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Reply 1
love2learn7
I once was told you could walk from trinity to trinity only across land owned by the two colleges. Is this true? Also does anyone have any maps/links to maps that shows the land that was owned by these colleges/other colleges?

It's just a myth. The other version is that you can walk from St John's Cambridge to St John's Oxford without leaving St John's owned land. Given that the two richest colleges are Trinity and St John's Cambridge, it would be more likely you could walk between them without ever leaving college-owned land... especially since they're right next to each other. :rolleyes:
Reply 2
sTe\/o
It's just a myth. The other version is that you can walk from St John's Cambridge to St John's Oxford without leaving St John's owned land. Given that the two richest colleges are Trinity and St John's Cambridge, it would be more likely you could walk between them without ever leaving college-owned land... especially since they're right next to each other. :rolleyes:


yeh but then surely it wudnt be that astonishing.......

from what my memory tells me, it was definitely between oxford and cambridge.

one college could have had 3/4 of the land on the journey and the poorer college could have had 1/4??
Trinity owns Felixstowe docks and I *think* Cambridge Science Park, but i'm not sure as to the extent of the rest of their property portfolio outside of Cambridge.
Reply 4
love2learn7
yeh but then surely it wudnt be that astonishing.......

from what my memory tells me, it was definitely between oxford and cambridge.

one college could have had 3/4 of the land on the journey and the poorer college could have had 1/4??

Sorry, the end of my post was meant to be a joke.

There are two versions of the story, both involving one Oxford college and one Cambridge college . Trinity is the richest college in Cambridge, so Cambridge students tell the 'Trinity' version. St John's is the richest college in Oxford, so they tell the 'St John's' version. It's completely made up, though.
Reply 5
there was one between Jesus, Oxford and the top of Pen-Y-Fan in Wales which I heard...not sure how true that was either though...
Reply 6
From http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000006&sid=aDJspMg5jl24&refer=home:

Trinity Land

Nonetheless, the common belief that it's possible to walk to Oxford from Cambridge solely on Trinity land is wrong, Fairbrother says. The college gets about 10 million pounds a year from the Cambridge Science Park, which houses 71 technology companies on property inherited in the 15th century and developed in the 1970s.

It also owns about half of the land on which Felixstowe, the largest U.K. container port, is based. The port generates about 5 million pounds annually. Retail property in the center of Cambridge produces another 3 million pounds.
Clare used to own a good deal of the East End of London.

We sold the land in the early 1800s, though.

Wow, doesn't working in the archives let you learn fascinating facts? :p:
Reply 8
FadeToBlackout
Clare used to own a good deal of the East End of London.

We sold the land in the early 1800s, though.

I bet you're kicking yourselves. :rolleyes:
Reply 9
Magdalene college sold covent garden for a pittance many years ago if I remember correctly
Reply 10
notyourpunk
Magdalene college sold covent garden for a pittance many years ago if I remember correctly

I think this link confirms it: http://www.oxford-shakespeare.com/new_files_feb_25_05/1574_Kelke_to_QE.pdf

It's a bit obtuse so I couldn't be bothered to read it properly...
Reply 11
nice one- whoever neg repped me for starting this thread- you're such a wimp you couldnt leave your name or a comment here??
dazmanultra
Trinity owns Felixstowe docks and I *think* Cambridge Science Park, but i'm not sure as to the extent of the rest of their property portfolio outside of Cambridge.


Actually Trinity College (Cambridge) is the third largest land owner in the country, i.e. after the Queen and the Church of England.
Reply 13
AltitudeSickness
Actually Trinity College (Cambridge) is the third largest land owner in the country, i.e. after the Queen and the Church of England.

Another myth, sorry!
my house was built on land owned by Kings College, Cambridge. And I live in EXETER :eek:
Clare wasn't a particularly nice landowner in the early nineteenth century. They evicted an 82 year old widow as she could no longer afford to keep the plot of land her hovel was built on; she later died a pauper.

Then again, Clare DID own the land that Kings is built on today. And we got what is now our scholar's garden and pretty much all of West Cambridge in compensation for that. And then there's the whole cows/field thing...
Reply 16
I was always told that it was Corpus that owns King's land. Oh well. :P
I've seen the deeds and original maps from the 1500s in the Clare archives. :biggrin:
James, sure I've broken this to you more than once, but the land that King's cows are on actually belonged to Trinity (I think), and was a gift for grazing animals, IIRC. It certainly wasn't given to King's by Clare with the condition of keeping cows or the land reverts back to Clare ownership...
I'm not on about that bit; the land where Kings currently stands, and the streets of houses and the docks that were by the river used to belong to Clare, as Kings was in what is now the Old Schools site. When Kings wished to expand in the 1500s they effectively swopped the land where Clare fellow's garden now is, Garret Hostel Lane (Which had thriving houses), and the land where Mem Court, the UL, and Robinson now are, in return for giving Kings the land where the chapel and college currently are.

Gosh, I could have done Land Economy... :wink: