Highways and Byways in Cambridge and ElyConybeare, John William Edward
History
Highways and Byways in Cambridge and Ely
Conybeare, John William Edward
Cambridgeshire (England) -- Description and travel; Isle of Ely (England) -- Description and travel
On the southern side of this court a passage (between the old Chapel
and the Library) leads to the "Old Court," the original enclave of the
College. This has remained practically unaltered since the Foundation,
and is the best example remaining of the way in which a College was
designed of old, after the fashion of the large country-house, as then
built--Haddon Hall, for example, in Derbyshire. The red-brick and the
white stone dressings, have mellowed, as elsewhere in Cambridge, to a
tone of rich sombreness most restful and satisfying to the eye. The
somewhat gaudy clock and clock tower are modern, as is also the yet
gaudier sun-dial often, but erroneously, ascribed to Sir Isaac Newton.
Over the Hall is emblazoned the very elaborate shield of the College,
quartering the six bearings to which the poor little Queen Margaret
laid claim--those of Hungary, Naples, Jerusalem, Anjou, Lorraine, and
De Barre, all within a bordure "vert" added by Queen Elizabeth. Hence
it is that green is to-day the distinctive Queens' colour at boating,
cricket, etc.
Passing out of Queens', beneath the dignified gate-tower, we find
ourselves in Queens' Lane, the quiet byway already referred to. Quiet
byway as it now is, this was once a main street of Cambridge, known as
Mill Street, forming (as it did before the great Colleges of King's,
Trinity, and St. John's were built across it) the line of interior
communication between the two bridges of the town, "the Small Bridge"
by the King's Mill and "The Great Bridge" beneath the Castle. In those
days it was a busy thoroughfare, thick set with burgher houses; now,
in such broken lengths of it as survive, the buildings are almost
wholly Collegiate. As we emerge from Queens' gate, and turn leftwards,
we have on one side the dark-red bricks of that College, on the other
the like buildings of St. Catharine's, while, at the further end of
the street in front, our view is bounded by the white stone of the new
gateway of King's. The whole effect is delightful.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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