Located just 95 kilometres north of London, Cambridge is one of the most attractive cities in Britain, aided by the beautiful architecture of the historic University buildings, its narrow streets and the surrounding Green Belt. There was a British settlement on the banks of the River Granta (later to be renamed the River Cam) before the coming of the Romans and it grew into a busy commercial centre, but it is known best, along with Oxford, for its universities.
A delight to walk around, the historic centre of Cambridge has traffic free streets, and is a tourist magnet, filled with visitors and students dashing around on their bikes. When the universities are ‘in’, the city accommodates an additional 25% of its population and becomes what is expected of a World Class university city!!
The first university was established early in the 13th century when students grouped around religious and lay teachers whose ideas best appealed to them but, at this time they had to make their own lodging arrangements. It was not until 1284 that the first true college, Peterhouse, was founded by the Bishop of Ely. The largest of the colleges is Trinity, which was founded by Henry VIII, and has a library by Sir Christopher Wren. Next door is St John’s College with its impressive Tudor gateway, and access through three courts to the 19th century New Bridge, better known as the Bridge of Sighs because of its similarity to its namesake in Venice. King’s College Chapel is famous for its Christmas service held each year, and with its fan-vaulted ceiling and magnificent stained-glass, is one of the most beautiful buildings in England. In 1962, the painting ‘The Adoration of the Magi’ by Paul Rubens was donated to add to the treasures of the Chapel. Magdalene College has the Pepys Library to which Samuel Pepys books and engravings were bequeathed with instructions on how they were to be arranged. The Manuscripts of his Diaries, in shorthand, are also kept here. Access is available to many of the college courtyards, chapels and dining halls at most times. With the colleges, come many thousands of students and the necessary bookshops, museums and galleries, as well as a lively theatre and cinema programme. The Fitzwilliam Museum has one of the most comprehensive collections of English pottery and porcelain in the country, as well as glass and silver displays, illuminated manuscripts, paintings by Turner, Gainsborough and Rembrandt, and much more. The Folk Museum, housed in the old White Horse Inn, has an interesting collection of domestic, daily use items such as kitchen utensils, cooking equipment and furniture. After the Colleges, one of the greatest attractions in Cambridge is the river with the college lawns running down to it and a succession of bridges leading across to gardens and lawns known as the ‘Backs’. Punts and rowing boats can be hired for trips along the river.
Other sites, in the city, worthy of mention:
The Saxon tower of the church of St Bene’t, or Benedict’s, believed to have been built in the reign of King Canute (approximately 1020), is the oldest building in the county.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Bridge Street, founded by the Knights Templars in 1130, is one of the few round churches in England.
The Whipple Museum of the History of Science, housed in the Free School in Free School Lane.
Great St Mary’s Church, the University church, has some fine Georgian screen work. Views of the town and countryside can be seen from the top of the tower.
The University Museum of Zoology, has skeletons of elephant, giraffe, polar bear and other animals which are used for teaching and research. While from the ceiling on the upper gallery, are suspended skeletons of whales.
The Botanic Gardens on Bateman Street, with its scented garden and notable rockery.
Other places of interest within 30 kilometres:
Grantchester, an easy walk beside the River Cam and only a stone’s throw from Cambridge itself, is known as a poet’s haunt as so many have been drawn here: Chaucer, Byron and Milton, and more recently Rupert Brooke, who was killed in the First World Was. A quiet village of thatch and timber.
Madingley, the setting for the American Military Cemetery.
Wimpole Hall, a magnificent 18th century house and estate, home to Mrs Elsie Bambridge, the daughter of Rudyard Kipling, who left it to the National Trust in 1976.
Ely Cathedral, begun in 1083 on the site of a Benedictine Abbey, with its octagonal lantern replacing an earlier tower, can be seen for miles across the flat fenland of the area.
The Imperial War Museum Duxford, our premier aviation museum, with 200 historic aircraft from Spitfires to Concorde.
Newmarket, the headquarters of horse racing in England since the 17th century, with the National Stud next to the racecourse and the National Horseracing Museum in the High Street.
Did you know that – on the chapel tower of the Great Court at Trinity college, is a gilded clock that strikes each hour twice? In the film ‘The Chariots of Fire’ Harold Abrahams, the Olympic athlete, ran around the Court while the clock twice struck the hour of twelve.
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