The River Cam () is the main river flowing through

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 ...

in eastern

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 b ...

. After leaving Cambridge, it flows north and east before joining the

River Great Ouse The River Great Ouse () is a river in England, the longest of several British rivers called "Ouse". From Syresham in Northamptonshire, the Great Ouse flows through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to drain into the Wa ...

to the south of

Ely Ely or ELY may refer to: Places Ireland * Éile, a medieval kingdom commonly anglicised Ely * Ely Place, Dublin, a street United Kingdom * Ely, Cambridgeshire, a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England ** Ely Cathedral Ely Cathedral, formal ...

, at Pope's Corner. The total distance from

to the sea is about and is navigable for punts, small boats, and rowing craft. The Great Ouse also connects to England's canal system via the

Middle Level Navigations The Middle Level Navigations are a network of waterways in England, primarily used for land drainage, which lie in The Fens between the River Nene, Rivers Nene and Great Ouse, and between the cities of Peterborough and Cambridge. Most of the a ...

and the

River Nene The River Nene ( or : see below) is a river in the east of England that rises from three sources in Northamptonshire.OS Explorer Map sheet 223, Northampton & Market Harborough, Brixworth & Pitsford Water. The river is about long, about of w ...

. In total, the Cam runs for around from its furthest source (near Debden in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

) to its confluence with the Great Ouse.

Name

The original name of the river was the ''Granta'' and (unusually) its present name derives from the city of Cambridge ( ang, Grantebrycge) rather than the other way around: After the city's present name developed in

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...

, the river's name was backformed to match. This was not universally applied, however, and the upper stretch of the river continues to be informally known as the

Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and ma ...

. It has been said''Bedders, Bulldogs and Bedells: A Cambridge Glossary'', (1995), Frank Stubbings, Cambridge University Press, , p. 19 that the river is the "Granta" above the

Silver Street Bridge Silver Street Bridge, officially known as Small Bridge is the sixth river Cam bridge overall and the second bridge on its middle stream in Cambridge. In 1959 the concrete bridge with the design by Sir Edwin Lutyens replaced an 1841 cast iron brid ...

(in Cambridge) and the "Cam" below it. The Rhee tributary is also formally known as the Cam,Ordnance Survey of Great Britain. 1:25000 and the Granta has a tributary on its upper stretch also known as the Granta. On Ordnance Survey maps the two main tributaries alternative names are recognised: "River Cam or Granta" and "River Cam or Rhee". The Cam has no connection with the much smaller

River Cam The River Cam () is the main river flowing through Cambridge in eastern England. After leaving Cambridge, it flows north and east before joining the River Great Ouse to the south of Ely, at Pope's Corner. The total distance from Cambridge to ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

The lower river

An organisation called the

Conservators of the River Cam The Conservators of the River Cam are the navigation authority for the River Cam in Cambridgeshire and were founded in 1702. History Cambridge had been a major inland port as a result of its position on the navigable River Cam for centuries, b ...

was formed in 1702, charged with keeping the river navigable. The Conservators are responsible for the two

lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

s in and north east of Cambridge:

Jesus Lock Jesus Lock is a lock on the River Cam in the north of central Cambridge, England. This is Lock No. 1 on the navigable portion of the River Cam. The stretch between Jesus Lock and Baits Bite Lock is much used for

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically atta ...

. There are also many residential boats on this stretch, their occupants forming a community who call themselves the Camboaters. Navigation on the lowest section of the Cam, below and including Bottisham Lock, is the responsibility of the

Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...

