The city of Cambridge ( ( )) is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is also at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen - a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the city.

Cambridge is best known as the home of the University of Cambridge, one of the world's premier universities. The university includes the renowned Cavendish Laboratory, King's College Chapel, and the Cambridge University Library. The Cambridge skyline is dominated by the last two buildings, along with the chimney of Addenbrooke's Hospital in the far south of the city and St John's College Chapel tower in the north.

According to the 2001 United Kingdom census, the City's population was 108,863 (including 22,153 students), and the population of the urban area (which includes parts of South Cambridgeshire district) is estimated to be 130,000. Cambridge is surrounded by many smaller towns and villages.

History

Prehistory

Settlements have existed around this area since before the Roman Empire The earliest clear evidence of occupation were the remains of a 3,500-year-old farmstead discovered at the site of Fitzwilliam College. There is further archaeological evidence through the Iron Age, a Belgic tribe having settled on Castle Hill in the 1st century BC

Roman times

The first major development of the area began with the Roman invasion of Britain in about AD 40. Castle Hill made Cambridge a useful place for a military outpost from which to defend the River Cam. It was also the crossing point for the Via Devana which linked Colchester in Essex with the garrisons at Lincoln and the north. This Roman settlement has been identified as Duroliponte.

The settlement remained a regional centre during the 350 years after the Roman occupation, until about AD 400. Roman roads and walled enclosures can still be seen in the area.

Duroliponte means bridge over the duro or duroli, which appears to derive from the celtic word for water.

Saxon and Viking age

After the Romans had left, Saxons took over the land on and around Castle Hill. Their grave goods have been found in the area. During Anglo-Saxon times Cambridge benefited from good trade links across the otherwise hard-to-travel fenlands. By the 7th century, however, visitors from nearby Ely reported that Cambridge had declined severely Cambridge is mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as Grantebrycge.

The arrival of the Vikings in Cambridge was recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 875. Viking rule, the Danelaw, had been imposed by 878 The Vikings' vigorous trading habits caused Cambridge to grow rapidly. During this period the centre of the town shifted from Castle Hill on the left bank of the river to the area now known as the Quayside on the right bank. After the end of the Viking period the Saxons enjoyed a brief return to power, building St Bene't's Church in 1025, which still stands in Bene't Street.

Norman times

In 1068, two years after his conquest of England, William of Normandy built a castle on Castle Hill. Like the rest of the newly conquered kingdom, Cambridge fell under the control of the King and his deputies. The distinctive Round Church dates from this period. By Norman times the name of the town had mutated to Grentabrige or Cantebrigge (Grantbridge), while the river that flowed through it was called the Granta.

Over time the name of the town changed to Cambridge, while the river Cam was still known as the Granta — indeed the Upper River (the stretch between the Millpond in Cambridge and Grantchester) is correctly known as the Granta to this day. The Welsh language name of the town remains Caergrawnt (roughly analogous to Grantchester, which is also the name of a village near Cambridge). It was only later that the river became known as the Cam, by analogy with the name Cambridge. The University, formed 1209, uses a Latin adjective cantabrigiensis (often contracted to "Cantab") to mean "of Cambridge", but this is obviously a back-formation from the English name.

Beginnings of the university

In 1209, students escaping from hostile townspeople in Oxford fled to Cambridge and formed a university there The oldest college that still exists, Peterhouse, was founded in 1284 One of the most impressive buildings in Cambridge, King's College Chapel, was begun in 1446 by King Henry VI. The project was completed in 1515 during the reign of King Henry VIII.

Cambridge University Press originated with a printing licence issued in 1534. Hobson's Conduit, the first project to bring clean drinking water to the town centre, was built in 1610 (by the Hobson of Hobson's choice). Parts of it survive today. Addenbrooke's Hospital was founded in 1766. The railway and station were built in 1845. According to legend, the University dictated their location: well away from the centre of town, so that the possibility of quick access to London would not distract students from their work. However, there is no written record of this notion.

