Huntingdon

Huntingdon and Godmanchester bridge

We are on the way back home from a dinner in Cambridge and it seemed to be an excellent opportunity to detour slightly for a look around Peterborough. It is a town of Saxon origin and gained a Royal Charter in 1205.

We started at the 19th century Riverside mill and crossed the medieval  which dates from about 1332. There was apparently a rivalry between the two towns (Godmanchester was the more important in Roman times) and there are differences in the cutwaters between the Peterborough side and the Godmanchester side. Two of the six arches on the Peterborough side are beautifully decorated and one of them is shown above.

We passed the Old Bridge Hotel and turned left into Castle Moat Road. On the left was a mound which was once the site of Huntingdon Castle, built in 1068. A little further on, on the right, are the St John's Almshouses, built 1843-51 and upgraded in 2011. The central double gable is an unusual feature.

We retraced our steps and turned left into the long High St. soon reaching Castle Hill House, a fine Georgian mansion of 1787.

Opposite is St Mary's church, dating from Saxon times but mainly 13th century. The tower was rebuilt 1608-20 and is approached by a very pleasant flower-lined path.

There were some attractive Georgian town houses on the left hand side as we approached the town centre, but we especially enjoyed the Commemoration Hall (1842).

Soon afterwards we arrived at the spacious Market Hill, the centre of the town. On the left was the Town Hall of 1745.

On the right was a rather incongruous Sopwith Camel (presumably a replica). Some of these WW1 planes were apparently made nearby.

Continuing the war time theme, in the centre of the square is the ‘Thinking Soldier’ a rather fine war memorial sculpted by Kathleen Scott, the widow of Scott of the Antarctic.

Continuing round the square we come to All Saints Church, medieval but with many later alterations and additions. These include a font in which Oliver Cromwell was allegedly baptised - he was certainly born and brought up in Huntingdon.

Finally, there is the very interesting building which now houses the Cromwell Museum.

It was originally the infirmary hall of the Hospital of John the Baptist. This was later much reduced in size and then became a school. It was rebuilt in the later 19th century century, but remains a very characterful building.

We continued up the High St passing the imposing George Hotel, once a coaching inn.

On the right we admired this keystone on a bank window.

At the top was the splendid Whitwell House of 1727.

The only drawback with this exploration was there was nothing for it but to retrace our steps. Huntingdon was historically a linear town.

Conditions: bright but cold.

Distance: about 3 miles there and back.

Rating: four stars.

Ely

Ely Cathedral from Queen Adelaide Way

We were in Cambridge last night for a dinner and following our usual practice, decided to make a detour on the way home to see Ely. I found this route, said to provide good photographic opportunities, on the website of the Ely Civic Society.

The walk proper starts in St Mary's St at Oliver Cromwell's House, now the Tourist Information Office, but we started instead from the nearby Parson's Almshouses, a particular enthusiasm of mine.

They make a very pleasing group. The plaque on the tower says that "These almshouses were erected in 1844 through the munificence of Thomas Parsons, an Ely benefactor of the 15th century". The architect was George Basevi, who died the year after and is buried in Ely Cathedral.

Cromwell's House is nearby. It probably dates from the 14th century. It is interesting that Pevsner, writing in 1970, calls it St Mary's Vicarage (the church is just behind). But the fact that Oliver Cromwell's family lived there for just ten years now takes precedence.

A few steps further on we had our first view of the Cathedral in the form of the magnificent west tower. It is 215 feet high and dates from 12th century, with the top third being added in the late 14th century. The west front is noticeably uneven, with an elaborate Norman transept on the south side and nothing on the north. It is thought that the north transept collapsed in the early 15th century.

Before you reach the entrance however, a substantial building on the right makes itself known: it is now called the Bishop's House, but was once the Cathedral Deanery.

Inside, the Cathedral is a wonderful example of Norman architecture, with an extremely long (537 feet) nave. The ceiling is very striking, and depicts the ancestors of Christ. It was the work of two Victorian painters, Henry Styleman Le Strange and Thomas Gambier. Apparently you can tell where the work of one ends and the other begins.