From Jesus Lock and the Backs to Grantchester (middle & upper river)

The stretch above Jesus Lock is sometimes known as the middle river (with the section above the Mill Pond being referred to as the upper river). Between Jesus Lock and the Mill Pond, it passes through

the Backs The Backs is a picturesque area to the east of Queen's Road in the city of Cambridge, England, where several colleges of the University of Cambridge back on to the River Cam, their grounds covering both banks of the river. National Trust chairm ...

below the walls of many of the colleges. This is the section of river most popular with tourists, with its picture-postcard views of elegant bridges, green lawns and graceful willows. This stretch also has the unusual feature of the remains of a submerged towpath: the riverside colleges did not permit barge horses on the Backs, so the beasts waded up the Cam to the mill pulling their loads behind them. Access for mechanically powered boats is prohibited above 'La Mimosa' Pub (at the upstream end of

Jesus Green Jesus Green is a park in the north of central Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, north of Jesus College. Jesus Ditch runs along the southern edge Jesus Green. On the northern edge of Jesus Green is the River Cam, with Chesterton Road (the ...

) between 1 April and 30 September, when the middle and upper river are open only to manually propelled craft. The most common of these are the flat-bottomed punts. Between 1 October and 31 March powered boats are allowed as far as Mill Pool, but few people take advantage of this, as there are very few public mooring places along the Backs, and the river is too narrow and the bridges too low to afford easy passing or turning for many boats. Cam punt slipway

Punts and canoes can be manhandled around the

weir A weir or low head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

above the Mill Pool by means of the rollers, a slipway from lower to upper level. From the Mill Pool and its weir, the river can be followed upstream through Grantchester meadows to the village of

Grantchester Grantchester is a village and civil parish on the River Cam or Granta in South Cambridgeshire, England. It lies about south of Cambridge. Name The village of Grantchester is listed in the 1086 Domesday Book as ''Grantesete'' and ''Grauntset ...

and Byron's Pool, where it is fed by many streams.

Tributaries

The two principal tributaries of the Cam are the

and the Rhee, though both are also known as the Cam.

Rhee

The Rhee begins just off the High Street ( Ashwell Springs), at Ashwell in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

. Running north out of Ashwell, it forms the county boundary between

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

and Hertfordshire for around two kilometres, then the boundary between Bedfordshire and

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

for a further kilometre. At this point its course turns east and from here until it merges with the Granta it forms the parish boundary between a succession of villages, though until it reaches Barrington it remains at a distance of around a kilometre from any settlement of any size. Just after flowing under the Roman

Ermine Street Ermine Street is a major Roman road in England that ran from London (''Londinium'') to Lincoln (''Lindum Colonia'') and York (''Eboracum''). The Old English name was ''Earninga Strǣt'' (1012), named after a tribe called the ''Earningas'', ...

, it crosses the avenue of

Wimpole Hall Wimpole Estate is a large estate containing Wimpole Hall, a country house located within the civil parish of Wimpole, Cambridgeshire, England, about southwest of Cambridge. The house, begun in 1640, and its of parkland and farmland are owned b ...

and a few kilometres later it receives the waters of the minor River Mel that runs through

Meldreth Meldreth is a village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England, located around south-west of Cambridge. At the 2011 Census, the population of the parish was 1,783. History A large Bronze Age hoard was found near Meldreth railway s ...

. It runs along the southern edge of the village of Barrington, where it still powers a water mill known as Bulbeck Mill. At

Harston Harston is a village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England, located around 5 miles (8 km) south of Cambridge. In 2011, it had a population of 1,740. Village Sign The village sign was erected in the Queen's Silver Jubilee yea ...

it passes Harston Mill, the site of a water mill from at least the 11th century until the need for mill died out in the mid-20th century, and the parish church of All Saints. It then touches the eastern edge of the village of

Haslingfield Haslingfield is a village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England. The village is about six miles south-west of Cambridge, between Harston, Barton and Barrington. The population in the 2001 census was 1,550 people living in 6 ...

before joining the Granta at Hauxton Junction. From source to its confluence with the Granta it is in length.

Granta

The longer tributary, the Granta, starts in the parish of Debden to the east the village of Widdington in

. After initially running south west to descend from the hills of

Uttlesford Uttlesford is a local government district in Essex, England. Its council is based in the market town of Saffron Walden. At the 2011 Census, the population of the district was 79,443. Other notable settlements include Great Dunmow, Elmdon, Stebbi ...

