Peterhouse

History of Peterhouse Cambridge

General information about Peterhouse can be found on Wikipedia.

The college website can be found here:

https://www.pet.cam.ac.uk/about-college

Peterhouse in 1592

F A Reeve writes in The Cambridge Nobody Knows, 1977, describes the Water Gate that enabled the Bishop of Ely and others to arrive at Peterhouse via Coe Fen by boat, together with a flight of steps on the college side that enabled members to watch the water rushing by in times of flood. The arms on the Fen side of the gate are those of John Hotham, Bishop of Ely, 1316-1337, and those inside are of Bishop John Alcock, 1486-1500. Coe Fen had been very marshy but in the C19th rubbish and road sweepings were dumped on it to raise the level.

Water Gate Peterhouse

Peterhouse and Trumpington Street, Ackermann’s Cambridge, 1815

The Cambridge Ghost Book, Halliday and Murdie, 2000, has a chapter on ghosts of Peterhouse. Accounts seem to focus on the area of Peterhouse adjoining the churchyard of Little St Mary’s Church; a Dean of Peterhouse even performed an exorcism in the area. There is a story of a ‘Blue Lady’ haunting F staircase which forms part of the original 13th century building.

It was in 1997 that there were several supernatural sightings. There were many witnesses. These events were reported in the national press and it was suggested that the ghost was that of James Dawes, a fellow of Peterhouse who hanged himself in 1789. The authors, after consideration of the facts around the case, state that this is one of the ‘most striking examples of a haunting in Britain in recent times.’

See also ‘Cambridge College Ghosts’ by Geoff Yeates.

1966

Letter to Constance Pyle 1966

Peterhouse (RGL2023)

Peterhouse (RGL2023)