Peterborough (England) is a city in Cambridgeshire, central England, on the Nene River. The city, which was formed in 1974, embraces a substantial agricultural area and lies on the western edge of The Fens, a drained swampland. It is an important railroad junction and an industrial and farm market center. Manufactures consist of machinery, electrical equipment, bricks, as well as processed foods. Of note within the city are Saint Peter's Cathedral, started in 1118, and Hedda Stone (circa 800), an essential piece of Anglo-Saxon sculpture. A Benedictine abbey was constructed on the site of the present-day city in 655, and the village that progressed around it was referred to as Medeshamstede. The abbey was ruined by the Danes in 870; it was renewed and then sacked in the 11th century, and then finally destroyed by fire in 1116. From 1884 to 1965 the town was administrative center of the Soke of Peterborough, a former English county.
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