandson, Marcus Thompson. I would like to thank Marcus Thompson for taking the time to scan the photographs and kindly allowing us to display them on this website.

The nature of these photographs is very interesting as they were taken during a visit from the Prince of Wales. Researching the exact date of the photographs seemed to be a bit of nightmare as the good old Internet was not very helpful for a change. The local archive service didn't seem to have any information regarding the visit either. Luckily, a recent trip to Werrington library proved to be successful. Whilst browsing through a local history book, I came across a photograph of the Prince of Wales during a visit of the city. The date was July, 1923. The Prince also paid a visit to the showground.

 

The building on the left is Barclays bank as it still is today, but no longer housed in this wonderful looking building. Amazing to know that it was a bank almost 100 years ago.

A nice view of Church Street, clearly showing St. John's Church. The building that sticks out on the left is Barclays Bank.

'Boots - Cash, Chemists & Perfumers' simply known as plain old 'Boots' today. This building has been occupied by many different retailers over the years. Burger King was probably one of the most well known in recent years. The building to the right is Barclays bank yet again.

St. John's Church. The crowd gathered to catch a glimpse of the Prince of Wales.

The above photograph was taken just opposite the Guildhall, during the Prince of Wales visit.

Another photograph of the Guildhall. The building to the left of the Guildhall was the old Police station which was demolished during the 1960s (thanks to Marcus Thompson).

St. Johns Church photographed in 1910.