Where the main transept crosses the nave there is an extraordinary tower. The original Norman tower collapsed in 1322 and it was decided to use firmer foundations further apart and this gave rise to the idea of an octagonal tower. The view looking up is extraordinary. (An altar prevents a view from directly below.)

To complete this rather cursory account of the Cathedral's interior, I will just mention the massive Gothic Lady Chapel of 1349. The photo shows the vaulted ceiling. Now it is very light and bare, which emphasises its size, but it was originally brightly coloured and the windows were full of stained glass, but all this was destroyed in the Reformation.

We went outside and round to the east end, where the scale of the Lady Chapel relative to the rest of the Cathedral. I can't discover the significance of the five mysterious pointed stones in the foreground.

We headed south past an assortment of former monastic buildings, which seem now to be part of the Cathedral School, to reach Ely Porta. This great gatehouse was begun in 1397. One interesting feature is that is has two archways on the outside (one for carriages and one for pedestrians), but only one on the inside.

We followed a tarmac path away from the Porta and instantly had this rural view of the Cathedral with horses grazing. The octagonal crossing tower can now be clearly seen.

This path crossed Broad St and led down through the Jubilee Gardens to the waterfront of the Great Ouse. We headed east along the busy river bank, opposite the marina and soon reach the Maltings.

It dates from 1868 and was built by a local brewer to malt barley for brewing ale, reasonably enough. It is now a venue for weddings and meetings. We just loved the brick detailing.

Now we followed the riverbank for a while along a gravel track.

We moved away from the river to pass the Roswell Pits nature reserve (flooded former clay pits) and crossed the river by an extremely functional bridge to arrive at Queen Adelaide Way. We walked on a grassy bank beside the road now parallel to the river and going back towards the city. As we walked, there was a typical fenland agricultural landscape to our left, but to the right there were intermittent glimpses of the Cathedral from slightly different angles. This one made perhaps the best photo.

At a road junction, a right turn brought us across the river again and back to where we had first met it. To complete the walk we returned to St Mary's St, via Fore Hill and High St. In the latter, we admired another entrance to the Cathedral precinct, the Sacristan's Gate.

Walking up Fore Hill, we finally appreciated what we had read about Ely being an island before the surrounding Fens were drained.

Conditions: some cloud, but surprisingly hot.

Distance: about 4.5 miles.

Rating: four and half stars, although walking along the road palled after a while.

Cambridge: Jesus to Queens

Jesus College

We were in Cambridge for a College lunch and afterwards we decided to work off the wine with a nice stroll around some of the colleges. I chose a route to complement the short Trinity to Corpus walk we did in January and the even shorter Round Church to Clare one we did in 2009.

We walked from St Johns along Jesus Lane to Jesus to start the walk proper. The gatehouse is set back an unusually long way from the road and makes an especially imposing entrance. The college was founded in 1497. Its founder, Bishop Alcock of Ely suppressed a nunnery and took over its buildings in a fashion that sounds like a rehearsal for Henry VIII's Dissolution 40 years later, but apparently there were only two nuns at the time, so it was not as harsh an act as it sounds.

We admired the proportions and calm of Cloister Court, the original core of the college, although later altered.

We should really have paused to visit the chapel with its Morris and Co stained glass (designed by Burne-Jones) and Pugin tiles and glass, but we were a bit limited for time. OK, I admit that there was a need to get back home in time for the final of Euro 2012. I am sure there will be another opportunity.

From Jesus we followed a backstreet route to Christ's College, founded in 1442. Through the fine gateway and into the splendid 16th century First Court.

An archway in one corner leads to the newer (19th and 20th century), and much less interesting, parts of the College, but it is adorned on both sides by cheerful painted plaster figures.

We retraced our steps and turned into St Andrews St to walk along to Emmanuel College, previously unknown to me, founded in 1584. We were transfixed by the view across Front Court to Wren's Chapel of 1666 with its adjoining colonade.

As with Christ's, we found the newer buildings to be of much less interest and headed back through the gate, turning right and then left into Downing Street.

At the end we turned right into Trumpington St and paused to admire the facade of Pembroke College, founded in 1347. The two oriel windows are original, according to Pevsner, but the whole range was covered with ashlar in the 18th century. The chapel, visible at the far end, is the first building of Christopher Wren, and was consecrated in 1665.

