View north from King's College bridge

The River Cam is a tributary of the River Great Ouse in the east of England. The two rivers join to the south of Ely at a place called Pope's Corner. The Great Ouse connects the Cam to England's canal system. In earlier times the Cam was named the Granta. After the name of the Anglo-Saxon town of Grantebrycge had been modified to Cambridge, the river was renamed to match. Download high resolution version (2048x1536, 780 KB) Clare Bridge over the River Cam, by User:Jdforrester. ... Download high resolution version (2048x1536, 780 KB) Clare Bridge over the River Cam, by User:Jdforrester. ... This article belongs in one or more categories. ... The Great Ouse at St Neots The River Great Ouse is a river in the east of England. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... River Gambia flowing through Niokolokoba National Park A river is a large natural waterway. ... Statistics Population: 15,102 Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: TL535799 Administration District: East Cambridgeshire Shire county: Cambridgeshire Region: East of England Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Cambridgeshire Historic county: Cambridgeshire Services Police force: Ambulance service: East of England Post office and telephone Post town: ELY... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Channel (geography). ...

The lower and middle river

A Caius eight on the middle river about to be "bumped" by 1st & 3rd Trinity during the May Bumps 2005

The Cam connects Cambridge with the North Sea at King's Lynn, a total distance of about 40 miles (64 km). An organisation called the Conservators of the River Cam was formed in 1702, charged with keeping the river navigable. The Conservators are responsible for the two locks in and north east of Cambridge: Jesus Lock and Baits Bite Lock. The stretch north of Baits Bite Lock is called the lower river. Image File history File links May_Bumps_2005_Day2. ... Image File history File links May_Bumps_2005_Day2. ... Full name Gonville and Caius College Motto - Named after Edmund Gonville & John Caius Previous names Gonville Hall (1348), Gonville & Caius (1557) Established 1348 Sister College Brasenose College Master Neil McKendrick Location Trinity St Undergraduates 468 Graduates 291 Homepage Boatclub Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, generally known as Caius (though pronounced... The First and Third Trinity Boat Club is the rowing club of Trinity College in Cambridge, England. ... 1st & 3rd Trinity II about to bump Caius II to go top of the 2nd division on day 2 of the 2005 May Bumps The May Bumps (also May Races, Mays) is a rowing race held on the River Cam in Cambridge. ... Shown within Cambridgeshire Geography Status: City (1951) Region: East of England Admin. ... The North Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, located between the coasts of Norway and Denmark in the east, the coast of the British Isles in the west, and the German, Dutch, Belgian and French coasts in the south. ... Statistics Population: 34,564 (2001 census) Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: TF615205 Administration District: Kings Lynn and West Norfolk Region: East Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Norfolk Historic county: Norfolk Services Police force: Norfolk Constabulary Fire and rescue: {{{Fire}}} Ambulance: East of England Post... Canal locks in England. ...

The middle river, between Jesus Lock and Baits Bite Lock, is the home of the college rowing teams. There are also many houseboats on this stretch, forming a community who call themselves the Camboaters.^[1] Access for houseboats to the upper river is permitted during the winter months. This is a list of the colleges within the University of Cambridge. ... A coxless pair which is a sweep-oar boat. ...

From the Backs to Grantchester

The Backs: King's College chapel and Clare College

The stretch above Jesus Lock is known as the upper river. Between Jesus Lock and the Mill Pond, it passes through the Backs below the walls of many of the colleges. This is the section of river most popular with tourists, with its picture-postcard views of elegant bridges, green lawns and graceful willows. This stretch also has the unusual feature of a submerged towpath: the riverside colleges did not permit barge horses on the Backs, so the beasts waded up the Cam to the mill pulling their loads behind them. Download high resolution version (1025x768, 217 KB)The west end of Kings College Chapel seen from The Backs. ... Download high resolution version (1025x768, 217 KB)The west end of Kings College Chapel seen from The Backs. ... The Backs, or the Backs of the Colleges refers to an area of Cambridge at the rear of several colleges by the River Cam. ...

From the Mill Pond and its weir, the river can be followed upstream through Granchester meadows to the village of Grantchester and Byron's Pool, where it is fed by many streams. In the summer the upper river is open only to manually propelled craft, the most common of which are the flat-bottomed punts. Punts and canoes can be manhandled around the weir by means of the rollers, a slipway from lower to upper level. Grantchester is a village on the River Cam or Granta in Cambridgeshire, England. ... Punting while dressed for Cambridge graduation This article concentrates on the history and development of punts and punting in England, for other usages see the disambiguation pages at punt and punter. ...

