Christ's Pieces or Christ's Piece is a Victorian park in the east of central

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

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, with flower beds, ornamental trees and a memorial garden to

Diana, Princess of Wales Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...

.Christ's Pieces
,

Cambridge City Council, England Cambridge City Council is a district council in the county of Cambridgeshire, which governs the City of Cambridge. History Cambridge was granted a Royal Charter by King John in 1207, which permitted the appointment of a mayor. The first recorde ...

.Allan Brigham,
Christ's Pieces: A year on a Cambridge park in pictures
'. The area acts as an important publicly accessible open grassed area for the city centre. It is east of Christ's College and to the north of Emmanuel College. To the north is King Street, to the east is Emmanuel Road, to the south is Drummer Street, and to the west is Milton's Walk. The

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

is used by pedestrians walking between the centre of the city and the

Grafton Centre The Grafton centre is a covered shopping centre in the east of central Cambridge, England. It is one of the three main shopping centres in Cambridge, with Lion Yard and Grand Arcade in the city's centre. The Centre dominates Fitzroy Street and Bu ...

(a shopping centre). In good weather, it is often used as a place for lunch outside as well. There are

tennis court A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles matches. A variety of surfaces can be u ...

s at the northwest corner of Christ's Pieces and a

bowling green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep on ...

in the southeast corner. The main central Cambridge bus station is north off Drummer Street on the southern edge of Christ's Pieces near the southwest corner. There is a Christ's Pieces Residents Association (CPRA) for local residents and others interested in maintaining the character of the surrounding area.

History

Previously, the area was farmland. For example, it is shown to have a cereal crop on a 1574 map. Later it became pasture land. Milton's Walk was a medieval lane, called "Christes Colledge Walke" in 1574. Milton's Walk is named after the poet

John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem '' Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and political ...

(1608–74), who was an undergraduate at Christ's College. It marks the boundary of the college with Christ's Pieces. In 1886, the land was bought from Jesus College by the Corporation of Cambridge for £1,000 (). The Corporation drained it better and created the park much as it is now, but a proposed artificial lake was never created and the

bandstand A bandstand (sometimes music kiosk) is a circular, semicircular or polygonal structure set in a park, garden, pier, or indoor space, designed to accommodate musical bands performing concerts. A simple construction, it both creates an orname ...

no longer exists. In 2013, its paths were used in a trial of "Starpath", which absorbs UV energy during the day and emits it at night to illuminate the path. On 15 May 2015, two Libyan cadets, who had been stationed in the nearby

Bassingbourn Barracks Bassingbourn Barracks is a Ministry of Defence installation located north of Royston, Hertfordshire and southwest of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England. History Early history The barracks were established, on the site of the former RAF Bassing ...

, were each jailed for 12 years for raping a man in the park.Two Libyan soldiers charged with rape in Cambridge - BBC News
/ref> A spokesman for the

employer Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any othe ...

said it condemned the behaviour and that related training will not be repeated at Bassingbourn.

Gallery

Image:Christ's Pieces snowy path.JPG, Snowy path through Christ's Pieces Image:Bowls on Christs Pieces.JPG, Bowls on the bowling green

References

External links

{{coord, 52.2059, N, 0.1251, E, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title, format=dms Parks and open spaces in Cambridge Christ's College, Cambridge Jesus College, Cambridge History of Cambridge

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links