Gate onto St John's College playing fields - geograph

King's College Chapel from The Backs, Cambridge, UK

Queen's Road (designated the A1134) is a major road to the west of central

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It links with

Madingley Road Madingley Road is a major arterial road linking central Cambridge, England with Junction 13 of the M11 motorway. It passes by West Cambridge, a major new site where some University of Cambridge departments are being relocated. The road is design ...

and Northampton Street to the north with

Sidgwick Avenue Sidgwick Avenue is a road located in western Cambridge, England. The avenue runs east-west and links Grange Road to the west with Queen's Road to the east. The line of the road continues northeast into central Cambridge as Silver Street. Sidg ...

, Newnham Road and

Silver Street ''Silver Street'' is a radio soap opera broadcast on the BBC Asian Network from 24 May 2004 to 26 March 2010. It was the first soap to be aimed at the British South Asian community, Broadcast history It was introduced in 2004 as part of the S ...

to the south. At the northern end to the west is St John's College Sports Ground. At the opposite side of the junction to the east at the southern end is Darwin College.

Queens' College Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light s ...

backs onto the road on the east side at the southern end too. To the east are

The Backs The Backs is a picturesque area to the east of Queen's Road in the city of Cambridge, England, where several colleges of the University of Cambridge back on to the River Cam, their grounds covering both banks of the river. National Trust chairm ...

along the River Cam, providing one of the best views in Cambridge of the backs of some of the most historic and prestigious

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

colleges. These include St John's,

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

, Trinity Hall,

Clare College Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refounded ...

, King's College, and

. Opposite King's College, West Road leads off to the west. In 1871,

Henry Sidgwick Henry Sidgwick (; 31 May 1838 – 28 August 1900) was an English utilitarian In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected i ...

, a Fellow of

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God th ...

, alongside

Anne Clough Anne Jemima Clough (20 January 182027 February 1892) was an early English suffragist and a promoter of higher education for women. She was the first principal of Newnham College. Life Clough was born at Liverpool, Lancashire, the daughter of c ...

(the first Principal of

Newnham College Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millice ...

) and Eleanor Balfour (Sidgwick's future wife) oversaw the purchase of 74 Regent Street to house five female students who wished to attend lectures but did not live near enough to the University to do so. The following year (1872), this moved to Merton House (built c1800) on Queen's Road,St John's College: Queen's Road: Merton HouseCambridge 2000
and in 1875 the first building for Newnham College was built at the current site on Sidgwick Avenue adjoining Queen's Road.

Name

It is not clear whether the road was named after

or to celebrate visits made by

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

in 1842 and 1847. The city council's placing of the apostrophe implies - at least according to more recent century conventions in respect of apostrophe usage - a preference on the part of the authorities for the second of these explanations.

References

External links

* {{coord, 52.204, N, 0.112, E, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Streets in Cambridge Queens' College, Cambridge St John's College, Cambridge