, it turns north just west of the village of

Henham __NOTOC__ Henham, or Henham-on-the-Hill is a village and civil parish in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England. The village is situated north from London Stansted Airport. The parish includes the hamlets of Little Henham and Pledgdon Green ...

. From there until

Great Shelford Great Shelford is a village located approximately to the south of Cambridge, in the county of Cambridgeshire, in eastern England. In 1850 Great Shelford parish contained bisected by the river Cam. The population in 1841 was 803 people. By 2001 ...

it largely follows the course of the

West Anglia Main Line The West Anglia Main Line is one of the two main lines that operate out of , the other being the Great Eastern Main Line, which operates services to Ipswich and Norwich via Colchester. It runs generally north through Cheshunt, Broxbourne, Har ...

railway. Its northward journey passes first through Newport, where it is joined by the streams known as Wicken Water and Debden Water. A couple of miles later it forms a picturesque addition to views of the stately home as it flows past the front of

Audley End House Audley End House is a largely early 17th-century country house outside Saffron Walden, Essex, England. It is a prodigy house, known as one of the finest Jacobean houses in England. Audley End is now one-third of its original size, but is sti ...

, and is also joined by the stream known as Fulfen Slade. It then skirts the edges of a number of villages as it moves into Cambridgeshire, successively

Littlebury Littlebury is a village and civil parish in the Uttlesford district, north-west Essex, England. The village is approximately a mile and a half from the market town of Saffron Walden, south from Cambridge, the nearest city, and north-east from t ...

Little Chesterford Little Chesterford is a small village and civil parish in Uttlesford, Essex, in the East of England. Close to the Cambridgeshire border, it is built principally along a single sunken lane to the east of a chalk stream tributary of the River Cam o ...

Great Chesterford Great Chesterford is a village and civil parish in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England. The village is north from Bishop's Stortford, south from Cambridge and about northwest from the city and Essex county town of Chelmsford. The Ickn ...

Ickleton Ickleton is a village and civil parish about south of Cambridge in Cambridgeshire, England. The village is beside the River Cam, close to where a southern branch of the Icknield Way crossed the river. The eastern and southern boundaries of the ...

Hinxton Hinxton is a village in South Cambridgeshire, England. The River Cam runs through the village, as does the Cambridge to Liverpool Street railway, though the village has no station. Hinxton parish's southern boundaries form the border between Ca ...

Duxford Duxford is a village in Cambridgeshire, England, about south of Cambridge. It is part of the Hundred Parishes area. History The village formed on the banks of the River Cam, a little below its emergence from the hills of north Essex. One of t ...

and

Whittlesford Whittlesford is a village in Cambridgeshire, England, and also the name of an old hundred. The village is situated on the Granta branch of the River Cam, seven miles south of Cambridge. Whittlesford Parkway railway station serves the village. Li ...

, powering a number of water mills along the way. Forming the boundary between

and

Little Shelford Little Shelford is a village located to the south of Cambridge, in the county of Cambridgeshire, in eastern England. The River Granta lies between it and the larger village of Great Shelford, and both are served by Shelford railway station, whic ...

, it turns west to flow past

Hauxton Hauxton is a small village in Cambridgeshire, England around 5 miles to the south-west of Cambridge. History Hauxton has been occupied for well over two thousand years thanks to its position on the River Cam and a ford near Hauxton Mill that ha ...

to merge with the Rhee a mile south of Grantchester at Hauxton Junction. From source to its confluence with the Rhee it is in length.

Other tributaries

A further tributary, also known as the Granta, runs from south of Haverhill to join the larger Granta south of

. Another minor tributary is Bourn Brook which has its source near the village of

Eltisley Eltisley is a village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England, on the A428 road about 5.5 miles (9 km) east of St Neots and about 11 miles (18 km) west of the city of Cambridge. The population in 2001 was 421 people, falling ...

, west of Cambridge, running east through

Caxton Caxton may refer to: Places * Caxton Street, Brisbane, Australia * Caxton, Cambridgeshire, a village in Cambridgeshire, UK ** Caxton Gibbet, a knoll near the village * Caxton Hall, a historic building in London, UK * Caxton Building, a historic ...

Bourn Bourn is a small village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England. Surrounding villages include Caxton, Eltisley and Cambourne. It is 8 miles (12 km) from the county town of Cambridge. The population of the parish was 1,015 people ...

and Toft to join the Cam at Byron's Pool.

Literature

The Reeve's Tale "The Reeve's Tale" is the third story told in Geoffrey Chaucer's '' The Canterbury Tales''. The reeve, named Oswald in the text, is the manager of a large estate who reaped incredible profits for his master and himself. He is described in the ...

" from

Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He wa ...

's ''

Canterbury Tales ''The Canterbury Tales'' ( enm, Tales of Caunterbury) is a collection of twenty-four stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. It is widely regarded as Chaucer's ''magnum opus' ...

'' begins: The mill formerly stood by Brasley Bridge on Grantchester Road. The mill pond is extant and the foundations of the mill can be seen when the water is low. Byron's Pool is named after the poet,

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

, who is reputed to have swum there. It was certainly a bathing place for

Rupert Brooke Rupert Chawner Brooke (3 August 1887 – 23 April 1915)The date of Brooke's death and burial under the Julian calendar that applied in Greece at the time was 10 April. The Julian calendar was 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. was an En ...

and the Cambridge

neo-Pagan Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism and neopaganism, is a term for a religion or family of religions influenced by the various historical pre-Christian beliefs of pre-modern peoples in Europe and adjacent areas of North Afric ...

s. Brooke used to canoe from Cambridge to lodgings in Grantchester, which included the

Old Vicarage Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England * Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Ma ...

. His homesick poem of 1912 evokes the river: : Oh! there the chestnuts, summer through, : Beside the river make for you : A tunnel of green gloom, and sleep : Deeply above; and green and deep : The stream mysterious glides beneath, : Green as a dream and deep as death. : ... : To smell the thrilling-sweet and rotten : Unforgettable, unforgotten : River-smell, and hear the breeze : Sobbing in the little trees. : Say, do the elm-clumps greatly stand : Still guardians of that holy land? : The chestnuts shade, in reverend dream, : The yet unacademic stream? —" The Old Vicarage, Grantchester", ''Collected Poems'' (1916) One of Brooke's contemporaries, Gwen Darwin, later Raverat, grew up in the old mill by the Mill Pond. Her book, ''

Period Piece A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and swas ...

'', is a memoir of a childhood messing about on the river. The mill house is now part of Darwin College. Children's author

Philippa Pearce Ann Philippa Pearce OBE (22 January 1920 – 21 December 2006) was an English author of children's books. Best known of them is the time-slip novel ''Tom's Midnight Garden'', which won the 1958 Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, as ...

, who lived in Great Shelford until her death in December 2006, featured the Cam in her books, most notably ''

Minnow on the Say ''Minnow on the Say'' is a Canadian children's adventure television series which aired on CBC Television in 1960. It is based on the 1955 novel of the same title by Philippa Pearce, who later wrote the classic ''Tom's Midnight Garden ''Tom's ...

''. The river is renamed the River Say, with Great and Little Shelford becoming Great and Little Barley, and Cambridge becoming "Castleford" (not to be confused with the real town of the same name in West Yorkshire). River Cam is referred to as "Camus, reverend Sire" in line 103 of

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 ...

pastoral A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depicts ...

elegy An elegy is a poem of serious reflection, and in English literature usually a lament for the dead. However, according to ''The Oxford Handbook of the Elegy'', "for all of its pervasiveness ... the 'elegy' remains remarkably ill defined: sometime ...

Lycidas "Lycidas" () is a poem by John Milton, written in 1637 as a pastoral elegy. It first appeared in a 1638 collection of elegies, ''Justa Edouardo King Naufrago'', dedicated to the memory of Edward King, a friend of Milton at Cambridge who drown ...

''. Edward King, in whose memory the elegy was composed, was a fellow student at Cambridge.

Use for recreation

Like many rivers, the Cam is extensively used for several forms of recreational activity. These include angling, swimming and various kinds of boating. Suicide Sunday 2012 cardboard boat race

Angling

The water is not murky and is clean enough from its source to its confluence with the Great Ouse to support fish. The fishing rights on the west bank are leased annually to the Cambridge Fish Preservation and Angling Society. The Cam below Bottisham Sluice may still hold

burbot The burbot (''Lota lota'') is the only gadiform (cod-like) freshwater fish Freshwater fish are those that spend some or all of their lives in fresh water, such as rivers and lakes, with a salinity of less than 1.05%. These environments di ...

, a fish thought to be extinct in English waters since the early 1970s. The last known burbot caught in Britain was in 1969, on the Cam, and in 2010 a fisherman reported spotting two in the Great Ouse. Above Hinxton and Great Chesterford the river holds a stock of wild brown trout, though it is also stocked by the Audley Fly Fishers club and other angling societies who own the rights.

Boating

All boats require a navigation licence from either the Conservators of the River Cam or the Environment Agency. There are public moorings just below Jesus Lock on both sides of the river and on the western bank just north of the bridge at Clayhithe (both with a maximum stay of 48 hours), and unofficial moorings on the railings adjoining Riverside in Cambridge (unlimited stay, but usually fully occupied) which are under review by

Cambridge City Council 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 ...

and likely to be reduced to eight or nine formalised residential moorings, or removed altogether. The moorings on the commons in Cambridge (Jesus Green,

Midsummer Common Midsummer Common is an area of common land in Cambridge, England. It lies northeast of the city centre on the south bank of the River Cam. The common borders the River Cam and houseboats are often moored on the common's bank. The boathouse ...

and Stourbridge Common) are reserved by the City Council for holders of its long-term mooring permits. There are also some privately owned moorings. There is a public

slipway A slipway, also known as boat ramp or launch or boat deployer, is a ramp on the shore by which ships or boats can be moved to and from the water. They are used for building and repairing ships and boats, and for launching and retrieving small ...

next to the garden of the Green Dragon pub in Water Street, Chesterton. This is occasionally used for launching small boats.

Punting

Punting is the most popular form of boating on the stretch of the river between Jesus Lock and Grantchester. Several of the colleges own punts, and they can also be hired from various companies, either with or without a person to operate them. The colleges and at least one private operator also own punts which are available for members of the public to travel on.

Canoeing

Canoeing Canoeing is an activity which involves paddling a canoe with a single-bladed paddle. Common meanings of the term are limited to when the canoeing is the central purpose of the activity. Broader meanings include when it is combined with other acti ...

and

kayaking Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving over water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is a low-to-the-water, canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits fac ...

, both recreational and competitive, are popular at all times of year, especially on the section above the Mill Pond towards Grantchester. Both Cambridge Canoe Club (on Sheep's Green) and Cambridge University Canoe Club (just upstream from Newnham) are based here.

Powered boating

Powered boats may navigate as far upstream as La Mimosa restaurant (next to Jesus Green) all year round, and as far as the Mill Pool between 1 October and 31 March.

Rowing

The lower river between Jesus Lock and Baits Bite Lock is the training and racing home of the

Cambridge University Combined Boat Clubs Cambridge University Combined Boat Clubs (CUCBC) is responsible for the day-to-day running of college sport rowing, rowing in Cambridge. It is also responsible for organising May Bumps, May and Lent Bumps, Lent bumps which are the main races of the ...

' university and college, and the Cambridgeshire Rowing Association's town, rowing teams. The Cambridge

Lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...

May May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the third of seven months to have a length of 31 days. May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, May ...

and Town

Bumps A bumps race is a form of rowing race in which a number of boats chase each other in single file, each crew attempting to catch and ‘bump’ the boat in front without being caught by the boat behind. The form is mainly used in intercollegia ...

rowing races, where boats set off at regular intervals, and the object is to catch and touch (that is, 'bump') the boat in front, are held here.