It was said that "Cambridge is a fountain of knowledge where students come to drink".

Twentieth century

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s the size of the city was greatly increased by several large council estates planned to hold London overspill. The biggest impact has been on the area north of the river, which are now the estates of Arbury, East Chesterton and King's Hedges, and there are many smaller estates to the south of the city.

In 1962 Cambridge's first shopping arcade, Bradwell's Court, opened on Drummer Street, though this was demolished in 2002. Other shopping arcades followed at Lion Yard, which housed a relocated Central Library for the city, and the Grafton Centre which replaced Victorian housing stock which had fallen into disrepair in the Kite area of the city. Both of these projects met strong opposition at the time.

The city gained its second University in 1992 when Anglia Polytechnic became Anglia Polytechnic University. Renamed Anglia Ruskin University in 2005, the institution has its origins in the Cambridge School of Art opened in 1858 by John Ruskin. The Open University also has a presence in the city, with an office operating on Hills Road.

Despite having a university, Cambridge was not granted its city charter until 1951. Cambridge does not have a cathedral, traditionally a prerequisite for city status, instead falling within the Church of England Diocese of Ely.

Cambridge today

Cambridge is now one of East Anglia's major settlements, along with Norwich, Ipswich and Peterborough.

Many of the buildings in the centre are colleges affiliated to the University of Cambridge, including King's College and Magdalene College. Colleges such as Trinity College and St John's College own significant land both in Cambridge and outside: Trinity is the landlord for the Cambridge Science Park, and also the port of Felixstowe; St John's is the landlord of St John's Innovation Centre next door to the Science Park, and many other buildings in the city centre.

Cambridge City Council plans to renew the area around the Corn Exchange concert hall, and plans for a permanent ice-skating rink are being considered after the success of a temporary one that has been on Parker's Piece every year for the past few years. New housing and developments have continued through the twenty-first century, with estates such as the CB1 and Accordia schemes near the station, and developments such as Clayfarm and Trumpington Meadows planned for the south of the city.

Business

Cambridge and its surrounds are sometimes referred to as Silicon Fen, an allusion to Silicon Valley, because of the density of high-tech businesses and technology incubators that have developed on science parks around the city. Many of these parks and buildings are owned or leased by university colleges, and the companies often have been spun out of the university. Such companies include Abcam, CSR, Acorn Computers (now ARM), CamSemi and Sinclair. Microsoft chose to locate its Microsoft Research UK offices in a University of Cambridge technology park, separate from the main Microsoft UK campus in Reading. Cambridge was also the home of Pye, who made radios and televisions and also defence equipment. In later years Pye evolved into several other companies including TETRA radio equipment manufacturer Pye Telecommunications. Another major business is Marshall Aerospace located on the eastern edge of the city. The Cambridge Network keeps businesses in touch with each other.

Geography

Cambridge is about north-by-east of London. The city is located in an area of level and relatively low-lying terrain just south of the Fens, which varies between and above sea level. The River Cam flows through the city north from the village of Grantchester. The name 'Cambridge' is derived from the river.

Like most cities, modern-day Cambridge has many suburbs and areas of high-density housing. The city centre of Cambridge is mostly commercial, historic buildings, and large green areas such as Jesus Green, Parker's Piece and Midsummer Common. Many of the roads in the centre are pedestrianised.

Demography

The demography in Cambridge changes considerably in and out of University term times, so can be hard to measure.

In the 2001 Census held during University term, 89.44% of Cambridge residents identified themselves as white, compared with a national average of 92.12%. Within the University, 84% of undergraduates and 80% of post-graduates identify as white (including overseas students).

Cambridge has a much higher than average proportion of people in the highest paid professional, managerial or administrative jobs (32.6% vs. 23.5%) and a much lower than average proportion of manual workers (27.6% vs. 40.2%). In addition, a much higher than average proportion of people have a high level qualification (e.g. degree, Higher National Diploma, qualified doctor), (41.2% vs. 19.9%).

Historical population numbers

Historical population of Cambridge
Year	1801	1811	1821	1831	1841	1851	1861	1871	1881	1891
Population	10,087	11,108	14,142	20,917	24,453	27,815	26,361	30,078	35,363	36,983
Year	1901	1911	1921	1931	1951	1961	1971	1981	1991	2001
Population	38,379	40,027	59,264	66,789	81,500	95,527	99,168	87,209	107,496	108,863
Census: Regional District 1801-1901Civil Parish 1911-1961District 1971-2001

Government and politics

Local government

Cambridge is a non-metropolitan district served by a city council. The City of Cambridge is one of five districts within the county of Cambridgeshire, and is bordered on all sides by the mainly rural South Cambridgeshire district. Indeed, it is the only district in England to be entirely surrounded by another. The city council's headquarters are in the Guildhall, a large building in the market square. City councillors elect a mayor annually. Cambridge was granted a Royal Charter by King John in 1207, which permitted the appointment of a Mayor, although the first recorded Mayor, Harvey FitzEustace, served in 1213. Cambridge is also served by Cambridgeshire County Council.

For electoral purposes the city is divided into 14 wards: Abbey, Arbury, Castle, Cherry Hinton, Coleridge, East Chesterton, King's Hedges, Market, Newnham, Petersfield, Queen Edith's, Romsey, Trumpington, and West Chesterton.

The political composition of the city council is currently:

• 28 Liberal Democrat councillors
• 11 Labour councillors
• 1 Green councillor
• 1 Conservative councillor
• 1 Independent councillor

The Liberal Democrats have controlled the city council since 2000.

Westminster

The parliamentary constituency of Cambridge covers most of the city. David Howarth (Liberal Democrat) was elected Member of Parliament (MP) at the 2005 general election, winning the seat from the sitting MP, Labour's Anne Campbell. One area of town, the Queen Edith's ward — lies in theSouth Cambridgeshire constituency, whose MP is Andrew Lansley (Conservative), first elected in 1997. The city had previously elected a Labour MP from 1992 to 2005 and prior to this, usually elected a Conservative after the Second World War. However, the Conservatives came third in the last General Election and have seen their share of the vote fall over the past 20 years.

The University used to have a seat in the House of Commons, Sir Isaac Newton being one of the most notable holders. The Cambridge University constituency was abolished under 1948 legislation, and ceased at the dissolution of Parliament for the 1950 general election, along with the other university constituencies.

Transport

Cambridge is a city with many transport connections as well as being one of the UK's eleven "Cycling Cities", a status given in 2008. There are regular trains to King's Cross and Liverpool Street in London as well as to Peterborough, Royston, King's Lynn, Norwich, Ipswich and Stansted Airport. Cambridge also has its own airport, Marshall Airport Cambridge UK. The future Cambridgeshire Guided Busway will run through Cambridge city centre.

Education

Cambridge's two universities, the collegiate University of Cambridge and the local campus of Anglia Ruskin University, serve around 30,000 students, by some estimates. Cambridge University estimated its 2007-8 student population at 17,662, and Anglia Ruskin reports 24,000 students across its two campuses (one of which is outside Cambridge, in Chelmsford) for the same period. State provision in the further education sector includes Hills Road Sixth Form College, Long Road Sixth Form College, and Cambridge Regional College.

Both state and independent schools serve Cambridge pupils from nursery to secondary school age. State schools are administered by Cambridgeshire County Council, which maintains 251 schools in total, 35 of them in Cambridge city. Chesterton Community College, the Parkside Federation (comprising Parkside Community College and Coleridge Community College, Manor Community College, Netherhall School, and the Christian denominational St. Bede's School provide comprehensive secondary education. Many other pupils from the Cambridge area attend village colleges, an educational institution unique to Cambridgeshire, which serve as secondary schools during the day and adult education centres outside of school hours. Private schools in the city include The Perse School, The Perse School for Girls, St. Mary's School and The Leys School.

Culture

Sport

Football

Cambridge played a unique role in the invention of modern football: the game's first set of rules were drawn up by members of the University in 1848. The Cambridge Rules were first played on Parker's Piece and had a "defining influence on the 1863 Football Association rules."

The city is home to Cambridge United F.C., who played in the Football League at the Abbey Stadium from 1970 to 2005, when they were relegated to Conference National. When relegation became inevitable the club was placed in administration with substantial debts, but it emerged from administration in time for the 2005–06 season. The club's biggest success came in the early 1990s, with two successive promotions, two successive FA Cup quarter-final appearances, a run to the Football League Cup quarter-finals, and reaching the brink of promotion to the new Premier League.

The city's other football club Cambridge City F.C. play in the Southern Football League Premier Division at the City Ground in Chesterton. Histon, just north of Cambridge, is home to Conference National side Histon F.C..

Rugby

Cambridge's most successful sports team over recent years is rugby union club Cambridge R.U.F.C.. After three successive promotions they managed to survive their debut season in National Division Two 2006–07. The club's home ground is at West Renault Park on Granchester Road in the southwest corner of the city. Cambridge Eagles rugby league team play in the National Conference League East Section during the summer months, often drawing on rugby union players keen to continue playing rugby throughout the year.

Watersports

The River Cam running through the city centre is used for boating. The University has its own rowing club, Cambridge University Boat Club, and most of the individual colleges have boathouses on the river. The main focus of university rowing life are the two bumps races held in the Lent and Summer terms. Cambridgeshire Rowing Association was formed in 1868 and organises competitive rowing on the river outside of the University. Shallower parts of the Cam are used for recreational punting, a type of boating in which the craft is propelled by pushing against the river bed with a pole.

Other sports

As well as being the home of the Cambridge Rules in football, Parker's Piece was used for first-class cricket matches from 1817 to 1864. The University of Cambridge's Cricket ground, Fenner's, is located in the city and is one of the home grounds for minor counties team Cambridgeshire CCC. Cambridge is also home to two Real Tennis courts out of just 42 in the world at Cambridge University Real Tennis Club. British American Football League club Cambridgeshire Cats play at Coldham's Common. Cambridge has two cycling clubs Team Cambridge and Cambridge Cycling Club.

Motorcycle speedway racing took place at the Greyhound Stadium in Newmarket Road in 1939 and the contemporary local press carried meeting reports and photographs of racing. It is not known if this venue operated in other years. The team raced as Newmarket as the meetings were organised by the Newmarket Motorcycle Club.

Varsity sports

Cambridge is also known for its university sporting events against Oxford, especially the rugby union Varsity Match and the Boat Race. These are followed by people across the globe, many of whom have no connection to the institutions themselves.

Theatre

Cambridge's main traditional theatre is the Arts Theatre, a venue with 666 seats in the town centre. The theatre often has touring shows, as well as those by local companies. The largest venue in the city to regular hold theatrical performances is the Cambridge Corn Exchange - capacity 1800 standing or 1200 seated. Housed within the city's 19th century former corn exchange building the venue was used for a variety of additional functions throughout the 20th century including tea parties, motor shows, sports matches and a music venue with temporary stage. The City Council renovated the building in the 1980s, turning it into a full-time arts venue, hosting theatre, dance and music performances.

The newest theatre venue in Cambridge is the 220-seat J2, also known as The Shed, part of the Junction complex in Cambridge Leisure Park. The venue was opened in 2004 and hosts live music, comedy and night clubs as well as traditional and contemporary theatre and dance.

The ADC Theatre is managed by the University of Cambridge, and typically has 3 shows a week during term time. The Mumford Theatre is part of Anglia Ruskin University, and hosts shows by both student and non student groups. There are also a number of venues within the colleges.

Cambridge in literature and film

• Gwen Raverat, the granddaughter of Charles Darwin, talked about her late Victorian Cambridge childhood in her memoir Period Piece.

