The Custom's House

Name	The Custom's House
Date	Circa Early 17th Century
Location	Rivergate, Embankment
Type	Scheduled Monument: Grade 2 Listed Building.
Original use	Granary

History:

• Owned by the Dean and Chapter and later by the Fitzwilliam family of Milton Hall
• Originally built as a granary, it later became used as a Toll House for goods shipped up and down the River Nene. Taxes and Tolls charged as goods passed through the City.
• The river was used as a commercial waterway between Wisbech and Northampton.
• Goods shipped were mainly wood, agricultural products from the fens and even bells cast in the Bell Foundry of William Penn whose foundry was located close to where the present Town Hall is located.
• All river traffic followed the old River Nene course which was tidal as far inland as Peterborough.

Architecture:

The building is mainly constructed of rubble, with dressed stone, the east end is brick. The roof is Colley Weston slate with a hexagonal cupola mounting a weathervane.  Interior features include thick wooden cross members supporting both interior floors, obviously of a size sufficient to carry heavy loads.

Social History :

The building was used as a store, likely a granary until approximately 1888 when Mr Skelton applied for planning permission to convert the west end of the building to residential use. Documents for this confirm the architect as Mr H M Townsend and bye Law plan No. 863 from February 1888. Local Bye Laws were the equivalent of our current Planning Applications.

As a private residence, the interior was converted as follows: Three bedrooms of the first floor, with sitting room, kitchen and back kitchen on the ground floor. Heating and cooking was provided by coal fires, no gas or water pipes are shown on the plans!

In the sitting room there still exists a fine example of a Victorian fireplace. This is cast iron surrounded with glazed tiles.

Later additions included rowing skiffs which were hired out to the local community, a popular pastime.  An interesting anecdotal fact is that the first circular saw in Peterborough was located in the building.

Currently the building is home to the Sea Cadets and operates under the name of the Training Ship Gildenburgh