32 Facts About Cambridge

Cambridge became an important trading centre during the Roman and Viking ages, and there is archaeological evidence of settlement in the area as early as the Bronze Age.

City is most famous as the home of the University of Cambridge, which was founded in 1209 and consistently ranks among the best universities in the world.

Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology Silicon Fen, which contains industries such as software and bioscience and many start-up companies born out of the university.

Cambridge station is less than an hour from London King's Cross railway station.

Cambridge was on the border between the East and Middle Anglian kingdoms and the settlement slowly expanded on both sides of the river.

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In 1209, Cambridge University was founded by Oxford students fleeing from hostility.

Cambridge played a significant role in the early part of the English Civil War as it was the headquarters of the Eastern Counties Association, an organisation administering a regional East Anglian army, which became the mainstay of the Parliamentarian military effort before the formation of the New Model Army.

Cambridge was granted its city charter in 1951 in recognition of its history, administrative importance and economic success.

Parliamentary constituency of Cambridge covers most of the city; Daniel Zeichner has represented the seat since the 2015 general election.

University of Cambridge formerly had two seats in the House of Commons; Sir Isaac Newton was one of the most notable MPs.

Cambridge is situated about 55 miles north-by-east of London and 95 miles (152 kilometres) east of Birmingham.

The city centre of Cambridge is mostly commercial, historic buildings, and large green areas such as Jesus Green, Parker's Piece and Midsummer Common.

Cambridge is completely enclosed by green belt as a part of a wider environmental and planning policy first defined in 1965 and formalised in 1992.

Town's river link to the surrounding agricultural land, and good road connections to London in the south meant Cambridge has historically served as an important regional trading post.

Cambridge was the home of Pye Ltd, founded in 1898 by W G Pye, who worked in the Cavendish Laboratory; it began by supplying the university and later specialised in wireless telegraphy equipment, radios, televisions and defence equipment.

Cambridge has five Park and Ride sites, all of which operate seven days a week and are aimed at encouraging motorists to park near the city's edge.

Today, Cambridge station has direct rail links to London with termini at London King's Cross, Liverpool Street (on the West Anglia Main Line) and St Pancras (on the Thameslink line).

Second railway station, Cambridge North, opened on 21 May 2017, having originally planned to open in March 2015.

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' which again were first played on Parker's Piece.

Cambridge United WFC is a women's only football club based in Cambridge.

Cambridge Lions represent the city in rugby league and are members of East Rugby League.

Home and training ground to many influential traceurs, Cambridge is well known for its vibrant, and at times high-profile, parkour and freerunning scene.

Cambridge is home to two real tennis courts at Cambridge University Real Tennis Club.

Cambridge Royals are members of the British Baseball Federation's Triple-A South Division.

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Cambridge contains Kettle's Yard gallery of modern and contemporary art and the Heong Gallery which opened to the public in 2016 at Downing College.

The Cambridge Summer Music Festival is an annual festival of classical music, held in the university's colleges and chapels.

The Cambridge Shakespeare Festival is an eight-week season of open-air performances of the works of William Shakespeare, held in the gardens of various colleges of the university.

Fictionalised versions of Cambridge appear in Philippa Pearce's Tom's Midnight Garden and Minnow on the Say, the city renamed as Castleford, and as the home of Tom Sharpe's fictional college in Porterhouse Blue.

Cambridge is served by Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, with several smaller medical centres in the city and a teaching hospital at Addenbrooke's.

Cambridge has a number of churches, some of which form a significant part of the city's architectural landscape.

Cambridge is in the Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia and is served by the large Gothic Revival Our Lady and the English Martyrs Church at the junction of Hills Road and Lensfield Road, St Laurence's on Milton Road, St Vincent De Paul Church on Ditton Lane and by the church of St Philip Howard, in Cherry Hinton Road.