Peterborough is a city built on three things — a Norman cathedral, the Victorian Great Northern Railway and the brick-making industry that used the Jurassic Oxford Clay of the Nene Valley to supply Victorian England's building boom. Its abandoned places carry all three layers: a Victorian psychiatric hospital, the extraordinary derelict brick-making landscape of the Nene Valley and the WWII military heritage of a county that was one of the RAF's principal bomber bases. Here are 5 of the best abandoned places in Peterborough, selected from our Abandoned Places Map UK — 640+ GPS locations across England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
Why Peterborough Is a Hidden Gem for Urban Exploration
Peterborough sits at the centre of one of England's most historically rich but least-explored urbex landscapes — the flat Fenland and Nene Valley that stretches east toward the Wash. The brick-making industry left an extraordinary industrial archaeology of Hoffmann kilns and clay pits; Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire's WWII bomber stations are accessible from the city; and the Victorian institutional heritage around the city centre is consistently underexplored by the national urbex community.
1. Thorpe Wood Hospital – Peterborough — 1847 Victorian Peterborough Asylum, Kirkbride Campus, Gothic Tower and Chapel, Progressive Dereliction (Known Location)
Thorpe Wood Hospital opened in 1847 as the Peterborough County Asylum — one of the earliest purpose-built Kirkbride-plan psychiatric hospitals in England, whose Gothic tower, ornate chapel and original ward buildings served the county's psychiatric patients for over a century. The progressive dereliction of the campus through deinstitutionalisation left significant original structures in atmospheric decay. One of the earliest surviving examples of Kirkbride-plan psychiatric architecture in the East Midlands and one of Peterborough's most historically significant abandoned buildings.
🔗 Learn more: Wikipedia – Thorpe Wood Hospital
2. Orton Longueville Hall – Orton, Peterborough — Elizabethan Manor House, Partially Abandoned, Original Great Hall and Chapel Wing, Grade II* Listed (Known Location)
Orton Longueville Hall near Peterborough is a substantial Elizabethan manor house — parts dating from the 16th century with significant additions through the Stuart and Georgian periods, including an original great hall and chapel wing. Grade II* listed and partially abandoned, the hall represents an extraordinary survival of Elizabethan domestic architecture within the Peterborough urban boundary. One of the most historically significant and most architecturally distinguished abandoned buildings accessible from Peterborough city centre.
🔗 Also read: Top 5 Abandoned Places in England →
3. Abandoned Nene Valley Hoffmann Brick Kiln – 1870s-1900s Continuous Firing Kiln, Circular Chamber Structure Still Intact, Nene Valley Brick Country, Peterborough (Exclusively on Our Map)
An 1870s-1900s Hoffmann continuous firing brick kiln in the Nene Valley — the circular chamber structure with its series of interconnected firing chambers arranged around a central chimney stack, the brick-lined chambers still largely intact above the Oxford Clay excavation. The Nene Valley produced billions of bricks for Victorian England from the Jurassic Oxford Clay; the Hoffmann kilns that fired them are among the most unusual and most architecturally striking pieces of Victorian industrial archaeology in the east of England.
🔗 Learn more: Historic England – Nene Valley Brickworks Heritage
4. Abandoned Fenland RAF Bomber Station – 1940s Heavy Bomber Base, Control Tower and Dispersal Hardstandings Still Visible, Flat Fenland Setting, Cambridgeshire (Off the Radar — Our Map Only)
A 1940s heavy bomber station in the flat Cambridgeshire Fenland — the original control tower still standing above the surrounding fields, the concrete dispersal hardstandings where Lancasters or Stirlings were parked and the perimeter track still traceable around the full circuit. The Fenland's flat landscape and proximity to Germany made it the heartland of RAF Bomber Command; Cambridgeshire had more bomber stations per square mile than any other county. GPS coordinates available with our England Urbex Map.
5. Abandoned Georgian Fenland Country House – 18th-Century Mansion, Grand Staircase and Library Intact, Stable Block and Walled Garden, Rural Cambridgeshire (Exclusively on Our Map)
An 18th-century country house in the flat Cambridgeshire Fenland — the original grand staircase still intact, the library with period shelving and the servants' wing with its bells and call board. The stable block and walled kitchen garden still stand in the overgrown grounds. Fenland agriculture created a wealthy landowning class in the 18th century; when death duties and agricultural mechanisation made these estates unviable, several were simply abandoned. Included in our England collection — 400+ locations.
Safety Tips
- Clay pit flooding: former brick-making clay pits in the Nene Valley flood rapidly and have steep unstable sides — never approach the edge of any former clay excavation and keep children away from all flooded pits
- Asbestos: universal in pre-1980 Peterborough institutional buildings — FFP2 mask mandatory in any enclosed space
- Never explore alone — always bring at least one other person
The urbex code: "Respect the decay. It tells the story."
❓ FAQ
What is the most famous abandoned place in Peterborough?
Thorpe Wood Hospital — the 1847 County Asylum, one of the earliest purpose-built Kirkbride psychiatric hospitals in England, whose Gothic tower and chapel represent some of the oldest surviving Victorian psychiatric architecture in the East Midlands.
What is Orton Longueville Hall?
A Grade II* listed Elizabethan manor house within the Peterborough urban boundary — parts dating from the 16th century with original great hall and chapel wing. One of the most historically significant abandoned buildings accessible from Peterborough city centre.
What were Hoffmann kilns?
Continuous firing brick kilns invented by Friedrich Hoffmann in 1858 — circular structures with a series of interconnected chambers where bricks were fired continuously, one chamber after another, for maximum efficiency. The Nene Valley's Oxford Clay brick industry used Hoffmann kilns extensively from the 1870s; their circular chamber ruins are among the most unusual pieces of Victorian industrial archaeology in the east of England.
🎯 Summary
Peterborough's abandoned places range from one of England's earliest Victorian psychiatric hospitals to an Elizabethan manor house within the city boundary and Victorian Hoffmann brick kilns from the industry that built Victorian England. Each of these 5 derelict buildings in Peterborough captures a different layer of a city shaped by the Fens, the railway and the brick.
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