Cambridge Life

Cambridge

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Cambridge is renowned as one of England’s two great university towns, steeped in history and tradition. It has been described as one of the most beautiful cities in Britain. The city takes its name from the crossing of the River Cam. Here, at the meeting of dense forests to the south and marshy Fens to the north, was the lowest reliable fording place of the River Cam, or Granta. In the first century BC an Iron Age Belgic tribe built a settlement on what is now Castle Hill. In the first century AD, the Romans took over the site and it became the crossing point for the Via Devana which linked Colchester with the legions in Lincoln and beyond. The Saxons followed, then the Normans under William the Conqueror, who raised a castle on a steep mound as a base for fighting the Saxon rebel, Hereward the Wake, deep in the Fens at Ely. The motte of William’s castle still stands and Ely Cathedral is visible from the top on a clear day.

Today Cambridge is a thriving city of some 100,000 people. Its commercial heart is surrounded by fine buildings and green open spaces. The Backs, the famous grass-covered banks of the River Cam, are carpeted with crocus and daffodils in Spring. This is the Cambridge of Brooke, Byron, Newton and Rutherford, of the summer idyll of punts, bumps’, cool willows, and May Balls. In Summer you can take a punt along the river and enjoy the architectural glories of the riverside colleges. At King’s College Chapel, the best known of all Cambridge buildings, you may be lucky enough to hear the world-famous choir. In Autumn and Winter there are fewer visitors and the City is less crowded, but the presence of the students adds to the special atmosphere.