College Tour 5 - Queens' College

First founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou and then, unusually, again in 1465 by Elizabeth Woodville, Queens' is fiercely proud of its royal patronesses, including our most recent, Her Majesty The Queen.


The President's Lodge of Queens' is the oldest building on the river at Cambridge (ca. 1460). Queens' College is also one of only two colleges with buildings on its main site on both sides of the Cam (the other being John's).

The history of the College, much like its architecture, is rich, complex and varied. The main College site sits astride the River Cam, the two halves joined across the river by the famous Mathematical Bridge - more correctly called The Wooden Bridge. This watery division can give visitors the impression of stepping across the bridge from the twentieth century to the fifteenth (or vice versa).

According to popular fable the bridge was originally designed and built by Sir Isaac Newton without the use of nuts or bolts, and at some point in the past students (or fellows, depending on which version you hear) attempted to take the bridge apart and put it back together. The myth continues that the over-ambitious engineers were unable to match Newton's feat of engineering, and had to resort to fastening the bridge by nuts and bolts. This is why nuts and bolts can presently be seen in the bridge. This story is false: the bridge was built in 1749 by James Essex the Younger to the design of William Etheridge 22 years after Newton died. It was later rebuilt in 1866 and 1905, albeit to the same design.

Oh, as you can see, we were so fortunate to see a wedding ceremony!