Peterborough - the most underrated cathedral in England?
Medieval architecture and two queens who never were
Peterborough is probably known to most travellers as a station on the East Coast Main Line. It's a useful place to change trains, but not somewhere to stop.
Which is a pity - because Peterborough has one of
the most underrated cathedrals in England. It's an almost perfectly preserved
Norman church, with a unique twelfth century painted wooden ceiling, and
a dramatic Gothic west front. And for dessert, there's a fanciful confection
- a fan vaulted retrochoir added on to the east end. 
And if you're interested in sad stories, this cathedral contains the graves of two 'queens who never were' - Katharine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII, whose marriage was annulled on grounds of consanguinity, and Mary Queen of Scots, executed at Fotheringay Castle and buried here by the politically cannier Elizabeth I.
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The tour starts at the west gate leading to the cathedral.