=Alternative Routes=.--From Euston by L. and N.W. Railway.
From King's Cross, Great Northern Railway. From St.
Pancras, Midland Railway.
Cambridge shares with its sister university, Oxford, the honour of being
one of the two most ancient seats of learning in Great Britain. The town
itself is of very remote origin, and stands on the site of the Roman
station _Camboricum_, on the _Via Devana_. By the Saxons, Cambridge
appears to have been known as Grantabrycge, which was probably later
abbreviated into Cantbrigge. The true history of the town as a
university began at the opening of the twelfth century, when Joffred,
Abbot of Crowland, sent over to Cottenham, near Cambridge, four monks,
who, in a hired barn, started their teachings, which soon became
excessively popular. The first regular society of students was founded
in 1257.
Cambridge abounds in features of interest and contains a large number of
old churches, perhaps the most interesting being that of St. Sepulchre,
one of the four circular churches remaining in England. This church,
which is in Bridge Street, was erected in the reign of Henry I., and
founded, like the one at Northampton, by the Knights Templars in
imitation of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem.
The colleges are, of course, the glory of Cambridge, and one is almost
bewildered by the beauty and variety of their architecture. King's
College Chapel is one of the most magnificent examples in the town, but
nearly all the more important collegiate buildings are beautiful types
of mediaeval work.
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