In this final section, the author looks at how the skyline of Cambridge has been transformed as new areas such as the Cambridge Biomedical Campus have sprung up. During the twentieth and early twenty-first century, the city has expanded rapidly in size, population and wealth as it has gained a world-class reputation in science, technology and innovation. The author examines the achievements of scientists in the field of molecular biology, including Crick and Watson’s discovery of the structure of DNA, and Fred Sanger’s role in the Human Genome Project. She also considers the forging of links between University and industry, the emergence of the Cambridge Science Park, hi-tech success stories such as ARM, and the forerunners of the hi-tech boom, including Pye, Acorn and Sinclair. Student life in the University today and the iconic Boat Race, Bumps, May Balls and Footlights are clearly explained. Issues affecting the town include the growth of car ownership, the importance of tourism, the development of Lion Yard and the Grand Arcade, and the origins of Petty Cury. At its core, Cambridge remains recognisably medieval, centred on the town and university church of Great St Mary’s.

Trading in goods such as wheat, flour, salt, fish, eels and sedge, Cambridge was a vibrant market town and river port, receiving its royal charter from King John in 1201. As scholars arrived in 1209, fleeing a major dispute in Oxford, it changed the town for ever: Cambridge was to become a leading university town in medieval Europe. Stephanie Boyd looks at the role of the Church and religious guilds in the town, and the impact of the University as it grew in wealth and autonomy, leading to tensions between Town and Gown. The author explains how and why Cambridge colleges such as Queens were founded, and why they were designed with cloistered courts and imposing gatehouses. She also discusses how colleges were paid for, the importance of chantry prayers, the impact of the Black Death and the fear of heresy, which all contributed to enthusiastic college-building, including the founding of a royal college at King’s.

Row upon row of Victorian terraced houses in areas such as Romsey testify to the huge expansion of Cambridge in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The author shows how the growth of town and University was hastened by the enclosure of the medieval open fields, the arrival of the railway in 1845 and long overdue reforms to the University. The population of the University swelled as it finally opened its doors to scholars of different religions in 1856, and to women in 1869. The author looks at pioneer women at Newnham and Girton, the first Black students, and the first academic wives permitted in Cambridge. The role of University abolitionists and campaigners such as Thomas Clarkson, William Wilberforce and Olaudah Equiano are also explored. When the Duke of Devonshire founded the Cavendish Laboratory, there followed a tremendous period of scientific advance which included the discovery of the electron and neutron and splitting of the atom, led by J. J. Thomson, Rutherford and Chadwick. Significant individuals such as Darwin, Wittgenstein, Keynes, Virginia Woolf and poet Rupert Brooke are also included, as are the charms of Grantchester Meadows and the Orchard Tea Garden.

Fortified as a Parliamentarian stronghold under Oliver Cromwell, Cambridge emerged from the English Civil War intact, and flourished under the Restoration of Charles II in 1660. A great age of science and architecture at Cambridge followed, inspired by Trinity fellow Isaac Newton and architect-mathematician Christopher Wren. Stephanie Boyd explains why the building of college courts, chapels and libraries boomed in this period, and classical masterpieces such as the Wren Library at Trinity sprung up. Comparison is drawn between the fine Cambridge colleges and the squalor of the town, and the impact of the Great Plague on townspeople and scholars. The contributions of individuals such as Francis Bacon and Pepys are included, along with local businessman Thomas Hobson, originator of both fresh water to the town from Nine Wells and the expression ‘Hobson’s Choice’.

The author considers what attracted hunter-gatherers and Neolithic farmers to the Cam Valley and Cambridge area. The importance of rivers for transport, trade and food is explored. Recent discoveries include the remarkable Bronze Age river settlement on stilts at Must Farm in Cambridgeshire, dubbed the ‘Pompeii of the Fens’. The earliest settlement regarded as Cambridge, as we know it today, was an Iron Age village on Castle Hill. The author looks at why Iron Age people - or Celts - built an enclosed village on this site, and the greater mystery of why a massive hillfort was constructed at Wandlebury.

The city of Cambridge is famous for its university and magnificent college buildings along the Backs. It is also renowned for science, technology and innovation. The recent hi-tech boom has given the city its nickname ‘Silicon Fen. This book explains how a small medieval town on the edge of the fens developed into a city with leading university, science park and biomedical campus. Throughout, the author shows how the history of both Town and University are inextricably linked. When the first scholars arrived in 1209, Cambridge was already a thriving market town and inland port, which hosted Stourbridge Fair, one of the largest fairs in medieval Europe. This illustrated history looks at Cambridge from prehistoric to modern times. It traces the origins of the first iron-age settlement, the Roman fort, the growth of the Anglo-Saxon and Viking town, and how Cambridge gained status as a medieval town. The growth of the University is explored from the 13th century to the present day, and includes Cambridge figures such as Newton, Darwin, Turing, Crick, Watson, and Hawking. The story is brought up to the present, drawing on recent research and archaeological finds in the 21st century.

From the first century AD, Cambridge was raided, invaded and settled by different groups of people from overseas, for about a thousand years. The author charts how Cambridge changed, grew and shifted geographically: from Roman fort on Castle Hill to Anglo-Saxon town trading on Market Hill; from Viking port by Quayside to Norman stronghold with a motte and bailey castle on Castle Mound, occupied by the much-loathed Sheriff Picot. Local resistance fighters Boudicca and Hereward the Wake are included. Stephanie Boyd draws on evidence ranging from landmarks such as Devil’s Dyke, to local place-names and a rare bed burial at Trumpington Meadows, to piece together a picture of life in the local area more than a thousand years ago.

Cambridge was at the very heart of national events and the great political and religious changes of the Tudor period. By Queen Elizabeth I’s reign, the University was closer to royal power than it had ever been. The author explains how and why the Tudor monarchs became so involved in Cambridge and examines the crisis of Henry VIII’s Break from Rome, the Dissolution of the Monasteries and Protestant Reformation. The author includes key figures in Cambridge such as Lady Margaret Beaufort, John Fisher, Erasmus and Thomas Cranmer. She also looks at the early Cambridge Protestant reformers such as Latimer, Ridley and Matthew Parker, who secretly discussed Luther’s ideas at the White Horse Tavern near King’s Parade.

The author looks at the part Cambridge played in the First and Second World Wars, and how war affected both Town and University in different ways. She describes Cambridge in 1914, with recruits lining up at the Corn Exchange, deserted lecture halls, and soldiers camping on Parker’s Piece. The town became site of a significant temporary military hospital built on a college cricket field, and it witnessed a constant flow of wounded soldiers from the front arriving on stretchers at Cambridge station. In 1939, Cambridge experienced the terror, bombs and blackouts of war all over again. The sound of aircraft overhead was ever-present as Cambridge was encircled by RAF airbases at Bourn, Bottisham and Fowlmere, and privately owned Marshalls Airport. Duxford’s key role as Sector Station in the Battle of Britain and home to the US Air Force is carefully explained. In the Cold War era of secrecy and espionage that followed, the names of the notorious Cambridge Five and location of the regional nuclear bunker in Cambridge are also revealed.