Cambridge is a market town that became one of the world's great university cities. Colleges line the river, and the town green where football rules were written is still a public park. Here are the facts and stories behind it.
10 curiosidades sobre Cambridge
- Uma universidade fundada por fugitivos: a Universidade de Cambridge remonta a 1209, quando um grupo de estudiosos deixou Oxford depois de um conflito com os habitantes e se fixou aqui.
- Football's rule book was drafted here: in 1848 students who played on Parker's Piece wrote down an early set of football rules. A sculpture on the edge of the green commemorates these Cambridge Rules.
- A park named after a cook: Parker's Piece takes its name from Edward Parker, a cook who held the lease on the land when it was still used for grazing.
- A lamp post with a nickname: the gas lamp where the paths cross in the middle of Parker's Piece was put up in 1893. In the 1960s students started calling it Reality Checkpoint.
- Um memorial a uma tragédia polar: o Scott Polar Research Institute foi fundado em 1920 em memória do capitão Robert Falcon Scott e dos quatro homens que morreram com ele no regresso do Polo Sul. O seu edifício na Lensfield Road, de Herbert Baker, abriu em 1934.
- A ceiling like no other: King's College was founded by Henry VI in 1441, and the first stone of its chapel was laid in 1446. The chapel has the largest fan vault in the world.
- Um relógio que come o tempo: o Corpus Clock, na esquina do Corpus Christi College, foi inaugurado por Stephen Hawking em 2008. Uma criatura de metal chamada Chronophage rasteja pelo mostrador dourado, e o relógio é irregular de propósito, só mostrando a hora exata de vez em quando.
- The secret of life, announced in a pub: on 28 February 1953 Francis Crick walked into The Eagle and, by James Watson's account, told the lunchtime crowd that they had found the secret of life. A plaque by the door marks their discovery of the structure of DNA.
- A bridge with a myth: the wooden Mathematical Bridge at Queens' College was first built in 1749. A popular story says Isaac Newton built it without bolts, but he had died more than 20 years earlier.
- Uma cidade jovem: apesar da idade, Cambridge só recebeu o estatuto de city em 1951. Diante da Great Gate do Trinity College, onde Newton estudou, cresce uma macieira que descenderá da árvore da casa da sua família.
A história de Scott e da corrida ao Polo
In January 1912 Captain Scott and four companions reached the South Pole, only to find a tent and a Norwegian flag: Roald Amundsen's team had arrived about five weeks earlier, on 14 December 1911. On the return journey all five men died of cold, hunger and exhaustion. A search party found the tent with the bodies of Scott, Edward Wilson and Henry Bowers in November 1912. Frank Debenham, a geologist on Scott's expedition, became the driving force behind a research institute in their memory, and the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge became one of the world's leading centres of polar science.
The Backs e o punting, explicados
The Backs is the stretch where several colleges, including Queens', King's, Clare, Trinity and St John's, back onto the River Cam with lawns and meadows running down to the water. The best way to see them is from a punt, a flat-bottomed boat pushed along with a long pole. In Cambridge, punters traditionally stand on the flat deck at the back, while in Oxford they usually punt from the other end.
O que comer em Cambridge
- Chelsea bun: um pão doce em espiral, peganhento e cheio de passas de Corinto. A Fitzbillies, na Trumpington Street, fá-los desde que abriu em 1920.
- Cambridge burnt cream: o nome local do leite-creme queimado à francesa, uma sobremesa há muito associada ao Trinity College.
- Chá da tarde em Grantchester: sobe o rio a pé ou de punt até ao Orchard Tea Garden, onde o poeta Rupert Brooke se alojou, e come scones numa espreguiçadeira debaixo das macieiras.
- Uma pint no The Eagle: além da placa do ADN, a sala do fundo tem um teto coberto de nomes e números de esquadra deixados por aviadores da RAF e americanos durante a Segunda Guerra Mundial.
Antes de ires
- A maioria dos colégios cobra entrada e fecha por vezes, sobretudo na época de exames, em maio e junho.
- Choral Evensong in King's College Chapel and several other college chapels is free and open to everyone during term.
- For a view over the rooftops, climb the tower of Great St Mary's, the university church opposite King's College.
- Ely e a sua catedral ficam a uma curta viagem de comboio e são um passeio fácil de meio dia.
Descobre Cambridge com a World City Trail
Our Cambridge scavenger hunt turns these sights into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops and takes around three hours, with about 35 minutes of walking. Along the way you visit Parker's Piece and the Scott Polar Research Institute.
Em cada paragem resolves um enigma e ouves uma pequena história, ao teu ritmo. Podes começar quando quiseres e jogar em inglês, alemão, francês, italiano, espanhol ou neerlandês.
Jogar a caça ao tesouro de Cambridge →
Factos verificados em outubro de 2026.