Thursday doors – 20 February 2025 – Doors of Peterborough

Doors 297 – Doors of Peterborough (Part V), April 2024

So at last we come to my final selection of doors from Peterborough, which were taken in the Cathedral area and then passing on down towards the river Nene. While I very much enjoyed my wanderings around this historic Cathedral City, I was left with a bitter sense of urban deprivation in 2020s England, a legacy of 14 years of running down of public services, of impacts of Brexit, of Covid and of the rising costs of fuel. I have shown you one face of this city, but it is important to understand that it is not all ‘chocolate box’ views and stunning architecture.

My genuine wish is that our country rediscovers its sense of purpose, its compassion and its place in the European conversation. After all, who wouldn’t want to live in a better place that is business-like, kind and fair? Enjoy the doors:

Norman archway and doors with the cathedral behind, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Norman archway and doors with the cathedral behind, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Black door and fine stone surround, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Black door and fine stone surround, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Number 2, black door with large wrought iron hinges, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Number 2, black door with large wrought iron hinges, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Studded wooden door and plants, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Studded wooden door and plants, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Norman arched doorway and wooden door. I foind the sign more offensive than the smoking it is there to advise against., Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Norman arched doorway and wooden door. I found the sign more offensive than the smoking it is there to advise against, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Peterborough Guildhall, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Peterborough Guildhall, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Front door of Old Customs House, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Front door of Old Customs House, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Rear door to the river, Old Customs House, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Rear door to the river, Old Customs House, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024

So that’s it from Peterborough, Adieu! I’ll have to think of what to share next from my archive, and will have fun doing so. May I wish you a happy weekend.

If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s Thursday Doors post.

by Scooj

Thursday Doors

Thursday doors – 13 February 2025 – Doors of Peterborough

Doors 296 – Doors of Peterborough (Part IV), April 2024

The truth is, I forgot that today was a Thursday. I have so far had a week of wall-to-wall meetings and have struggled to come up for air. Add to that an evening out last night (on a school night) and my head hasn’t really been in the right place.

I don’t have too much to add to the words about this series of doors from Peterborough, as these are the fourth selection, and I have said much about the city before. These doors were all within the grounds of the Cathedral and of the Cathedral itself. I hope you enjoy them.

Peterborough Cathedral, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Peterborough Cathedral, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Norman arch and door, Peterborough Cathedral, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Norman arch and door, Peterborough Cathedral, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Small side door, Peterborough Cathedral, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Small side door, Peterborough Cathedral, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Gateway and door into the Cathedral grounds, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Gateway and door into the Cathedral grounds, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Buildings and doors in the Cathedral grounds, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Buildings and doors in the Cathedral grounds, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Private door in a wall, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Private door in a wall, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Door between ancient gateways, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Door between ancient gateways, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Closer view of door between ancient gateways, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Closer view of door between ancient gateways, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024

A final set of Peterborough doors to come next time and then onto something else. Have a good weekend.

If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s Thursday Doors post.

by Scooj

Thursday Doors

Thursday doors – 6 February 2025 – Doors of Peterborough

Doors 295 – Doors of Peterborough (Part III), April 2024

This is my second attempt at writing this post – I deleted the first by mistake…very irritating.

Regular readers of Natural Adventures will know the drill by now. When I visit towns and cities in the UK and beyond, I tend to take large numbers of door pictures for Thursday Doors posts, and indeed I have a very healthy archive of  ‘pending’ doors waiting to be shared. This has both good and bad aspects. It means that I always have a steady stream of doors to post, but run the risk of being a little monotonous, presenting doors from the same place for weeks on end.

