Department of Plant Science, Cambridge University - geograph

The Downing Site is a major site 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 ...

, located in the centre of the city of

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 b ...

, on

Downing Street Downing Street is a street in Westminster in London that houses the official residences and offices of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Situated off Whitehall, it is long, and a few minutes' walk ...

and

Tennis Court Road Tennis Court Road is a historic street in central Cambridge, England. It runs parallel with Trumpington Street to the west and Regent Street to the east. At the northern end is a junction with Pembroke Street to the west and Downing Street to ...

, adjacent to

Downing College Downing College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge and currently has around 650 students. Founded in 1800, it was the only college to be added to Cambridge University between 1596 and 1869, and is often described as the olde ...

. The Downing Site is the larger and newer of two city-centre science sites of the university (the other being the

New Museums Site The New Museums Site is a major site of the University of Cambridge, located on Pembroke Street, Cambridge, Pembroke Street and Free School Lane, sandwiched between Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, Pembroke College, Camb ...

). Largely populated with utilitarian brick buildings dating from the 1930s, the more notable buildings include the Zoology Laboratory (1900–04),

Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences The Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, is the geology museum of the University of Cambridge. It is part of the Department of Earth Sciences and is located on the university's Downing Site in Downing Street, central Cambridge, England. The Sedgw ...

(1904–11) and Downing Street entrance (1904–11). To the northwest is the

and to the southwest is the

Old Addenbrooke's Site The Old Addenbrooke's Site is a site owned by the University of Cambridge in the south of central Cambridge, England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland t ...

, two other important University of Cambridge sites.

History

The current site was part of

Pembroke Leys Pembroke may refer to: Places Australia * Electoral division of Pembroke, an electoral division in Tasmania * Pembroke Land District, formerly Pembroke County, Tasmania Bermuda * Pembroke Parish Canada * Pembroke, West Hants, Nova Scotia * ...

, a boggy area of small fields lying between

Regent Street Regent Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London. It is named after George, the Prince Regent (later George IV) and was laid out under the direction of the architect John Nash and James Burton. It runs from Waterloo Place ...

and Tennis Court Road, to the south of the medieval town of Cambridge. The Pembroke Leys was acquired by Downing College on its foundation, but the northern portion of the Leys remained undeveloped. This northern portion was purchased by the university in 1895 for £15,000, and now forms the Downing Site.

University departments and institutions

Though several university departments have recently relocated to larger modern buildings elsewhere, the Downing Site still houses many departments, predominantly in the biomedical sciences. These include: *Department of Biochemistry (old site) *Department of Earth Sciences *Department of Psychology *Department of Genetics * Department of Geography *Department of Pathology *Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience *Department of Plant Sciences (formerly Botany) *Department of Veterinary Anatomy *Department of Archaeology and Anthropology *

McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research is a research institute of the University of Cambridge in England. History The institute was established in 1990 through a benefaction from the late Dr Daniel McLean McDonald, a successful ind ...

*Molteno Laboratory (Parasitology) * Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology *Physiological Laboratory *

*Zoology Laboratory

References

External links

Map of Downing SiteJanus entry
University of Cambridge sites Downing College, Cambridge {{UCambridge-stub