In 1895 the restoration of the west front and other parts was begun; during this restoration the site of the cruciform Saxon church, enclosed within a crypt under the south transept, was dis covered. Catherine of Aragon was interred in the cathedral in 1536, and Mary Queen of Scots in 1587, but the body of the Scottish queen was removed to Westminster Abbey in 1612. The cathedral is approached by a Norman gateway, above which is the chapel of St. Nicholas, built by Abbot Benedict, and on the left the chapel of St. Thomas a Becket, built by Abbot Ashton in the 15th century as it stands, but originally Norman. The gateway to the bishop's palace, formerly the abbot's house, was built in 1319, and the deanery gate about 1520. One of the canonry houses is formed partly from a hall of the 13th century.
Peterborough is included for civil purposes in the parish of St. John the Baptist, but for ecclesiastical purposes it is divided into four, the additional parishes being St. Mary's Boongate (1857), St. Mark's (1858) and St. Paul's (1869). The old parish church of St. John originally stood to the east of the cathedral, but was rebuilt on its present site in the centre of the city (14o1–o7) in Perpendicular style. The educational establishments include the
Henry VIII. grammar or chapter school, which used the chapel of St. Thomas a Becket until 1885; and Deacon's and Ireland's charity school, established in 1721 for the clothing and educating of 20 poor boys. The principal public building is the market house (1671), used as a town-hall. The modern prosperity and rapid growth of the town are chiefly due to the trade caused by the junction of so many railway lines. Adjoining the town are extensive railway works. The principal manufactures are of agri cultural implements, bricks and tiles. There is trade in agricultural produce. The municipal borough was incorporated in 1874. The soke or liberty of Peterborough, with a population (1930 of 55,845, constitutes a separate administrative county (1888). The diocese of Peterborough includes the whole of Rutland, nearly all Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, and small portions of Derbyshire and Huntingdonshire.