Cambridge Travel Forum

Please bear with me if this sounds horribly naive. I just came back from Cambridge for a short meeting but did not have time to ask the locals this question. All the small bridges along Cam are so uniquely beautiful, but I still want to know which is the original bridge if there is one. In other words, was Cambridge named after a particular bridge? Thanks.

The original bridge would have dated from the 7th century, when Cambridge was called something like Granta-bridge (the original name for the Cam river being Granta). None of those there now are that old! The Clare College bridge is the oldest, dating from the 17th century: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bridges_in_Cambridge

There was probably a bridge of sorts over the Granta/Cam long before the 8th century (the first documented one dates from then).....the Romans were there, up by the castle, and they were good at bridges. The town functioned as a port at the time.

The town was orginally called 'Grentebrigge' or 'Cantebrigge', so one can see how the name might have been corrupted over the centuries.

Thanks very much for your replies. Sounds like the original bridge doesn't exist anymore and we don't have to worry about it :^)

Stroller