• In the 1950s, the English children's writer Philippa Pearce created a fictionalised version of Cambridge known as "Castleford" (not connected to the real town of the same name in West Yorkshire). It appears in several of her books, most notably Tom's Midnight Garden and Minnow on the Say. The main distinguishing point between "Castleford" and the real Cambridge is that this "Castleford" does not have a university.

• Tom Sharpe is also a Cambridge-based author who has written fictional accounts of teaching at Cambridge Technical College (now Anglia Ruskin University) and of Cambridge college life. His fictional "Porterhouse College" appears in many of his novels.

• Susanna Gregory wrote a series of novels set in 14th century Cambridge and featuring a teacher of medicine and sleuth named Matthew Bartholomew.

• Douglas Adams lived for many years in Cambridge, and parts of his novel Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency are set in the city. The novel was partially reworked from his unbroadcast Doctor Who serial Shada, which also included scenes in Cambridge. The television serial Shada was filmed in Cambridge, but was never finished due to strike action.

• Sylvia Plath, who studied at the University of Cambridge, wrote a number of short stories with a Cambridge setting which are published in the collection Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams.

• Dame Rose Macaulay had strong connections to the city, and set part of her novel They Were Defeated in the city during the reign of Charles I.

• Kate Atkinson used the town as the setting for her book Case Histories.

• Michelle Spring wrote a series of novels about a Cambridge-based private detective, Laura Principal, beginning with Every Breath You Take (1994).

• Rebecca Stott's Ghostwalk (2007) is set in the Cambridge of today and of Sir Isaac Newton's time.

• Robert Harris's "Enigma" was partly set in Cambridge, when the leading character, Thomas Jericho, was sent to King's College to recover from a nervous breakdown. Much of the story describes the centre and west of Cambridge in much detail. The story itself was set in the middle of world war two. The rest of the story was set in Bletchley Park.

• Silent Witness was filmed for large parts in Cambridge.

• The BBC building in Cambridge is called Betjeman House, after the late poet laureate John Betjeman.

• The Night Climbers of Cambridge is a book written under the pseudonym "Whipplesnaith" about nocturnal climbing on the Colleges and town buildings of Cambridge in the 1930s.

Music

Popular music

Most notable of the bands that formed in Cambridge are Pink Floyd, the band's former songwriter guitarist and vocalist Syd Barrett was born and lived in the city. He and other founder member Roger Waters went to school together at Cambridgeshire High School for Boys and David Gilmour was also a Cambridge resident and attended the nearby Perse School. Other bands who formed in Cambridge include Henry Cow, Katrina and the Waves, The Soft Boys, Ezio, Horace X

and The Broken Family Band. Solo artists Boo Hewerdine and Robyn Hitchcock are from Cambridge, as are Drum and bass artists (and brothers) Nu:Tone and  Logistics. Singer Olivia Newton-John and Matthew Bellamy, lead singer of rock band Muse, were born in the city. Singer-songwriter Nick Drake and Manchester music mogul Tony Wilson, the founder of Factory Records, were both educated at the University of Cambridge.

Festivals and events

• Midsummer Fair is one of the oldest fairs in the UK and at one point was possibly the largest medieval fair in Europe. Today it exists primarily as an annual funfair with the vestige of a market attached.
• Cambridge Folk Festival is one of the largest festivals of folk music in the UK
• Strawberry Fair is a free music and children's fair, with a series of market stalls. It is held the first Saturday in June on Midsummer Common.
• Cambridge Beer Festival started in 1974, is the second largest outside London and takes place on Jesus Green for one week in May every year. 90,000 pints of beer and a tonne of cheese were served in 2009.
• The Cambridge Film Festival is considered to be one of the nation's best. Formerly held annually in July, it was moved in 2008 to September to avoid a clash with the rescheduled Edinburgh Film Festival.

Public services

Cambridge is served by Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, with several smaller medical centres around the city and a general hospital at Addenbrookes. Addenbrookes is a learning and teaching hospital, one of the largest in the United Kingdom, and functions as a centre for medical research. The East of England Ambulance Service covers the city and has an ambulance station on Hills Road. The smaller Brookfields Hospital is located on Mill Road. Cambridgeshire Constabulary provide the city's policing; the major police station is at Parkside, adjacent to the city's fire station, which is operated by Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue.

