The Enclosure of Cambridge St Giles: Cambridge University and the Parliamentary Act of 1802 Philomena Guillebaud This study describes the enclosure of the Cambridge parish in west Cambridge for many of the older colleges, a of St Giles (the West Fields) by Parliamentary Act and the number of faculty buildings and the new Cavendish roles played by the University and colleges in infuencing laboratories. The latest one includes construction of the process. The enclosure was conducted under procedures further faculty buildings, the Athletics Centre and the which had become standardised, and when complete in 1805, on-going West Cambridge site, while there are longer- the colleges (including Merton College, Oxford) and the term plans for expansion in the northwest. University itself owned 60% of the 1361 acres of the parish, What all these developments have in common while 25% was owned by other corporate bodies (the diocese (with the exception of Girton and Darwin which lie of Ely, three local churches, Cambridge Corporation and just outside the boundaries) is that they are built on local charities), 10% by the Lord of the Manor of Madingley the West Fields. Siting of these buildings can be traced and just 5% by other people of Cambridge. Tithes were abol- back to the Parliamentary Act of 1802 enclosing the ished and tithe owners compensated with land. In acreage Parish of St Giles, which was essentially co-terminous terms the distribution of land broadly refects the patern of with the West Fields plus a small inhabited area at its ownership before enclosure, but the colleges and University northern tip composed of Castle Hill, Northampton obtained allocations convenient for themselves, especially Street and Bridge Street west of the river, containing on land adjacent to the present Backs. This allowed them to the parish church. It comes as no surprise to anyone expand their gardens and walks, protect their views and laid familiar with Cambridge that the colleges, and to a the ground for the physical development of the University lesser extent the University, exerted a signifcant infu- and colleges to the present day. ence on the way enclosure was carried out. Table 1 and Fig 1 show the distribution of land- ownership in St Giles after enclosure, as refected in Introduction the Award and map published in 1805. That distribu- tion refects the ownership patern pre-enclosure, the Around Cambridge, a landscape which had not most signifcant diference being the assignment of changed signifcantly for more than 500 years was land in compensation to previous tithe owners. The transformed in less than ten by the enclosure frst of dominance of the colleges, some of whom had also its medieval West Fields (1802–1805) and then of its been tithe owners, is immediately visible. East or Barnwell Fields (1807–1811). These felds to- Key documents are ‘An Act for dividing, alloting, gether with the built-up area of the town constituted laying in severalty and inclosing the open and com- the Burgh or Borough of Cambridge. It was in the mon felds, common meadows and other open and West Fields that the seeds of the future physical devel- commonable lands and waste grounds, within the opment of the University were sown. The East Fields Parish of St Giles, in the Town of Cambridge, in the were more important to development of the town but County of Cambridge, 42 GEO III, 1802’, the map of far less signifcant to the University. the enclosure allotments dated 1804 but containing Since 1800, Cambridge University has experi- changes not made until 1805, and the text of the Award, enced three marked periods of physical expansion. 1805. These documents are in the Cambridgeshire The frst began around 1870, with the construction County Record Ofce. Minutes of the meetings of the of Newnham, Girton and Selwyn Colleges (not to Commissioners of the Enclosure, a partial list of claims mention Westminster College, Ridley Hall and St submited by those who held, or believed they held, Edmund’s House, all of which subsequently became land in the West Fields or had rights of pasturage, and part of or associated with the University). The second a miscellaneous collection of 239 contemporary docu- took place after the Second World War with the build- ments including claims, bills, receipts, tables, leters, ing of seven new colleges, plus residential facilities etc are in Cambridge University Library. 