Cambridge Leasing

Did You Know?

Cambridge is the UK’s second city of learning, but the first in your hearts (unless you went to Oxford, of course). Prehistoric settlements solidified with the coming of the Romans who set up a fort in the area. After they abandoned Britain in the 5th Century, the Saxons later established a settlement there they called “Grantebrychge”.

Oliver Cromwell’s head is buried in Cambridge in a secret location. He died in 1658 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, but when Charles II was restored to the throne three years later, he had his body exhumed and posthumously executed!

Despite the university forming in 1209, the first of its colleges didn’t form until 1284 thanks to the Bishop of Ely and a charter from King Edward I. Today, the college is home to approximately 226 undergraduate students, 86 graduate students, and 45 fellows. Cambridge University has 31 colleges with 18,271 students with 9,823 academic and administrative staff members.

Lord Byron was not allowed to keep a dog in his rooms at Trinity College Cambridge, so instead, he kept a bear. Byron resented the rules that would not let him keep his beloved dog Boatswain with him at the college, and as the college had no rules about bears in their statutes, they didn’t have a legal basis to tell him to get rid of it.

The Nobel Prize, in fact. Individuals associated with Cambridge University have won 89 Nobel Prizes in all six disciplines covering physics, chemistry, peace, literature, physiology, and medicine. Cambridge also claims the most Nobel Prizes in physics at 29 in total. The university’s total prize count is well above Oxford University at 58, though Oxford has produced the most Prime Ministers.

The University of Cambridge is over 800 years old, and some of its rules reflect that. For instance, students have to “keep the term”, which means that they have to stay within a three-mile radius of Great St. Mary’s Church for 59 nights each term. At least they don’t have to wear gowns all the time any more; that rule ended in 1965.

Hobson’s Conduit is a watercourse in Cambridge that brings fresh water into the city. Thomas Hobson constructed it from 1610 to 1614 to supply Cambridge with fresh water and give visitors and their horses water to drink as they entered. The Hobson’s Conduit Trust that Thomas Hobson established for the conduit’s maintenance is still in existence today

Cambridge is home to one of the oldest universities in the world, but it could also be called the birthplace of football as we know it. The “Cambridge Rules” were drawn up at the University in 1863, and influenced the Football Association’s original rules.