Cambridge
History of Cambridge
Cambridge is a famous University City with evidence of settlement there since the Bronze Age and Roman times, with a 3,500 year old farmstead discovered at the site of Fitzwilliam College. It was called Grantabrycge at this time meaning ‘bridge over the river Granta’. Cambridge was very important to the Vikings as a major trading place around 875 AD. In 1068, William of Normandy built a castle on Castle Hill, although the castle mound is all that is left to see today (this was built two years after the Battle of Hastings and invasion of England in 1066).
The University of Cambridge was founded in 1209 and is consistently ranked as one of the top five universities in the world. Cambridge played a significant part in the English Civil War in 1643, with troops garrisoned there and the castle fortified but these were not used.
In 1845 Cambridge opened the Great Eastern London to Norwich line railway, and the station is outside of the town centre due to the University trying to restrict undergraduates using the railway! During the Second World War, Cambridge was important for defence of the east coast of England and it became a military centre. Trinity College was where a secret meeting was held to decide the allied invasion of Europe during WWII.
Some things to do in Cambridge:
- Grasshopper Clock
- Fitzwilliam Museum
- Kettles Yard Gallery & Cambridge & Country Folk Museum
- Byard Art
- Cambridge Museum of Technology
- Museum of Classical Archaeology
- Scott Polar Research Institute
- Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences
- University Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology
- University Museum of Zoology
- Whipple Museum of the History of Science
- Cambridge Arts Theatre
- Cambridge Corn Exchange
- Cambridge University Botanic Garden
- Cambridge Ghost Tours & Cambridge Street Markets
- Punting on the River Cam
- Cambridge Riverboat – Georgina
- Cambridge Bicycle Tours
- Cambridge Guided Walking Tours
- Cambridge Leisure Park & Cineworld Cinema
- Grafton Shopping Centre and Vue Cinema
- Finn Jordan Cambridge Spa and Beauty
- Cambridge Railway Station
For more information, click here www.visitcambridge.org
