Queens' College, Cambridge

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Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.

The college was first founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou (the Queen of Henry VI), and refounded in 1465 by Elizabeth Woodville (the Queen of Edward IV). This dual foundation is reflected in its orthography: Queens', not Queen's, although the full name is The Queen's College of St Margaret and St Bernard, commonly called Queens' College, in the University of Cambridge.[1]

Queens' is the second southernmost of the colleges on the banks of the Cam, primarily on the East bank. (The others — in distance order — are King's, Clare, Trinity Hall, Trinity, St John's, and Magdalene to the north and Darwin to the south.)

The President's Lodge of Queens' is the oldest building on the river at Cambridge (ca. 1460).[2] Queens' College is also one of only two colleges with buildings on its main site on both sides of the River Cam (the other being St John's).

[edit] Buildings

The Gatehouse, as seen from the Old Court.

President's Lodge seen from Cloister Court

Old Court was erected in 1448. Stylistic matters suggest that this was designed by the master mason Reginald Ely, who was also at the same time erecting the original Old Court of King's College (now part of the University Old Schools opposite Clare College), and the start of King's College Chapel. Whereas King's was using very expensive stone, Queens' Old Court was made using cheaper clunch with a red brick skin. Queens' was finished within two years, whereas King's Old Court was never finished, and the chapel took nearly a century to build.

Cloister Court The Cloister walks were erected in the 1490s to connect the Old Court of 1448/9 with the riverside buildings of the 1460s, thus forming the court now known as Cloister Court.

Walnut Tree Court was erected 1616-18. Only the ground floor of the original construction remains after a fire in 1777, meaning it was rebuilt from the first floor upwards 1778-82.

Essex Building, erected 1756-60, is so named after its builder, James Essex the Younger (1722-1784), a local carpenter who had earlier erected the wooden bridge.

Dokett and Friar's In response to the college's growth in student numbers during the 19th century, the President's second garden was taken as the site for a new building, now called Friars' Court, in 1886. Dokett Building was built in 1912 of thin red Daneshill brick with Corsham stone dressings and mullioned windows.

Fisher Building, named after St John Fisher, was erected in 1936. It continued the Queens' tradition of using red brick. The window frames are of teak, and all internal woodwork is oak. It was the first student accommodation in Queens' to lie west of the river. It was also the first building in Queens' to have bathrooms and toilets on the staircase landings close to the student rooms. These were so clearly evident that it prompted an observer at that time to comment that the building "seemed to have been designed by a sanitary engineer".

Erasmus Building was erected in 1959, notable for being the first college building on the Backs to be designed in the modernist tradition.

Cripps Court was finished in stages between 1974 and 1980. It houses 171 student bedrooms, three Combination Rooms and a bar, three Fellows' Flats, Dining Hall and kitchens. It was the benefaction of the Cripps Foundation, and was the largest building ever put up by the College. It enables the College to offer accommodation to undergraduates within the main college site for three years. A fourth floor was added in 2007, providing student accommodation and fellow's offices

[edit] The Mathematical Bridge

The Mathematical Bridge and the President's Lodge

Erasmus, a notable alumnus

Stephen Fry graduated from Queens' in 1981 and is an honorary fellow

The Mathematical Bridge (officially named the Wooden Bridge) connects the older half of the college (affectionately referred to by students as The Dark Side) with the newer half (The Light Side). It is one of the most photographed scenes in Cambridge; the typical photo being taken from the nearby Silver Street bridge.

Popular fable is that the bridge was designed and built by Sir Isaac Newton without the use of nuts or bolts, and at some point in the past students or fellows attempted to take the bridge apart and put it back together. The myth continues that the over-ambitious engineers were unable to match Newton's feat of engineering, and had to resort to fastening the bridge by nuts and bolts. This is why nuts and bolts can be seen in the bridge today. This story is false: the bridge was built in 1749 by James Essex the Younger (1722–1784) to the design of William Etheridge (1709–1776), 22 years after Newton died. It was later repaired in 1866 due to decay and had to be completely rebuilt in 1905. The rebuild was to the same design except made from teak instead of oak and the stepped walkway was made sloped for increased wheelchair access. The ever-present boltheads are more visible in the post-1905 bridge which may have given rise to this failed reassembly myth.

[edit] Distinguished alumni

See also Category:Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge

[edit] List of Presidents[4]

[edit] College officials

Refer to:

• Fellows of Queens' College, Cambridge
• List of Presidents of Queens' College, Cambridge

[edit] See also

• The Queen's College, Oxford
• List of organ scholars
• Queens' College Chapel Choir, Cambridge

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Queens' College website
• Queens' College Student Union (JCR)
• Queens' College Graduate Student Union (MCR)
• The College's larger list of eminent alumni

Coordinates: 52°12′08″N 0°06′53″E / 52.20222°N 0.11472°E / 52.20222; 0.11472 (Queens' College)

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11 Mar 2010, 4:03am under the terms of the GFDL.

Annotations

• N Jeremy on Wed 26 Feb 2003, 11:48pm. Flag this

  Queens’ Cambridge is distinguished from Queen’s Oxford by the position of its apostrophe nowadays. Not sure whether the same applied then. Queen’s Oxford refers to but one queen, while Cambridge has more. It is also not as affluent as its more well off namesake in the other place.

• N Grahamt on Thu 27 Feb 2003, 09:34am. Flag this

  Queen’s Oxford after Queen Philippa
  Queens’ Cambridge after Queens Margaret of Anjou and Elizabeth Woodville

• N Grahamt on Thu 27 Feb 2003, 09:39am. Flag this

  The apostophe after the s was first used in 1823 and became official in 1831. In Pepys’ time it would have had the same - Queen’s - spelling as the Oxford college. See:
  http://www.quns.cam.ac.uk/Queens/Misc/apostrophe.html

• N language hat on Thu 27 Feb 2003, 03:25pm. Flag this

  Apostrophe madness
  from the amazingly detailed page Grahamt came up with:

  “The formal corporate title of the College is now:

  “The Queen’s College of St Margaret and St Bernard, commonly called Queens’ College, in the University of Cambridge.

  “which shows both forms of spelling. This is formally correct. The name of the college when qualified by the patron saints is spelt in the singular; the short-form name is spelt in the plural.”

  Great find, Grahamt!

References in the diary

1660

Feb: 26