Talk:The Backs

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Surely the towpath was in the Cam for this entire stretch ([1] and anyone's punting experience)? Was there another towpath at a different time? JackyR | Talk 13:56, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

The reason for the central "underwater" towpath was that the colleges (and possibly the monastries before them) walled up the land boundaries right up to the river bank, preventing access along the bank. Before the colleges bought up the land, there were a series of "hythes" along the bank - ie mooring places for vessels. It is possible that during this period, there would have been a towpath along the east bank. It is worth pointing out that until the draining of the fens, the River Cam was significantly deeper, and Cambridge was reckoned as a sea port (sea-going vessels could make it as far as Quayside, at least). Bluap 17:13, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Great. Fancy adding some of that to the article, with refs? JackyR | Talk 20:00, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

I'm intending to, but I don't have easy access to my sources at the moment, so it won't be for a couple of months. There's also the question of what information belongs here, and what belongs to the page River Cam. A couple of other interesting facts, off the top of my head: In very early times, this area was known as the "Thousand Willows", and was a series of winding channels of the river that was difficult to cross. The main river channel originally ran close to Queen's Road (along what is now a series of ditches): at some point the channel was canalised to the eastern edge of the alluvial plain. (This canalisation probably occurred at the same time as the founding of the Mill at the bottom of Mill Lane: one recent theory dates it to when the Saxons re-conquered Cambridge from the Danes.) During the middle ages, the entirety of the backs was known as "Long Green", part of the common land lying to the west of Cambridge. There is a lot of information about the history of the various college gardens, which could also be included in this page. Bluap 21:21, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Ah, this is all excellent. I'd been wondering if the Backs really rated their own article: looks like there's the makings of quite a decent one. Other Qs you might be able to help on (eventually): what actually constitutes the Backs? These days I'd guess it as being the area bounded by Silver St and Magdalene bridges, and Queens Rd or the brooks/fences before Queens Rd (which?) to the west. And then the Cam to the east? Or does the lawn behind Trinity count?

And I've been looking at Multimap: there's an interesting difference between the aerial photo and the mapping superposition. The map fails to show the river's kink around the back of the Wren library (Trinity). Is this a Multimap error/copyright marker; or does it reflect a historic course of the river? JackyR | Talk 20:19, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

As far as I know, there isn't a precise definition of "The Backs". The word itself is short for "The College Backsides" which, strictly speaking, would refer to the areas of the college buildings facing the river (ie the East Bank). Modern usage is for the various gardens of the colleges either side of the river alongside Queens' Road. As to the where to draw boundaries, it's difficult to say. I personally wouldn't include Magadelene college. How much of the St John's College grounds should be counted? Do you include Queens' Green, even though that doesn't border the river?

As for Multimap, that's an error. But it does correspond pretty closely to a navigable ditch that separated an island called "Garret Hostel Green" from the east bank of the river. The ditch lay slightly further east to the multimap plan, starting near where Garret Hostel Bridge now is, and passing through the arches between Trinity's New Court and Neviles court. The ditch was filled in, and Trinity bought the island from the Town (exchanging it for what is now Parker's Piece). The Wren Library lies on the site of the former island (before that, Nevile's Court was only 2/3 of its current length). The island can be seen quite clearly on Lyne's 1574 plan of Cambridge. (If you look closely at the Silver Street area of the plan, you'll see that there are actually two bridges, and the flow from the Newnham Mill actually went down what is now Queens' Ditch, before joining the main river just before King's College. Bluap 21:11, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure Clare College has buildings on both sides of the river.

Clare Memorial Court is on the west side of the Cam, but it is not part of the main site and is set back on the opposite side of Queen's Road. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.159.46.74 (talk • contribs) 20:21, 25 March 2008 (UTC)