In the early 1880s a new process was developed at Fletton that allowed house bricks to be mass produced from the lower Oxford clay.  With the excavation of the clay came the discovery of enormous fossilised bones of the sea creatures that 150 million years before had swum in the Jurassic sea covering the area.

 

Brick-making had been a local seasonal craft industry since the early 1800s, but now there was an increasing demand for bricks to build homes for Victorian Peterborough's growing population.   With the new method, mass production could take place very cheaply, and the efficiency of the railways meant that the brick yards could supply even the London builders.   The brick-making industry grew rapidly, with some small yards and some very large ones, but by the mid 1920s they were nearly all controlled by the London Brick Company.

 

The health and welfare of Peterborough's citizens was improved by local charities and an enlightened gentry.  In 1816 a public dispensary opened, providing free medical treatment for those who could not afford to pay a doctor.   Rural patients were accommodated at the newly built infirmary in Priestgate, the first modern city hospital.   Dr TJ Walker, the new infirmary's surgeon from 1862 to 1906, was the first Peterborian to be made a freeman of Peterborough in recognition of his contribution to the city.

 

Under the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, the very poor and the very sick were no longer given help to stay in their own homes, but had to be cared for in a workhouse by the local Poor Union. The Act segregated men, women and children, and the Peterborough Board of Guardians quickly realised that Wordey's workhouse, now almost a hundred years old, would be unsuitable.   A new workhouse was built on Thorpe Road, and remained in use until the system was abolished in 1930.

 

The Improvement Commissioners had done what they could to develop the city, but in 1874 it became a municipal borough, able to elect a Council of six aldermen and 18 councillors who would agree and finance major developments.  The Council bought the 'Chamber over the Cross' from the Feoffees, and renamed it the Guildhall.

 

Within five years, they constructed a new water and sewage system, reorganised the police service and began the long struggle to bring electric lighting to the city.

 

At around this time, a large number of new schools opened in the city, joining those already established in the early 1800s.   Some of these were founded by Church groups to provide education for the families of ordinary working people, while others were privately run for children of the better-off.