Mill Road is a street in southeast

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 ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It runs southeast from near to

Parker's Piece Parker's Piece is a flat and roughly square green common located near the centre of Cambridge, England, regarded by some as the birthplace of the rules of association football. The two main walking and cycling paths across it run diagonally, an ...

, at the junction with Gonville Place, East Road, and Parkside. It crosses the main railway line and links to the city's

ring road A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop, bypass or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist i ...

(the A1134). It passes through the wards of Petersfield and Romsey, which are divided by the railway line. It is a busy street containing many independent businesses, churches, a

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

temple and Cambridge Central Mosque. Near the northwestern end to the south in Mortimer Road off Mill Road is

Hughes Hall Hughes Hall is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. It is the oldest of the University of Cambridge's postgraduate colleges. The college also admits undergraduates, though undergraduates admitted by the college must ...

. Behind Hughes Hall is

Fenner's Fenner's is Cambridge University Cricket Club's ground. History Cambridge University Cricket Club had previously played at two grounds in Cambridge, the University Ground and Parker's Piece. In 1846, Francis Fenner leased a former cherry orchard ...

, the

cricket ground Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by stri ...

of the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, which has hosted

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

since 1848. To the north is

Anglia Ruskin University Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) is a public university in East Anglia, United Kingdom. Its origins are in the Cambridge School of Art, founded by William John Beamont in 1858. It became a university in 1992, and was renamed after John Ruskin in ...

, formerly Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology (CCAT).

History

Mill Road was originally a quiet country lane leading to the southeast out of the city of Cambridge, named after the

windmill A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called sails or blades, specifically to mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and other applications, in some ...

that stood at what is now the corner of Covent Garden. The coming of the railways in the mid-19th century brought about a rapid development of the eastern part of the city after the University of Cambridge repeatedly blocked attempts to build a more central station. The population of the Mill Road area was listed as 252 in 1801, 6,651 in 1831, 11,848 in 1861 and 25,091 in 1891.Ronald D. Gray, Derek Stubbings, ''Cambridge street-names: their origins and associations''.

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pr ...

, 2000. , . Petersfield and Romsey Town, the areas of Mill Road to either side of the railway bridge, developed in markedly different ways. Petersfield, to the west of the railway, was originally developed by Gonville and Caius and Corpus Christi

colleges A college ( Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...

(a fact reflected in the naming of the area's streets after college

fellows Fellows may refer to Fellow, in plural form. Fellows or Fellowes may also refer to: Places *Fellows, California, USA *Fellows, Wisconsin, ghost town, USA Other uses *Fellows Auctioneers, established in 1876. * Fellowes, Inc., manufacturer of wor ...

). In 1838 the Cambridge Union

Workhouse In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse' ...

was opened, a building subsequently to become the Mill Road Maternity Hospital and finally a sheltered housing scheme. Romsey Town, east of the railway, started to be developed after the

inclosure acts The Inclosure Acts, which use an archaic spelling of the word now usually spelt "enclosure", cover enclosure of open fields and common land in England and Wales, creating legal property rights to land previously held in common. Between 1604 and ...

of the middle 19th century. Expansion of the railway network drove the building of housing for railway workers and the majority of the houses were built in the ten years after 1885.Alan Brigham and Colin Wiles,
Bringing it all back home
''. CIH, 2006. Historically Petersfield has always been thought of by local residents as being on the 'Gown' side of the

town and gown Town and gown are two distinct communities of a university town; 'town' being the non-academic population and 'gown' metonymically being the university community, especially in ancient seats of learning such as Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, and St ...

divide, with many of the residents having been employed by the University. Romsey, on the other hand, remained predominantly

working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...

with a

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

tradition in its local politics, becoming known locally as 'Red Romsey' or 'Little Russia'.

Mill Road Winter Fair

The Mill Road Winter Fair is an annual fair on the first Saturday in December. Attendance grew from 10,000 at the first fair in 2005 to at least 20,000 in 2009. Since 2009 part of Mill Road, including the bridge, has been closed to traffic for the duration of the fair. Regular activities include a shop window display competition, live music, folk dancing, a local history walk and open days at the road's churches, temple and mosque. The fair was founded by Suzy Oakes. File:Mill Road, Cambridge, England 01.jpg, Mill Road, looking toward the city. File:Bridge mural on Mill Road, Cambridge, England.jpg, Railway bridge mural. File:Mill_Road_Winter_Fair_2009.jpg, The 2009 Mill Road Winter Fair. File:cmglee_Cambridge_Romsey_Mill_from_Coleridge_Road.jpg,

Romsey Mill Romsey Mill is a Cambridgeshire-based charity supporting young people, children, and families, including young people with autism, teenage parents, and young people facing vulnerability or disadvantage. The organisation provides programmes to ...

Centre

Notable residents

The following live or have lived in the Mill Road area: *

Douglas Adams Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author and screenwriter, best known for ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series), BBC radio comedy, ''The H ...

— author. Born at Mill Road Maternity Hospital, 1952. *

Syd Barrett Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett (6 January 1946 – 7 July 2006) was an English singer, songwriter, and musician who co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd in 1965. Barrett was their original frontman and primary songwriter, becoming known for his ...

— musician. Born at 60 Glisson Road, 1946. Attended Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology (now

) with

David Gilmour David Jon Gilmour ( ; born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined as guitarist and co-lead vocalist in 1967, shortly before the departure of founding member Syd Barrett. P ...

, 1962–64. Worked as a postman at Mill Road Sorting Office. *

Richard Berengarten Richard Berengarten (born 4 June 1943) is an English poet. Having lived in Italy, Greece, the US and the former Yugoslavia, his perspectives as a poet combine English, French, Mediterranean, Jewish, Slavic, American and Oriental influences. His ...

