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Cambridge
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The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity
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Virtus vera nobilitas
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Virtue is true Nobility
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The Holy Trinity
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King's Hall and Michaelhouse (until merged in 1546)
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1546
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Christ Church
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Master
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The Lord Rees Of Ludlow
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Sharon Wilkins
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Trinity Street
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660
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430
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Homepage
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. A statue of the college founder,
Henry VIII , stands in a niche above the doorway. In his hand he holds a table leg instead of the original sword and myths abound as to how the switch was carried out and by whom. In
1704 , the University's first
Astronomical Observatory was built on top of the gatehouse.]]
]]
]]
is one of the
Constituent Colleges of the
University Of Cambridge in
Cambridge ,
England . Trinity is the largest of all the colleges in Cambridge (and indeed
Oxbridge ), with around 660
Undergraduate s, 430
Graduate s, and over 160
Fellow s. It is also the wealthiest Oxbridge college with an estimated
Financial Endowment of £700m (2005). Trinity is commonly regarded as one of the most prestigious academic institutions in the world and on a per-student basis, is one of the best-endowed educational institutions in the world.
The college is a major landowner, including holdings in the port of
Felixstowe , and the
Cambridge Science Park . Trinity has a very strong academic tradition, with members having won thirty-one
Nobel Prize s
(sometimes erroneously described as "more than
France "), five
Fields Medal s (mathematics), one
Abel Prize (mathematics) and two
Templeton Prize s (religion). Trinity has many distinguished alumni – the most notable being
Sir Isaac Newton .
Trinity College and
King's College were for decades the main recruiting grounds for the
Cambridge Apostles , an elite, intellectual secret society.
Trinity's
Sister College is
Christ Church, Oxford ; both were founded by
Henry VIII in
1546 .
Trinity has many college societies: its
Rowing club is the
First And Third Trinity Boat Club . The college
May Ball is regarded by most as one of the highlights of the
Oxbridge social calendar.
The college was founded by (founded by
Hervey De Stanton in
1324 ), and
King's Hall (established by
Edward II in
1317 and refounded by
Edward III in
1337 ).
At the time, Henry had been wiping out and seizing church lands from abbeys and monasteries. The universities of
Oxford and
Cambridge , being both religious institutions and quite rich, expected to be next in line. The king duly passed an
Act Of Parliament that allowed him to suppress (and confiscate the property of) any college he wished.
The universities used their contacts to plead with his 6th wife,
Catherine Parr . The queen persuaded her husband not to close them down, but to create a new college. The king did not want to use royal funds, so he instead combined two colleges (
King's Hall and
Michaelhouse ) and seven hostels (Physwick (formerly part of
Gonville And Caius College, Cambridge ), Gregory's, Ovyng's, Catherine's, Garratt, Margaret's, and Tyler's) to form Trinity. This, combined with lands confiscated from the Church, caused Trinity to be the richest and biggest college.
Most of the college's major buildings date from the
16th and
17th centuries.
Thomas Nevile , who became Master of Trinity in
1593 , rebuilt and re-designed much of the college. This work included the enlargement and completion of
Great Court , and the construction of
Nevile's Court between Great Court and the river
Cam . Nevile's Court was completed in the late 17th century when the
Wren Library , designed by
Sir Christopher Wren , was built.
;King's Hostel (1377-1416, various architects): Located to the north of Great Court, behind the Clock Tower, this is (along with the King's Gate), the sole remaining building from
King's Hall .
;, who demolished several existing buildings on this site, including almost the entirety of the former college of
Michaelhouse . The sole remaining building of Michaelhouse was replaced by the current Kitchens (designed by
James Essex ) in 1770-1775. See
360° panorama of Great Court from the BBC.
;, originally 2/3 of its current length and without the
Wren Library . The appearance of the upper floor was remodelled slightly 2 centuries later.
;Bishop's Hostel (1671, , Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry. Additional buildings were built in 1878 by Arthur Blomfield.
; First Folios, a 14th-century manuscript of
The Vision Of Piers Plowman , and letters written by Sir Isaac Newton. Below the building are the pleasant Wren Library Cloisters, where students may enjoy a fine view of the Great Hall in front of them, and the river and Backs directly behind.
;New Court (or ''King's Court''; 1825,
William Watkins ): Located to the south of Nevile's Court, and built in Tudor-Gothic style, this court is notable for the large tree in the centre. Many other "New Courts" in the colleges were built at this time to accommodate the new influx of students.
;Whewell's Courts (1860 & 1868, , the then master of the college. Note: Whewell is pronounced "Hugh-well".
;Angel Court (1957-1959,
HC Husband ): Located between Great Court and Trinity Street.
;Wolfson Building (1968-1972, Architects Co-Partnership): Located to the south of Whewell's Court, on top of a podium above shops, this building resembles a brick-clad ziggurat, and is used exclusively for first-year accommodation. As of the academic year 2005-06, it is being renovated.
;Blue Boar Court (1989,
MacCormac Jamieson Prichard and Wright): Located to the south of the Wolfson Building, on top of podium a floor up from ground level, and including the upper floors of several surrounding Georgian buildings on Trinity, Green and Sidney Street.
;Burrell's Field (1995, .
There are also College rooms above shops in Bridge Street and Jesus Lane, behind Whewell's Court.
