Tour of Peterhouse College and Gardens: Friends of Fitzwilliam

Peterhouse is the oldest of the Cambridge colleges, founded by Hugo de Balsham, Bishop of Ely in 1284 and granted its charter by King Edward I. Peterhouse College has made its own distinctive contribution to society for over 700 years, surviving the Reformation, Civil War and the upheavals of every century since.

 

It remains the smallest college in terms of number of Fellows and students, but as the late Noel Annan put it in his 1999 survey of the universities and society, The Dons, this small College has always had “an intellectual influence … out of all proportion to [its] size”. The College’s remarkable continuity is reflected in the historical benefactions that underpin its life and work today. Communal life is centred on the Hall, built with the legacy of the Founder on his death in 1286; the Chapel, the creation of Matthew Wren and John Cosin in the 1600s; and the Libraries, which have built on the benefactions of Andrew Perne in the sixteenth century and of Adolphus Ward in the early twentieth. Welcome and introduction by Peterhouse fellow, Professor Richard Holton followed by a tour with Dr Saskia Murk Jansen, Development Director, of The Combination Room, The Old Hall, The Chapel and then the grounds and courts of the College. Of course, the grounds were once much larger, before the land was earmarked by the University of Cambridge for the construction of The Fitzwilliam Museum.