Giveaways
I was in the English university town of Cambridge, north of London, for the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022; an experience which I wrote up in the post Manchester, Cambridge, and Camden Town. Here’s a very short video from that blog:
Oxford University was founded, as a teaching institution, in 1096, and Cambridge University in 1209. For centuries, these two were the only universities in England. Picturesque towns grew up around them. Eventually, the towns of Oxford and Cambridge became cities, though they are still not very big.
This year, my friend Chris paid a longer visit to Cambridge, and this post describes his experiences, in his words, from now on.
Cambridge Railway Station opens out onto Station Square. I made the Hotel Ibis, on the square, my base of operations for the whole of my stay. I was there, mainly, to observe an airshow commemorating the 85th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, at the Imperial War Museum Duxford, a short distance into the countryside. I’ll blog about that next week. But I also made time to explore the city.
The square also has cafés and two supermarkets, a Sainsbury’s and a Tesco’s as well as a smaller Marks and Spencer food and beverage store in the railway station building.
As you will see in a moment, the modern appearance of Station Square is not typical of downtown Cambridge, a famous old university town dating back to the Middle Ages.
The literal high point of any visit is a hike up the tower of Great St Mary’s, the ancient cathedral in the heart of the city.
The tower has 123 narrow steps, but the view from the top is worth it.
Also visible from the tower are the Cambridge Markets, which are covered in colourful tents at the moment, though the authorities are trying to replace them with something more respectable (as they see it).
Many of the locals are opposed to the planned tidy-up:
Here’s a brick building with the date ‘1633’ on it: comparatively modern by the standards of the older part of Cambridge!
Along with its university, Cambridge is famous for its many museums, such as the Polar Museum:
And the Fitzwilliam Museum:
Unfortunately, both of those museums were closed on the Monday that I went past, so I couldn’t go inside. Monday seems to be their day off. The interior of the Fitzwilliam Museum is said to be spectacular, quite apart from the exhibits.
Most of the students seem to get about on bicycles, just like in historical movies set in Alan Turing’s day, though in the 21st century, the bike population includes many strange e-bikes and e-scooters.
For the tourist, it is a pleasant town just to walk around in and observe the Harry Potter-like details.
Cambridge is also famous for its bookstores, from the Cambridge University Press to the suburban secondhand and charitable bookshops that nonetheless also sell brainy stuff.
Some of the older streets have quirky names:
There is lots of lovely parkland, some of it referred to as such-and-such a ‘piece’ or ‘pieces,’ presumably affiliated to various colleges. Were these used to grow food for the colleges in the old days, I wonder?
Christchurch Street strikes a chord with the Kiwi visitor, though it refers to the nearby Christ Church.
As in every English town, there are lots of picturesque pubs, some of them very small!
I thought this was quite quirky as well: clearly, a medical education!
Apart from the bikes, another studenty cliché is that of punting on the shallows of the local river, the Cam, after which Cambridge is named. You can buy tickets to be punted along yourself.
And of course there are many gastronomic treats for locals and the visitor!
On Hills Road, close to Station Square, I saw an almshouse: a form of social housing for older Catabrigians, as the town’s inhabitants are called, which was founded by Prince Albert in the mid-1800s.
Near the almshouse stands Cambridge’s World War One memorial, a striking image of a striding soldier.
Here’s a closer view of the relief in the photo above:
Of course, not everything about Cambridge is academic. Here’s a poster for a popular record shop of the 1970s and 1980s, Hot Numbers, which looks like it specialised in reggae and ska. Apparently, it went out of business before the turn of the millennium, but the sign is still a local landmark.
The address in Kingston Street must have been a bonus, given that Kingston is the capital of Jamaica.
And finally, a nearby mosque which blends into the local brick housing, though it is a bit more decorated:
For more local info, see capturingcambridge.org.
Next week: the Duxford airshow!
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