Now left into Silver St, with a look back to St Botolph's church, with its fine tower dating from about 1400. We were a bit disappointed by the whitewashed interior.

We now went into Queens', narrowly beating the 4.30 closing time. This is not in fact a misplaced apostrophe: the college was founded and re-founded three times in the 15th century and two of the founders were queens (Margaret of Anjou and Elizabeth Woodville).

The handsome gatehouse leads to Old Court with a, dare I say, striking sundial of 1733.

From here a passageway leads to Cloister Court and the half-timbered President's Gallery of about 1540. Pevsner describes it as "perhaps the most loveable of all Cambridge courts".

And next up is the famous Mathematical Bridge, here viewed from the Silver Street bridge.

It is widely believed that the bridge was built by Isaac Newton without nails, later disassembled by students or fellows and rebuilt with the bolts you see today because they could not match Newton's ingenuity. Sadly the truth is more prosaic: it was built in 1749 by James Essex to the design of William Etheridge and has always had bolts. The Queens' College website is remarkably scathing in debunking the "baseless" stories told about it.  

We turned right at the end of Silver St to then follow the backs to St John's where we had parked. What better way to end this post than with a picture of King's College chapel seen from across the Cam?

Conditions: mild and cloudy, with a threat of rain which resulted in one sharp shower.

Distance: about 3 miles.

Rating: four and half stars.

Note: This is my most recent walk in Cambridge. Earlier walks were from Round Church to Clare and from Trinity to Corpus Christi.

Cambridge: Trinity to Corpus

 

King's College Chapel

Were were in Cambridge to catch the excellent Vermeer exhibition at the Fitzwilliam before it closed. Having to queue for an hour to get in - and then needing a nice lunch - left us with little time to walk, but this shortened version of the walk I had planned was still extremely worthwhile.

We started at the imposing sixteenth century Great Gate of Trinity.

Then across Great Court to Nevile's Court and then through to see Wren's great Library of 1768.

 The two ranges which adjoin it were apparently added on almost immediately, and not much later as one might expect.

We now retraced our steps to exit into Trinity Lane and walked past Clare to enter King's for a quick look at King's College Chapel. Pevsner describes it as "one of the major monuments of English medieval architecture" and explains that the first stone was laid in 1446 and that it was completed in 1515. The dominant impressions are of size, height, light and harmony. The fan vaults are spectacular.

We then walked round the great lawn down to and along by the river and wondered at the incongruity of the Gibbs Building which is at right angles to the Chapel. Why couldn't they at least have used the same colour stone?

Leaving King's through the screen-walled front by William Wilkins (1823), we turned right into King's Parade to quickly reach the extraordinary Grasshopper Clock on the Bene't St corner of Corpus Christi college. I must confess to being unaware of its existence until I was doing some research for this walk.

The blue lights in the two inner circles display the time as hours and minutes (4.22), while the seconds flash rapidly around the outer edge. The pendulum swings, but sometimes pauses alarmingly. The clock is mechanical: the grasshopper escapement mechanism (an eighteenth century invention) converts pendulum motion into rotation. It was conceived and funded by John C Taylor, an old member of the college, as a piece of public art. It is entirely successful. I like the way in which my photo has caught the pink evening light.

Finally, we popped into Corpus to see The Old Court, which Pevsner says gives the best idea of what a 14th century Oxford or Cambridge College was like.

 Conditions: dry, dusk.

Distance: a mile at most.

Rating: four stars.

Reflections

This walk illustrates perfectly that a "walk" doesn't have to cover a great distance or involve great difficulty to be wonderful. It just needs to be undertaken deliberately in an enquiring and attentive way.

Even in places you think you know well, there are wonderful things to see if you go looking for them. Obviously, Cambridge is better endowed than most with wonderful things, but I think this is, if not universally true, certainly a good philosophy.

Cambridge to Grantchester

The weir and Mill Pool

We were in Cambridge for the St John's College May Ball. This was the afternoon afterwards and the idea was to take a healthy, restorative stroll in the country.