;Fellows' Garden : Located on the west side of Queens Road, opposite the drive that leads to the Backs.
;Master's Garden : Located behind the Masters' Lodge.
;Old Fields
;New Fields
The Great Court Run is an attempt to run round the perimeter of
Great Court (approximately 367 metres), in the 43 seconds during the clock striking twelve. Students traditionally attempt to complete the circuit on the day of the Matriculation Dinner. It is a rather difficult challenge and the only people believed to have actually completed the run in time are
Lord Burghley in
1927 and
Sebastian Coe when he beat
Steve Cram in a charity race in October
1988 . Today the challenge is only open to freshers, many of whom compete in fancy dress.
One Sunday each June (the exact date depends on the university term), the College Choir perform a short concert immediately after the clock strikes 12 noon. Known as ''Singing from the Towers'', half of the choir sings from the top of Great Gate, while the other half sings from the top of the Clock Tower (approximately 60 metres away), giving a strong
Antiphonal effect. Midway through the concert, a brass band performs from the top of Queen's Tower. Later that same day, the College Choir gives a second open-air concert, known as ''Singing on the River'', where they perform madrigals (and arrangements of popular songs) from a raft of
Punts on the
River .
Another tradition relates to a duck (known as the Mallard), which resides in the rafters of the Great Hall. Students occasionally move the duck from one rafter to another (without permission from the college), having been photographed with the mallard as proof. This is considered difficult and access to the Hall outside meal-times is prohibited. In addition, the rafters are high so it has not been attempted for several years. During the Easter term of 2005, several pigeons entered the Hall through the windows in the pinnacle, and one knocked the Mallard off its rafter. It was found intact on the floor, and revealed to not be made out of wood as previously believed. It is currently held by the College catering staff. It is unknown whether it will be reinstated.
For many years it was the custom for students to place a bicycle high in branches of the tree in the centre of New Court. Usually
invisible except in winter, when the leaves had fallen, such bicycles tended to remain for several years before being removed
by the authorities. The students then inserted another bicycle.
Similarly, the sceptre held by the statue of Henry VIII mounted above the medieval Great Gate was
replaced with a chair leg as a prank many years ago. It has remained there to this day: when in the 1980s students exchanged the chair leg for a bicycle pump, the College replaced the chair leg.
The college remains a great rival of
St. John's who are their main competitor in sports and academia (John's is also built right next door to Trinity). This has given rise to a number of anecdotes and myths. It is often cited as the reason why the courts of Trinity generally have no J staircases, despite including other letters in alphabetical order. Burrell's Field has a J staircase but New, Great, Whewell's, Nevile's and Blue Boar Courts skip the letter. The reason is more one of tradition and the absence of the letter J in the
Roman Alphabet . There are also two small muzzle-loading cannons on the bowling green pointing in the direction of John's, though this orientation may be coincidental.
Trinity College undergraduate gowns are dark blue, as opposed to the black favoured by most other Cambridge colleges. The
Porters always wear black
Bowler Hat s – most other college porters do not. As with other Cambridge colleges, the grass in courtyards are generally out-of-bound for everyone except the fellows. Only one of two meadows on "the Backs" (riverside area behind the college) are accessible to students. Other lawns are accessible to graduates in formal gowns.
Trinity offers a ''Junior Scholarship'' (principally a monetary award and also, as of present, preference in the 3rd year room ballots) to undergraduates who achieve a first-class result in their first part of
Tripos . Undergraduates who achieve such a result in subsequent parts of
Tripos are granted a ''Senior Scholarship''. This award can also be gained by first year undergraduates who finish very close to the top of their year. Junior and Senior Scholar students receive preferential treatment when choosing college rooms -
Nevile's Court and
Great Court rooms are especially prized. All final year undergraduates who achieve first-class honours in their final exams are offered financial support for proceeding with a
Master's degree. Other support is available for
PhD degrees. The highly regarded right to walk on the grass in the college courts is exclusive to Fellows of the college and their guests. Scholars do however have the right to walk on Scholar's Lawn, but only in full academic dress.
Trinity College has a long-standing relationship with the
Parish of St George's , , and the neighbourhood thereof.'
Many apocryphal stories have been told about the college's wealth. Trinity is sometimes suggested to be the second or third largest landowner in the UK (or in England) - after the
Crown Estate , the
National Trust and the
Church Of England . (A variant of this legend is repeated in the
Tom Sharpe novel ''
Porterhouse Blue ''.) Despite the legend's falsehood, it is frequently repeated by tour guides.
A second legend is that it is possible to walk from Cambridge to
Oxford on land solely owned by Trinity. Several varieties of this legend exist - others refer to the combined land of Trinity College, Cambridge and
Trinity College, Oxford , or of Trinity College, Cambridge and
Christ Church, Oxford . All are most certainly false.
Trinity also lays claim to the invention of
Crème Brûlée .
''For an extensive selective list see ''
The head of Trinity College is the Master. The first Master was John Redman who was appointed in
1546 . The role is a Royal appointment and in the past was sometimes made by the Monarch as a favour to an important person. Nowadays the Fellows of the College, and to a lesser extent the Government, choose the new Master and the Royal role is only nominal. A complete list of the Masters of Trinity is below.
