Peterborough Cathedral

City of Peterborough, United Kingdom

No longer standing

Demolished or destroyed.

Wheelchair access: Accessible

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Peterborough Cathedral in Cambridgeshire, properly the Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew, evolved from an Anglo-Saxon minster into one of England's most important Benedictine abbeys before becoming a cathedral in 1542. Its architecture is predominantly Norman, following a comprehensive 12th-century rebuilding that preserved the structure largely intact despite later extensions and restoration. Standing 44 meters high, it ranks among the nation's best preserved pre-Reformation abbeys and, alongside Durham and Ely, represents one of England's most significant 12th-century buildings. The cathedral is distinguished by its extraordinary Early English Gothic West Front, featuring three enormous arches without architectural precedent or direct successor, with statues of Saints Peter, Paul, and Andrew adorning the three high gables. The façade displays subtle asymmetry, as the right-hand tower rising behind it was never completed, a detail perceptible only from a distance.