Sailing

The Cam Sailing Club was founded in 1899. It is based at Clayhithe near

Waterbeach Waterbeach is an expanding village north of Cambridge on the edge of The Fens, in the South Cambridgeshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. It was designated a "new town" in 2018. History Early periods Waterbeach is on the Car Dyke, a Rom ...

and organises sailing races most weekends between March and November.

Swimming

The local swimming club's annual swim from the Mill pond to Jesus Green was cancelled for some years in the past because of higher pollution levels. Swimming on the upper river is popular in the summer, and people bathe at Grantchester Meadows all year round. Hardy bathers take part in the New Year's Day swim.

Navigation

Cambridge had been an

inland port An inland port is a port on an inland waterway, such as a river, lake, or canal, which may or may not be connected to the sea. The term "inland port" is also used to refer to a dry port. Examples The United States Army Corps of Engineers publ ...

due to its location on the River Cam prior to the draining of

the Fens The Fens, also known as the , in eastern England are a naturally marshy region supporting a rich ecology and numerous species. Most of the fens were drained centuries ago, resulting in a flat, dry, low-lying agricultural region supported by a ...

. As the university colleges rose in importance, the course of the river through the town, known as the Backs, was moved further to the east to accommodate their new buildings. A report conducted in 1618 by Richard Atkyns highlighted the problems caused by sandbanks above Clayhithe and

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production of ...

s obstructing navigation. An order made by the parliamentary Committee of the Association in 1643 regulated use of the river for trade, but the biggest change was the construction of Denver Sluice on the River Great Ouse, which reduced river levels on the lower river as tidal waters were excluded from the Ouse. Both the university and the Corporation of Cambridge complained to Parliament in 1697 that the trade route to the town from

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...

had been severely impaired.''The Canals of Eastern England'', (1977), John Boyes and Ronald Russell, David and Charles, In 1699, the Corporation sought to obtain an

Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...

which would allow them to improve the river from Clayhithe to Queens Mill at Cambridge. This was obtained on 27 February 1702Joseph Priestley, (1831), ''Historical Account of the Navigable Rivers, Canals, and Railways, of Great Britain''
and created the Conservators of the River Cam, a legal body with authority to charge tolls for use of the river, which ranged from four

shillings The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence or ...

(20p) a ton for wine to one

penny A penny is a coin ( pennies) or a unit of currency (pl. pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. Presently, it is t ...

(0.4p) per person for passengers. The Conservators, of which there were a maximum of eleven, had powers to mortgage the tolls, in order to raise capital for improvements to the river immediately. This they did, and built sluices at Jesus Green, Chesterton, Baits Bite and Clayhithe. Most of the tolls were collected at Clayhithe. Prior to 1722, Denver sluice had been destroyed, and although Cambridge Corporation opposed its reconstruction, it was rebuilt by 1750. The river entered a period of steady profitability, with toll receipts rising from £432 in 1752 to over £1,000 by 1803. In 1835 they peaked at £1,995, and then declined slightly until 1846. The Convervators also raised some revenue from rents on the public houses which they owned adjacent to each of the sluices. Another Act of Parliament was obtained on 21 July 1813 which allowed the Conservators to alter the tolls and charge penalties, while the South Level Act of 1827 created Commissioners who had responsibility for the river below

Bottisham Bottisham is a village and civil parish in the East Cambridgeshire district of Cambridgeshire, England, about east of Cambridge, halfway to Newmarket. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 1,983, including Chittering, increasing ...

. This act also appointed the vice-chancellor of the university and the mayor as navigation commissioners. The Conservators built locks at Baits Bite and Bottisham, and removed the sluice at Chesterton. The river was sufficiently profitable that the Conservators were able to contribute £400 towards the cost of rebuilding the Great Bridge, now called the

Magdalene Bridge Magdalene Street is a street in the north of central Cambridge, England. It runs between Castle Street, by Castle Hill, at the junction with Northampton Street and Chesterton Lane, then Chesterton Road (the A1303), to the northwest and ...

