What Was the First Reference?
The earliest reference I have found to Inkhambridge was from a charter relating to the parish church (St John) and guild lands of Peterborough (1) and dated to 1355 which refers to ‘two acres of arable land lying in the fields of Peterborough at Inkhambridge adjoining the King’s highway known as Botolphgate.’In another charter from the same collection (2) from
3 March 1381-82 there is a reference to ‘two acres of arable land situate at
Inkhambridge in the fields of Peterborough adjoining the public way leading
from Inkhambridge to Boongate.’
Where Were These Locations?
Botolphgate was the name of the road that went past the hamlet of Botolphsbridge or Bottlebridge, which is now known as Oundle Road, Woodston. The hamlet had at one time a ford and/or bridge across the Nene close to where Nene Valley’s Fletton Junction is between Botolph Green and the rowing lake over the river. Earlier maps and archaeological digs (EEA Report 153 on Botolph Bridge) have shown how Botolphgate had been diverted from its earlier route, which made a gentle curve towards a crossing close to the location of the Key Theatre, meeting up with what is now Vineyard Road, east of the Cathedral.
Boongate, or Bondgate, was the name of the settlement to the
east of the abbey which was close to Roman Car Dyke and predates the
abbey/cathedral. Evidence of Bronze Age and Roman remains were found in the
cathedral grounds and in the area of Boongate.
In present day Peterborough, Oundle Road meets London Road and crosses the river directly north onto Bridge Street. A bridge was first built there in 1308, so it was in place in the first reference to Inkhambridge in 1355, but from a linguistic point of view the location of Inkhambridge had to predate the 'new' bridge.
What Can the Name of the Location Tell Us?
Inkhambridge is an unusual name and likely to be a variant of Ingham Bridge (try saying them with a Scandinavian or German accent and see how similar the g and k sound). The ‘ingham’ part of the name is Anglo Saxon in origin, possibly dating from the 6th century, if not earlier, and therefore pre-dating the abbey, which was founded in 6553. The name refers to a homestead and is common across England but tightly concentrated in Norfolk and Suffolk4. As you might expect from an early Anglo Saxon word, there aren't many 'inghams' in the fens or indeed around Peterborough, which makes this name in this location all the more interesting.
So Where Was Inkhambridge?
Joining together the two references, Inkhambridge was probably a bridge or crossing of the Nene where the embankment is now and would have been the main river crossing that led to Boongate from the south. The two acres of arable land mentioned are almost certainly to the east of the road running south from Boongate to the river, the west containing several river channels and belonging to the abbey at the time.
With such an old name it's even possible that Inkham or Ingham was the name of the original settlement that pre-dated Boongate, or (more likely) was a settlement south of the river where Fletton Quays is now, surviving as a name in the river crossing alone.
As a new pedestrian bridge is being built close to the location of the old settlement of Inkhambridge, is it a suitable name for the new bridge? I'm suggesting it is!
References
1. PAS/GCH/6
2. PAS/GCH/9
3. https://farringford.co.uk/history/estate/place-name-derivation
4. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:-ham_and_-ingham_place_names.png
Image by Ryan McGuire from Pixabay
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