King's Parade is a street in central

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

.King's Parade / Senate House Hill
,

Cambridge City Council Cambridge City Council is the local authority for Cambridge, a non-metropolitan district with city status in the United Kingdom, city status in Cambridgeshire, England. The council has been under Labour Party (UK), Labour majority control since ...

.King's Parade
,

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

. The street continues north as Trinity Street and then St John's Street, and south as Trumpington Street. It is a major tourist area in Cambridge, commanding a central position in the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

area of the city. It is also a place frequented by many cyclists and by students travelling between lectures during term-time. King's College is located on the west side of the street, hence the name, and dominates the scene with the east end of its large

Chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

on view. Also on the street, just to the north, is the University of Cambridge Senate House, mainly used for degree ceremonies. This area is known as Senate House Hill. Opposite the Senate House is Great St Mary's, the historic

University A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

Church.

History

The White Horse Tavern, on King's Lane to the west of King's Parade, was a 16th-century meeting place for English Protestant reformers to discuss

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

ideas, from as early as 1521. When the King's College screen was extended in 1870, the tavern was demolished. There is now a

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...

in the college's Chetwynd Court to commemorate this. Bowes & Bowes was a bookseller and publishing company located at 1 Trinity Street (at the south end of the street), a corner position at the junction with King's Parade and St Mary's Street to the east. It has a claim to be the oldest bookshop in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, with books having been sold on the site since 1581.
History of the Bookshop
', Cambridge University Press. The shop closed in 1986 and subsequently Sherratt & Hughes closed in 1992, since when the site has become the

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

bookshop. When the King's College Gatehouse (

porters' lodge A porters' lodge or porter's lodge (colloquially, wikt:plodge, plodge) is a place near the entrance of a building where one or more Porter (college), porters can be found to respond to student enquiries as well as enquires from the public and d ...

) and Screen were built in the 1830s, the previous west side of the street was completely demolished. Opposite King's College is a row of now mainly touristic shops. For example, the Primavera Gallery and gift store is located here. St Mary's Passage and St Edward's Passage lead away from King's Parade to the east. No.1 King's Parade on the corner or King's Parade and Bene't Street was a milliner and dressmaker by the name of C.H. Lawrence in the early 20th century. In the 1950s and 1960s the building became Millers Wine Parlour. In ''

Ted Hughes Edward James Hughes (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest writers. He wa ...

: The Life of A Poet'' by Elaine Feinstein,

Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plath (; October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet and author. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for '' The Colossus and Other Poems'' (1960), '' Ariel'' (1965), a ...

is described sitting in Millers Wine parlour in 1956, reading a review article. Since then it has occupied various establishments, including the wine bars ''Gough Bros'' (1972) and ''Shades'' (1972–1992), ''The English Teddy Bear Company'' (late 1990s–early 2000s) and a restaurant/bar by the name of ''No.1 King's Parade'' (until 2006). Today a restaurant calle
The Cambridge Chop House
is located here. In the 1970s, Chris Curry rented offices at 6 King's Parade to establish Sinclair Instrument Ltd with Sir Clive Sinclair. In 1977, the company was renamed to Science of Cambridge Ltd. The name

Sinclair Research Sinclair Research Ltd is a British consumer electronics company founded by Clive Sinclair in Cambridge in the 1970s. In 1980, the company entered the home computer market with the ZX80 at £99.95, at that time the cheapest personal computer ...

Ltd was adopted in 1981. The company was important in the

home computer Home computers were a class of microcomputers that entered the market in 1977 and became common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a s ...

revolution of the early 1980s in the UK. The building is now occupied b
Inner Space Meditation Centre
At the southern end of King's Parade, on the corner of Corpus Christi College in Trumpington Street, is the

Corpus Clock The Corpus Clock, also known as the Grasshopper clock, is a large sculptural clock at street level on the outside of the Taylor Library at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge, in the United Kingdo ...

, a new piece of art installed in 2008 that has also become a significant tourist attraction.

Panoramic view

Image gallery

File:Kings College, Cambridge, Chapel (front).jpg, King's College Chapel from King's Parade. File:Cambridge King's.JPG, The King's College Gatehouse, built in the

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

style, as seen from King's Parade. File:Cambridge-University-Senate-House.jpg, The Senate House viewed from King's Parade. File:Great St Mary.jpg, Great St Mary's, the University Church, opposite the Senate House on King's Parade. File:Penfold post box on King's Parade, Cambridge.jpg, A Victorian pillar box by the main gate of King's College on King's Parade. File:Kings Chapel from Senate House Hill in Snow.jpg, King's College Chapel in the snow from the north of King's Parade. File:Cambridge University, Chapel, King's College, King's Parade.jpg, Historical photograph of the same scene. File:cmglee_Kings_Parade_panorama.jpg, View of King's Parade looking south from the Senate House.

References

{{reflist Streets in Cambridge Tourist attractions in Cambridge History of Cambridge King's College, Cambridge