This is the third selection of doors from Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, in a series of five posts (I think), and these were all photographed in the cathedral area of the city in April last year. As ever, I hope you enjoy them:

Front elevation and entrance to Peterborough Cathedral, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Front elevation and entrance to Peterborough Cathedral, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Wrought iron gate and glass doorway with large vaulted archways to Peterborough Cathedral, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Wrought iron gate and glass doorway with large vaulted archways to Peterborough Cathedral, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Large side door on Peterborough Cathedral, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024210_edited
Large side door on Peterborough Cathedral, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024210_edited
Black door, window and downpipe, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Black door, window and downpipe, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Simple green arched door and stone work, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Simple green arched door and stone work, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Black door at number 24 and be careful those flagstones can be slippery when wet, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Black door at number 24 and be careful those flagstones can be slippery when wet, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Ghost door or gateway, now with nicely framed window, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Ghost door or gateway, now with nicely framed window, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Superb ghost door and tower, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024
Superb ghost door and tower, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, April 2024

Some of the old buildings in the Cathedral area of Peterborough speak of its ancient history and wealth, it feels rather at odds these days with some of the more deprived areas of the city.

That’s it for another week, with more to come next time. Until then, au revoir.

If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s Thursday Doors post.

by Scooj

Thursday Doors

Thursday doors – 30 January 2025 – Doors of Peterborough

Doors 294 – Doors of Peterborough (Part II)

As is so often the case, I am a little pressed for time this week, having been volunteered to take on some extra work (which I have no capacity to do) for another parallel team until the end of March. New relationships, ways of working and projects adds up to heightened pressure, but I will not allow this to interfere too much with my mindful moments such as Thursday Doors and photographing street art.

This is the second selection of doors from Peterborough, which bring us closer to the area around the Cathedral, and an area that was historically wealthier than the surrounding districts. I hope you enjoy them.

Grand central portico with Corinthian columns and panelled doors, Peterborough, April 2024
Grand central portico with Corinthian columns and panelled doors, Peterborough, April 2024
Ordinary door on a Grade II listed building built in 1911, Peterborough, April 2024
Ordinary door on a Grade II listed building built in 1911, Peterborough, April 2024
Green gates, Peterborough, April 2024
Green gates, Peterborough, April 2024
Black door with stained glass surround, Peterborough, April 2024
Black door with stained-glass surround, Peterborough, April 2024
Exotic doorway fusing the old with ther new, Peterborough, April 2024
Exotic doorway fusing the old with the new, Peterborough, April 2024
Pair of doors, steps and flower pots, Peterborough, April 2024
Pair of doors, steps and flower pots, Peterborough, April 2024
Black door and sturdy stone surround, steps and flower pots, Peterborough, April 2024
Black door and sturdy stone surround, steps and flower pots, Peterborough, April 2024
Two black arched doors in the grounds of the Cathedral, Peterborough, April 2024
Two black arched doors in the grounds of the Cathedral, Peterborough, April 2024

There is not a lot more to add this week, so I will look forward to next time.

If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s Thursday Doors post.

by Scooj

2025-thursday-doors-badge-neon-lines

Thursday doors – 23 January 2025 – Doors of Peterborough

Doors 293 – Doors of Peterborough (Part I)

Last year, I made a work trip to Peterborough to run a workshop, and as ever when on my travels, I took the opportunity early in the morning before the workshop started to gather my thoughts and have a little wander around the place taking photographs and noticing things.

Peterborough is a Cathedral City in eastern central England, and although I have visited it before when I lived in Cambridgeshire, it was always on a night out or to an office, so I hadn’t really ever got to know the place. What surprised me the most wasn’t the incredible architecture around the cathedral or the clean and tidy streets, it was instead the levels of deprivation, and I was quite shocked. There were a lot of rough sleepers about the place and the tell-tale signs of a poverty-stricken society containing streets full of bookies, pound shops, gambling arcades and vape shops – ‘Aladdin’s caves’ of bright lights and hope.

I have to say I found the experience profoundly depressing, and a contemporary illustration of how the previous government of 14 years had failed people at the lower end of the economic spectrum. The first thing I saw as I stepped out of the station was a long queue of people with tatty clothes and plastic bags outside a foodbank. We should hang our heads in shame that foodbanks even exist in one of the wealthiest nations in the world, while the richest in our society just get richer.

