Cambridge ---University Town

A university town is one where there is no clear separation between the university buildings and the rest of the city. The University is not just one part of the town. It’s all over the town. The heart of the Cambridge has its shops, market-place and so on, but most of it is university - colleges, faculties, libraries, clubs, and other places for stuff and students. Students fill shops, cafes, banks and churches, making these as well part of university.

The town was there first. Two Roman roads crossed there, and there are signs of buildings before roman times.

Trouble in Oxford in 1209 caused students and their teachers to move. Cambridge became a center of learning and the authority of the head of the university, the chancellor, was recognized by king in 1266.

At that time, many of the students were very young and many of the teachers were not more than 21. At first they found lodgings where they could. Colleges were opened so that students could live cheaply. This was the beginning of the college system, which has continued at Cambridge up to present day.