Cambridge Water supplies water services to the city,, while Anglian Water provides sewerage services. Cambridge is part of the East of England region, for which the distribution network operator is EDF Energy. The city has no power stations, though a five-metre wind turbine, part of a Cambridge Regional College development, can be seen in King's Hedges.

The city's Central Library is located in the Grand Arcade and reopened on 29 September 2009, after having been closed for refurbishment for 33 months, more than twice as long as was forecast when the library closed for redevelopment in January 2007.

Religion

Cambridge has a number of churches, some of which form a significant part of the city's architectural landscape. A Cambridge-based family and youth organisation, Romsey Mill, had its centre re-dedicated in 2007 by the Archbishop of York, and is quoted as an example of best practice in a study into social inclusion by the East of England Regional Assembly. Cambridge is in the Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia.

Cambridge has two synagogues: an Orthodox synagogue and Jewish student centre on Thompson's Lane, operated by the Cambridge University Jewish Society, and a Reform synagogue Beth Shalom which meets at a local school. The Abu Bakr Jamia Islamic Centre on Mawson Road serves the city's community of around 4,000 Muslims until a planned new mosque is built. A Buddhist centre was opened in the former Barnwell Theatre on Newmarket Road in 1998. In 2005 local Hindus began fundraising to build a shrine at the Bharat Bhavan Indian cultural centre off Mill Road, where Hindu and Hare Krishna groups conduct worship. Cambridge also has a number of secular groups, such as the Cambridge Humanists.

University

Great St Mary's Church has the status of being the "University Church". Many of the University colleges contain chapels that hold services according to the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England, while the chapel of St Edmund's College is Roman Catholic. The city also has a number of theological colleges for training clergy for ordination into a number of denominations, with affiliations to both the University of Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin University. The University of Cambridge is also home to the evangelical Christian organisation Cambridge Intercollegiate Christian Union.

Twinned cities

Cambridge is twinned with two cities. Like Cambridge, both have universities and are also similar in population.

• Heidelberg, Germany since 1965
• Szeged, Hungary since 1987

See also

• List of bridges in Cambridge
• Cambridge Evening News
• Cambridge museums
• Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies
• Gog Magog Downs

Panoramic photo gallery

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References

1. St Bene't's Church.
2. http://www.cam.ac.uk/univ/history/records.html
3. http://www.pet.cam.ac.uk/welcome-peterhouse/about-college
4. http://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/chapel/history/henrysixth.html
5. http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/transport/projects/cambridge/cambridgegateway/CB1+development.htm
6. http://www.cambridge.gov.uk/ccm/content/news-releases/2008/accordia-wins-prize.en
7. http://www.clayfarm.co.uk/vision
8. http://www.trumpingtonmeadows.com/Home
9. Office For National Statistics 2001 Census (Ethnic group, Cambridge local authority)
10. University of Cambridge Fact Sheet: Ethnicity, retrieved 17 January 2008
11. ONS 2001 Census (Approximated Social Grade - Workplace Population, Cambridge local authority)
12. ONS 2001 Census (Qualifications, Cambridge local authority)
13. Cambridge City Council: Council buildings information: Guildhall information
14. Election maps - Ordnance Survey
15. List of first-class matches on Parker's Piece
16. Cambridge University Real Tennis Club
17. Team Cambridge
18. Cambridge CC
19. Cambridge Arts Theatre Website
20. http://www.cambridgebeerfestival.com
21. EERA social inclusion policy, ch. 3
22. Mosque site hunt is over, Cambridge Evening News 6 May 2008
23. [1]
24. "Shrine Appeal by Hindu Group", Cambridge Evening News, 19 October 2005 retrieved 9 August 2008
25. [2]

External links

• Cambridge City Council
• The Cambridge Market Place Webcam