This event is run by BALH in partnership with the Historic Towns Trust, part of a series of evening lectures in 2024.
Although its situation on the edge of the Fens and the uplands of South Cambridgeshire meant that from early medieval times Cambridge was an important market centre, it was the University that dominated its cultural, political and social life from the late 13c until (at least) 1914, its Colleges dominating the streetscape and introducing new architectural ideas.
This talk explores its influence, and how from the time of Parliamentary Enclosure (1807) eastwards expansion started to change its character, a process accelerated by the coming of the railway in 1845, with both the Colleges and private developers involved in both new housing and the redevelopment of its commercial heart. In the 20c expansion continued unabated, with the addition of a council house building programme (one of the largest in the UK) between 1920 and 1980 and, more recently, the development of University-dominated West Cambridge, Science Parks, and the world-renowned Biomedical Campus.
For more information and to register, please visit: https://www.balh.org.uk/event-balh-the-cambridge-townscape-1550-2024-2024-02-29