2 Philomena Guillebaud Table 1. Ownership of land in the Parish of St Giles, Cambridge, 1805 (by type, in descending order of acreage). * Mainly houses and their garden plots Acres Percent Colleges and University St John’s College (includes 0.5 acres in lieu of tithe) 410.4 30.1 Benet College (Corpus Christi College) 114.5 8.4 Merton College, Oxford (excluding Merton Manor) 105.1 7.7 Jesus College (in lieu of tithe) 69.8 5.1 Caius College (Gonville and Caius College) 34.0 2.5 Clare Hall (Clare College) 32.4 2.4 King’s College 21.8 1.6 Trinity Hall 7.3 0.5 Catharine Hall (St Catharine’s College) 7.0 0.5 Magdalene College 6.7 0.5 University of Cambridge 5.7 0.4 Peterhouse (in lieu of tithe) 2.2 0.2 Queens’ College 1.1 0.1 Trinity College 0.3 0.0 Subtotal 818.5 60.1 Ecclesiastical Bodies Bishop of Ely 165.5 12.2 Vicar of St Giles 33.3 2.4 Vicar of Holy Sepulchre 5.1 0.4 Rector of St Botolph 3.1 0.2 Subtotal 207.1 15.2 Local Govt Bodies, Misc. Corporate Bodies and Manors Storey’s Charity 68.7 5.0 Surveyor of Highways 36.2 2.7 Cambridge Corporation 8.3 0.6 Madingley Manor 4.9 0.4 Merton Manor 4.2 0.3 Great St Mary’s Parish Ofcers 3.9 0.3 Coton Parish Ofcers 2.0 0.1 Grantchester Manor 1.8 0.1 St Peter’s Parish Ofcers 0.5 0.0 St Giles’s Parish Ofcers 0.1 0.0 Trustees of Huntingdon Road 0.1 0.0 Subtotal 130.7 9.6 Private Owners Sir Charles Coton 141.1 10.4 Jacob Smith 34.1 2.5 John Kidman 11.5 0.8 Holden (Rev.?) 3.3 0.2 William Coe 2.9 0.2 26 others, each with under 2 acres* 12.6 0.9 Subtotal 205.5 15.1 Total 1361.9 100.0 The Enclosure of Cambridge St Giles: Cambridge University and the Parliamentary Act of 1802 3 Figure 1. Ownership patern following Enclosure of St Giles Parish, 1805. Background to Enclosure to take action preparatory to eventual enclosure (SJC Conclusion Book 1736–86, p.195). In the period between 1600 and 1800, the population A document found at Jesus College, ‘Proposal for of Cambridge nearly doubled, to over 9000 persons, Enclosure December 1769’ reads without expanding in area. Instead, it increased den- We the owners and persons interested in Lands in sity by inflling within the old boundaries, which by the Common Fields on the west side of Cambridge the late 18th century had created congestion and in- are willing that the said should be enclosed if, on sanitary conditions frequently commented upon by perusal of a Bill to be prepared for that purpose visitors (Bryan 1999). Coincidentally, within the same we shall approve the Conditions, and we desire Mr two centuries no new colleges were founded until Lombe to prepare the Bill and to treat with the pro- Downing became a reality in 1800, and expansion of prietors of the tythes for their Consents, and we are existing colleges took place likewise by inflling. This willing that one seventh part in Value of the Lands constriction was because Cambridge was hemmed in be assigned in lieu of tythes. by three large open felds, the East or Barnwell Fields (Jesus College Archives, Radegund Tithes Folder to the south and east, the West Fields (or Cambridge 1769–70) Fields) to the west, and the Chesterton Fields to the Signatories are the Vice-Chancellor (the Master of north, the frst two being part of the Borough of Emmanuel) on behalf of the University, the Heads Cambridge while the third lay outside it (Chesterton of Houses of St Johns, King’s and Clare Hall, an was not enclosed until 1837). unidentifed signatory on behalf of Bene’t College The frst evidence of college interest in enclosure is (Corpus Christi), J Hynde Coton (Lord of the Manor in the Conclusion Book of Jesus College, 1753–1796. of Madingley and owner of considerable land in St In December 1768, authorisation was given to put the Giles), two names on behalf of Storey’s Charity (also a college seal to various instruments and deeds includ- substantial landowner in the parish) and a note about a ing ‘A petition to Parliament for inclosing the felds be- delayed signature for Catharine Hall (St Catharine’s). hind Trinity and St John’s Colleges, etc’. In February Beneath that is the statement ‘Merton College in 1769, St John’s College decided to employ a surveyor Oxford have given their consent’. Jesus College is not 4 Philomena Guillebaud a signatory; it would seem that that College was not the Maxwell referred to. the originator of the document, and had had a change In 1801 things fnally started to move. Not only of heart. There is no indication of who prepared the were land and cereal prices at unprecedented heights declaration or what percentage of landownership consequent upon the Napoleonic wars, but by the end its supporters represented, but from an anonymous of the 18th century it had become common practice table drawn up in 1801, the signatories are thought to in enclosure actions to allot to the tithe owners ap- have owned between 80 and 90% of land, excluding proximately one ffth by value of the arable and one waste (CUL Doc.