(aka Burns), poet and founder of the Cambridge Poetry Festival. *

Allan Brigham Allan Brigham (1951–2020) was a British road sweeper, historian, and tour guide. His historical writing includes ''Bringing It All Back Home'' (2006), a report published by the Chartered Institute of Housing, lamenting the decline of the Romse ...

— local historian and tour guide. Lived in Cockburn Street, off Mill Road. * Robert Carpenter — cricketer. Born 18 November 1830 in Mill Road. *

Susanna Clarke Susanna Mary Clarke (born 1 November 1959) is an English author known for her debut novel '' Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell'' (2004), a Hugo Award-winning alternative history. Clarke began ''Jonathan Strange'' in 1993 and worked on it during her ...

— author (''

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell ''Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell'' is the debut novel by British writer Susanna Clarke. Published in 2004, it is an alternative history set in 19th-century England around the time of the Napoleonic Wars. Its premise is that magic once existed i ...

''). *

Rajani Palme Dutt Rajani may refer to: *Rajani (name), people named Rajani * Rajani (actress) (born 1965), Indian film actress * ''Rajani'' (TV series), a 1980s Indian TV series * ''Rajani'' (film), a 2009 Indian Kannada romantic comedy * ''Rajani'', an 1877 novel ...

— communist ideologue and vice-chairman of the British Communist Party (CPGB). Born 1896 in 25 Mill Road, where his father Upendra Krishna Dutt had founded a medical practice around 1890. The building now houses th
Petersfield Medical Practice
* Gordon Fraser — publisher. Lived at 274a Mill Road during the late 1930s.

Dylan Thomas Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer whose works include the poems " Do not go gentle into that good night" and " And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" ''Und ...

attended a notorious week-long drunken party there in 1937 after coming to Cambridge to give a reading.Graham Chainey, ''A literary history of Cambridge''. CUP Archive, 1995. , . *

— musician. Lived in a flat on Mill Road while playing in Joker's Wild, his first band. *

Colin Greenland Colin Greenland (born 17 May 1954 in Dover, Kent, England) is a British science fiction writer, whose first story won the second prize in a 1982 Faber & Faber competition. His best-known novel is ''Take Back Plenty'' (1990), winner of both majo ...

— Science fiction author ('' Take Back Plenty''). * Timothy Gowers — Mathematician. *

Fred Hoyle Sir Fred Hoyle FRS (24 June 1915 – 20 August 2001) was an English astronomer who formulated the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis and was one of the authors of the influential B2FH paper. He also held controversial stances on other sci ...

— astronomer and mathematician. Lived on Mill Road as an undergraduate in Emmanuel College digs, 1933–35. *

Tom Karen Thomas Josef Derrick Paul Karen (born March 1926) is a British industrial designer of Czech descent. He was managing director and chief designer of Ogle Design from 1962 until 1999. He oversaw design of the Bush Radio TR130 radio, the Raleig ...

— designer of the Reliant Scimitar GTE, Bond Bug and

Raleigh Chopper The Raleigh Chopper is a children's bicycle, a wheelie bike, manufactured and marketed in the 1970s by the Raleigh Bicycle Company of Nottingham, England. Its unique design became a cultural icon and is fondly remembered by many who grew up in ...

bicycle. *

Mary Kingsley Mary Henrietta Kingsley (13 October 1862 – 3 June 1900) was an English ethnographer, scientific writer, and explorer whose travels throughout West Africa and resulting work helped shape European perceptions of both African cultures and ...

— Ethnographist, writer and explorer. Lived at 7, Mortimer Road. * F. R. Leavis — notable British literary critic. Born above his father's music shop at 68 Mill Road, 1895. * David Parr - decorative artist in the

Arts and Crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

and

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

styles, lived at 186 Gwydir Street, just off Mill Road, from 1886 to 1927 *

Shahida Rahman Shahidun Nessa Rahman ( bn, শহীদুন নেসসা রহমান; née Karim bn, করিম; born 14 December 1971), commonly known by her pseudonym Shahida Rahman, is an English author, writer and publisher. She is best known ...

- English author, writer and publisher. Born at Mill Road Maternity Hospital, 1971 * Tom Robinson — Singer-songwriter and radio presenter. Born at Mill Road Maternity Hospital, 1950. *

Ronald Searle Ronald William Fordham Searle, CBE, RDI (3 March 1920 – 30 December 2011) was an English artist and satirical cartoonist, comics artist, sculptor, medal designer and illustrator. He is perhaps best remembered as the creator of St Trinian's S ...

— Artist and satirical cartoonist. Creator of

St Trinian's School ''St Trinian's'' is a British gag cartoon comic strip series, created and drawn by Ronald Searle from 1946 until 1952. The cartoons all centre on a boarding school for girls, where the teachers are sadists and the girls are juvenile delinquen ...

. Lived at 6, Petersfield as a child and then at 29 Collier Road while studying at The Cambridge School of Art (now Anglia Ruskin University). * Tom Sharpe — author ('' Wilt''). Lived on Mill Road while lecturing in History at CCAT between 1963 and 1972. * Amy Williams —

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy Greene Wayne G ...

women's

Skeleton A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of an animal. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside ...

gold medalist. * Bee Wilson — Food writer, journalist and historian.

References

External links

Mill Road community websiteMill Road Winter Fair websiteThe No Mill Road Tesco CampaignAbu Bakr Jamia mosque
{{Authority control Shopping streets in Cambridge History of Cambridge Hughes Hall, Cambridge