We started our walk in the centre of Cambridge - in the market place. We walked down King's Parade, into Trumpington Street and right into Mill Lane. We crossed the path above the Mill Pool and struck out along the right bank of the river to take the "Grantchester Grind" (why?). We were puzzled to see signs for Newnham and Trumpington, but none for Grantchester.

A short way along we found this family of swans practising grooming in perfect harmony.


We walked along the area split by the Fen Causeway, crossed under it and steered right of a dead end in the river to pass through the Paradise nature reserve (perhaps a touch extravagantly named). This brought us to the street named Grantchester Meadows and a bit further on we reached the Meadows themselves and could finally feel free of the town.

This large open area had cows grazing and students picnicking. Canoes as well as punts passed by on the river. A troop of swallows entertained us with acrobatic stunts.



We chose the riverside path over the straighter path further away from the bank and meandered our way on to Grantchester. This typical section marked the point where we headed away from the river towards the village.



We crossed a large field and - rather wonderfully - found ourselves in the Orchard tea garden. It was established as such in 1897 and soon became the haunt of Rupert Brooke, Virginia Woolf and sundry other luminaries. It remains a wonderful place, with its green deck chairs scattered in clumps beneath the trees.



Despite a refreshing break here, we found we had not sufficiently recovered from our exertions of the night before and not getting to bed until 5.30. So we did not further explore Grantchester, see the Mill or Byron's pool. Instead, we traced our steps back to Cambridge.

Conditions: hot, sunny.

Distance: About 5 miles in all.

Rating: three and half stars.

Cambridge: Round Church to Clare College

The Round Church

We were in Cambridge for the St John's May Ball - the first time for 38 years! The idea was to do a city walk on the afternoon after the Ball and I had prepared a circular route to take in pretty much all the central colleges.

As it happened however we were tired having stayed up all night, hung over (for obvious reasons) and it was raining a bit, so we gave priority to having a substantial lunch, on the carbohydrate theory of hangover treatment. And then severely curtailed the planned walk. Nonetheless, we still followed our core principle of city walking: even if you know the city well, behave like an inquisitive stranger who is seeing it for the first time.

We started at the Round Church - Holy Sepulchre, to give it its correct name - and quickly learned from Pevsner that "round churches as a rule are connected with the Orders founded to guard the Holy Land and the Holy Sepulchre". This church was built by an otherwise unknown "fraternity of the Holy Sepulchre" not later than 1130 and the round part at least presents a wholly Norman appearance.

Here is the interior which now displays a series of panels telling the history of Cambridge.



We then walked a few yards down St John's street to enter by the magnificent main gate (1511-1520). Inside the cleaning up operation was in full swing and already much of the evidence of last night's ball had already vanished.



We left through the backs, intending to visit Trinity College next door, but we told that the College was closed on account of clearing up after its ball, also last night.

So instead we walked back into town along Garret Hostel Lane and turned into Caius College. I don't recall ever being here before so the inquisitive stranger role was easy to adopt. The most initially striking thing was the very pleasant trees in the first court - which is, rather wonderfully, named Tree Court. Cambridge colleges normally just have grass so this was a lovely departure from the norm.

Then in Caius court we saw the marvellous renaissance style Gate of Honour, one of three meant to symbolise the life course of a student. Pevsner again offers a fascinating insight: the Italian renaissance, he says, came to England as an ornamental fashion, rather than a serious architectural style. The Gate of Honour was completed in 1575 and, although ambitious in its conception, looks wrong because the actual entrance is extremely small.



Next we had a look at the Senate House, which can be seen in the background above. It dates from 1722-30 and in light of our relatively recent walk in Palladian London we were easily able to spot the Palladian influences, especially the alternating pediments over the ground floor windows.



We looked across to Great St Mary's, rebuilt from 1478-1536, in the late Perpendicular style of East Anglian wool churches. Sadly it too was closed, so our plan to see the elegant interior was frustrated.



Our final stop was Clare College where the gateway of the seventeenth century Great Court caught our eye.



Rating: Four stars. Short but full of interest.


Reflections

You can still discover new perspectives on familiar things, especially if you have as good a guide as Pevsner. On the other hand, the day after a ball is a daft choice for a challenging city walk. We hope to do it justice on another occasion.