Gonville Court, originally uploaded by Neorelix.
Gonville and Caius (pronounced ‘keys’) College (founded 1348) sits at one end of King’s Parade and the Tower of its Tree Court (1868-70) stands proud on the corner of Trinity Street and Market Hill. Possibly the most notorious moment in its history was on June 7, 1958 when 13 Cambridge students hauled an Austin Seven van on to the roof of the Senate House, the central university building. The authorities considered it such an audacious feat that they sent the ringleader a case of champagne! Read the full account. It’s stunning inside (tourists just standing around, mouths open!) with many photo opportunities (a couple tomorrow) but I decided to present one of the oldest bits today. This is the north-east corner of Gonville Court and dates from 1490. Virtually unchanged for half a millennium… Older still is the west range but the picture was (a depressingly regular occurrence) disappointing so I sidelined it.
Today in 1925 Mein Kampf was published. Whilst in the college I visited the chapel, which is beautiful, but was drawn specifically to the lists of those members lost in the two wars.