On a brighter note, Peterborough had pockets of street art and, importantly to today’s post, plenty of interesting doors to admire. Let’s get cracking:

White garage doors, Peterborough, April 2024
White garage doors, Peterborough, April 2024
An interesting door surround at the Tavan Moroccan restaurant, Peterborough, April 2024
An interesting door surround at the Tavan Moroccan restaurant, Peterborough, April 2024
Black door and fabulous stonework, Nacro Education, Peterborough, April 2024
Black door and fabulous stonework, Nacro Education, Peterborough, April 2024
1930 iron and glass latticed door, Peterborough, April 2024
1930 iron and glass latticed door, Peterborough, April 2024
Norman gateway and double doors (not a perfect fit), Cathedral Square, Peterborough, April 2024
Norman gateway and double doors (not a perfect fit), Cathedral Square, Peterborough, April 2024
Closer view of the Norman gateway and double doors, Cathedral Square, Peterborough, April 2024
Closer view of the Norman gateway and double doors, Cathedral Square, Peterborough, April 2024
Some nice symmetry around the black door of this 1837 building erected by Edward Wortly, an MP of the city, Peterborough, April 2024
Some nice symmetry around the black door of this 1837 building erected by Edward Wortly, an MP of the city, Peterborough, April 2024

Plenty more to come from this trip to Peterborough next time. May I wish you a happy weekend.

If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s Thursday Doors post.

by Scooj

2025-thursday-doors-badge-neon-lines

6221. Peterborough

Nyces, Peterborough, April 2024
Nyces, Peterborough, April 2024

My work trip to Peterborough in April had spin-off benefits, as do all my work trips when I am ‘on tour’, in the form of exploring a new city, finding interesting doors and sniffing out graffiti and street art. I cannot visit a new place without having my extended radar on full alert for opportunities to find things that interest me – some might call it marginally obsessive, and they might be right.

Nyces, Peterborough, April 2024
Nyces, Peterborough, April 2024

Nyces (Nathan Murdoch) is a bit of a celebrity in his home city, and this piece sparked a series of local newspaper and TV features about the artist, such as this one in the Peterborough Telegraph. The colourful piece is not only wonderfully painted in a patchwork of colour and geometric segments, it also has an uplifting message for the heavy traffic that passes by saying “Hello my beautiful people”. Nyces is a big graffiti fish in a small bowl.

6003. Peterborough

Nyces, Peterborough, April 2024
Nyces, Peterborough, April 2024 (morning)

Last month I visited Peterborough for work, and because it is some distance away from Bristol, I stayed the night before the workshop I was leading, in a hotel. On the way to my lodgings, I took a meandering route (as I always do when visiting an unfamiliar town or city), and was rewarded with this unbelievable mural by Nyces (Nathan Murdoch).

Nyces, Peterborough, April 2024
Nyces, Peterborough, April 2024 (afternoon)

It appears that Nyces is ‘the’ street artist in town, and although there are small pockets of graffiti writing in various places, Nyces ‘owns’ the walls of Peterborough. This outstanding piece is obviously a reflection of the horrific war in Gaza, with a child in combat gear sitting forlornly in a desert near a makeshift dwelling. A spray can sits amongst pebbles in the foreground, but the small bacon of hope comes from the snowdrop flower emitting some sparkles of light. This is a moving piece that has a calm about it, a sense of resignation – very powerful. It is superbly painted too.

I got really lucky on my way back to the station after my workshop. I had been told that there was an artist painting in the shopping centre opposite the station, and indeed it was Nyces who was painting a series of large murals to brighten the place up. Naturally I introduced myself and has great chat with him. Although he doesn’t leave Peterborough too often, he has visited Bristol once or twice in the past. One or two more pieces to come from Peterborough’s Nyces.

Red kite

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A rare privilege

private viewing of a kill

light feathers flying

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by Scooj

• In the grounds of Peterborough cathedral I was lucky enough to witness a red kite making a kill, taking it to a perch and plucking it. I was alone and was unable to share the moment.

I happened to be in the company of a bird expert in the workshop I was running later on, and he identified the bird from the film I took and said that it was very unusual for red kites to kill prey as they are not designed for it and are carrion feeders, so this was a rare occurrence.

In Peterborough

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Cathedral city

homelessness, depravation

a first impression

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by Scooj