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Before the festival

Saturday 18th January2025

Katharine Papercraft Workshop for Families

10.00-11.30                                                                                                                                                                    

Create a fun 3D papercraft sculpture of Katharine of Aragon with contemporary papercraft illustrator Shobhna Patel will. A  fast-paced and creative workshop for children and parents to enjoy together.  

Tickets £8 per child + booking fee (one free place for an accompanying adult)

Katharine Papercraft Workshop for Adults

13.00 (duration 2-3hrs)

Create your own ornate paper portrait of Katharine of Aragon with contemporary papercraft illustrator Shobhna Patel. 

Tickets £27pp + booking fee

 

the festival begins

Wednesday 22nd January 2025

Cathedral Tudor Tour

A costumed tour with a Tudor focus including the tombs of Katharine or Aragon and Mary Queen of Scots, the gravedigger who inspired Shakespeare, the Tudor 'New Building' and much more 

14.30

Tickets £10pp + booking fee

Thursday 23rd January 2025

Tudor Day for Schools

10.00-15.00

Meet Katharine of Aragon, learn Tudor etiquette, visit a barber surgeon and get hands-on with an immersive carousel of activities including quill writing, fingerguard making and crafting 

A day of celebration and fun for all things Tudor with Peterborough Museum, History off the Page and Marvellous History 

Aimed at KS2 

FREE to all schools in Peterborough. To book or for more infomation, please email the school visits' team

Friday 24th January 2025

8.30am Roman Catholic Mass 

Conducted by the clergy of St Peter and All Souls Church, Peterborough. 

All welcome

11am Commemoration Service and wreath laying 

The Very Revd Chris Dalliston, Dean of Peterborough, will lead a short service of commemoration with readings and prayers. During the service wreaths will be laid on Katharine’s tomb by school pupils and visiting dignitaries. 
■  All welcome.  

14.00 Katharine of Aragon Embroidery Workshop for beginners 

Katharine of Aragon was a skilled embroider who was known for her blackwork and popularised this form of embroidery. This workshop will give participants the opportunity to learn how blackwork was applied to garments using simple running stiches to create complex motifs and borders. Using these stitches and following a printed chart you will be able to produce a piece of work inspired from designs 600 years ago 

14.00 (duration 2-3 hrs)

Tickets: £27 pp + booking fee 

 

Vespers 17.30 

The daily evening service at the Cathedral, this time in the form of Vespers, a form familiar in Tudor times, sung by the Cathedral Choir. 
■  All welcome. 

 

Son et Lumiere 

An exclusive, atmospheric and beautiful evening; experience the Cathedral at night as stories will be spun and tales told. Each story will explore a period in the Cathedral’s history, accompanied by music of that period.  The experience will end with mulled wine in the Tudor New Building and visitors are warmly invited to join with the service of Compline afterwards.  Limited places. 

19.30-21.00

Tickets £35pp + booking fee. 

Compline 21.30 

A service at the close of the day, sung by adult members of the Cathedral Choir. Like Vespers, Compline would have been part of the daily Divine Office observed by the monks of Peterborough Abbey. 
■ All welcome. 

Saturday 25th January 

 

At Court with the Tudors 10.00-16.00 - Drop in Family Fun

A drop-in event for families celebrating all things Tudor. We will be joined once more by the amazing Regal Rose Historical Portrayal – Katharine, Henry and the whole Court will arrive at 11.00 for visitors to pay homage, ask questions and take selfies. Impromptu dancing and game playing will be in store as well as a Tudor storytelling, dressing a Tudor Queen talks and craft makes for children and adults alike 

Monks, Mischief and Marauders Family Tours 10.30, 12.00, 13.30, 15.00 

A costumed, guided tour aimed at a family audience.  A  unique and light-hearted take on the Cathedral’s history. Complete with keys, spade and skull, our guide, dressed as Tudor gravedigger Robert ‘Old’ Scarlett will try not to scare you with his ‘grim visage’ and 'mighty voice’ as he takes you round the building. Just keep up – he hates dawdlers! 

Children receive his personal guide and activity book to complete after the tour! 

Price £6pp + booking fee or £24 per family (two adults + up to 3 children) 

Tickets available soon

 

Tudor Talks

Tudor experts lead a series of fascinating and engaging talks in the historic Knight’s Chamber  

£12per talk or £10 if booking all 6