, in 1823, and a further £300 for the rebuilding of the Small Bridge, now Silver Street Bridge, in 1841. A year later they constructed a house at Clayhithe, which cost £880, and included a large room for meetings and banquets. Just three years later the

Eastern Counties Railway The Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) was an English Rail transport, railway company incorporated in 1836 intended to link London with Ipswich via Colchester, and then extend to Norwich and Great Yarmouth, Yarmouth. Construction began in 1837 on t ...

reached Cambridge, and the navigation declined rapidly. Receipts dropped from £1,393 in 1846 to £367 in 1850, and were just £99 in 1898. Most commercial carrying on the river had stopped by

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, although Banhams operated two steam tugs and three barges until the late 1930s, carrying gas water from Cambridge Gasworks to King's Lynn, where it was used in the manufacture of fertiliser. The last recorded passenger services had ceased nearly 100 years earlier, in 1839 and were started again in 2008 with the passenger vessel moored on Jesus Green. Traffic using the river today consists of private cruisers making the journey to Jesus Lock, with the section above Baits Bite lock regularly in use by the University rowing clubs, both for practice and for races. Motorised craft can navigate along the Backs in winter, but headroom is severely restricted. The Conservators of the River Cam now have an office in the former lock-keepers cottage at Baits Bite, while the house at Clayhithe is now the residence of the foreman of the Conservators. The Conservators are still responsible for the river above Bottisham lock, while the lower river has been managed by the

since its creation in 1995.''The River Great Ouse and tributaries'', (2006), Andrew Hunter Blair, Imray Laurie Norie and Wilson, The three locks are all of different sizes. Bottisham and Baits Bite locks are both fully automated, with a vertical guillotine gate at the upstream end and traditional mitre gates at the downstream end. Jesus lock is manually operated, and has mitre gates at both ends. Boat sizes are restricted to by the length of Bottisham lock, and to by the width of Baits Bite lock. Jesus lock is only wide. The navigable lodes of Reach, Swaffham Bulbeck and Bottisham, the last of which is no longer navigable, can be reached from the River Cam.

Flooding

The Cam is normally a placid river but

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

ing does occasionally happen. The most recent serious floods were in 2001, first in February and again on 22–23 October,Photographs of the October 2001 Cam floods
on th

site and then in February 2009. The Environment Agency is responsible for managing water levels and issuing flood warnings for the entire river.

Literature

* Franz X. Bogner & Stephen P. Tomkins: ''The Cam. An Aerial Portrait of the Cambridge River''. Laber Foundation, 2015. (http://www.cambridgeriver.info/).

Maps

*Pope's Corner, *Bottisham Lock, *Baits Bite Lock, *Chesterton, *Midsummer Common, *Jesus Green, *Jesus Lock, *Upstream end of Jesus Green, *River Cam at Cambridge, near Magdalene College, *The Backs, *Silver Street Bridge, *Mill Pond, *Sheep's Green, *Grantchester, *Byron's Pool,

References

External links

Conservators of the River CamFirst and Third Trinity Boat Club guide to the CamCambridge Fish Preservation and Angling Society
(on the Camboaters website) {{authority control Geography of Cambridge Tourist attractions in Cambridge

Cam Calmodulin (CaM) (an abbreviation for calcium-modulated protein) is a multifunctional intermediate calcium-binding messenger protein expressed in all eukaryotic cells. It is an intracellular target of the secondary messenger Ca2+, and the bin ...

Rowing in Cambridge

Name

The lower river

From Jesus Lock and the Backs to Grantchester (middle & upper river)

Tributaries

Rhee

Granta

Other tributaries

Literature

Use for recreation

Angling

Boating

Punting

Canoeing

Powered boating

Rowing

Sailing

Swimming

Navigation

Flooding

Literature

See also

Maps

References

External links