Tributaries

The two principal tributaries of the Cam are the Granta and the Rhee, though both are also officially known as the Cam. The Rhee begins just west of Ashwell in Hertfordshire running 12 miles through the farmland of southern Cambridgeshire. The longer tributary, the Granta, starts near the village of Widdington in Essex flowing the 15 miles north past Audley End House to merge with the Rhee a mile south of Grantchester. A further tributary, also known as the Granta, runs 10 miles from south of Haverhill to join the larger Granta south of Great Shelford. Another minor tributary is Bourn Brook which has its source near the village of Eltisley, 10 miles west of Cambridge, running east through Caxton, Bourn and Toft to join the Cam at Byron's Pool, where the poet, Lord Byron, is reputed to have swum. Ashwell is a village situated about four miles north of Baldock in Hertfordshire. ... Hertfordshire (pronounced Hartfordshire and abbreviated as Herts) is an inland county in the United Kingdom and part of the East of England Government Office region. ... Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs) is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west. ... Essex is a county in the East of England. ... Audley End House (grid reference TL524381) is largely an early 17th-century country house just outside Saffron Walden, Essex, south of Cambridge, England. ... Statistics Population: 22,010 (2001 Census), 50,021 CHAVS Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: TL671456 Administration District: St Edmundsbury Shire county: Suffolk Region: East of England Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Suffolk Historic county: Suffolk Services Police force: Cahv-Ville Constabulary Ambulance service: East of... Great Shelford is a village located to the south of Cambridge, in the county of Cambridgeshire, in eastern England. ... Caxton is a small rural village in the East of England region and the county Cambridgeshire in the United Kingdom, surrounding villages include Bourn, Eltisley and Cambourne. ... Bourn is a small rural village in the region East Anglia and the county Cambridgeshire in the United Kingdom, surrounding villages include Caxton, Eltisley and Cambourne. ... Lord Byron, Anglo-Scottish poet George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (January 22, 1788–April 19, 1824) was an Anglo-Scottish poet and a leading figure in Romanticism. ...

Literature

Byron's Pool was certainly a bathing place for Rupert Brooke and the Cambridge neo-Pagans. Brooke used to canoe from Cambridge to lodgings in Granchester, which included the Old Vicarage. His homesick poem of 1912 evokes the river memorably: A statue of Rupert Brooke in Rugby Rupert Chawner Brooke (August 3, 1887 – April 23, 1915) was a British poet known for his idealistic War Sonnets written during the First World War (especially The Soldier), as well as for his poetry written outside of war, especially The Old Vicarage, Grantchester... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Old Vicarage in the English town of Grantchester is a house associated with the poet Rupert Brooke, who lived nearby and in 1912 immortalised it in a poem. ...

Oh! there the chestnuts, summer through,
Beside the river make for you
A tunnel of green gloom, and sleep
Deeply above; and green and deep
The stream mysterious glides beneath,
Green as a dream and deep as death.
...
To smell the thrilling-sweet and rotten
Unforgettable, unforgotten
River-smell, and hear the breeze
Sobbing in the little trees.
Say, do the elm-clumps greatly stand
Still guardians of that holy land?
The chestnuts shade, in reverend dream,
The yet unacademic stream?
—"The Old Vicarage, Grantchester", Collected Poems (1916)

One of Brooke's contemporaries, Gwen Darwin, later Raverat, grew up in the old mill by the Mill Pond. Her book, Period Piece, is a wonderful memoir of a childhood messing about on the river. The mill house is now Darwin College. Gwendoline Gwen Darwin (1885-1957) was a celebrated English wood engraving artist who co-founded the Society of Wood Engravers in England. ... Period Piece: A Cambridge Childhood is an autobiographical work by Gwendoline Mary Gwen Raverat (née Darwin; 26 August 1885-11 February 1957), the daughter of George Howard Darwin and Maud du Puy. ... Full name Darwin College Motto - Named after The Darwin Family Previous names - Established 1964 Sister College(s) Wolfson College Master Prof. ...

Darwin College seen across the Mill Pond

Children's author Philippa Pearce, who lives in Great Shelford, features the Cam in her books, most notably Minnow on the Say. The river is re-named the River Say, with Great and Little Shelford becoming Great and Little Barley, and Cambridge becoming "Castleford" (not to be confused with the real town of the same name in West Yorkshire). Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2800x806, 557 KB) Darwin College Library in Cambridge, United-Kingdom. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2800x806, 557 KB) Darwin College Library in Cambridge, United-Kingdom. ... Philippa Pearce is an English childrens author born in 1920 and brought up in the Kings Mill House in the village of Great Shelford, Cambridgeshire. ...

Trivia

The confluence of the Cam (left) and the Great Ouse

Ingesting the river water is reputed to bring on a flu-like illness, known locally as Cam fever.^{[citation needed]} The water is murky, but clean enough at Cambridge to support fish. The local swimming club's annual swim from the Mill pond to Jesus Green was cancelled for some years in the past because of higher pollution levels.^{[citation needed]} Download high resolution version (900x675, 69 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (900x675, 69 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...

The Cam below Bottisham Sluice may still hold Burbot; a fish thought to be extinct in English waters since the early seventies. A novice fisherman named Phil describes a fish he caught there that matches the distinct characteristics of the Burbot.^{[citation needed]}Lumbridge from the popular game RuneScape was named after Cambridge, as it sits on the River Lum much as Cambridge is on the River Cam. Lumbridge is a fictional town in the populer MMORPG, RuneScape. ... RuneScape is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by British developer Jagex Limited, programmed in Java. ... Shown within Cambridgeshire Geography Status: City (1951) Region: East of England Admin. ...

References

• 1 Camboaters
• The Collected Poems of Rupert Brooke, available freely at Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg (often abbreviated as PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize, archive, and distribute cultural works. ...

See also

• Bridges in Cambridge
• Jesus Green Swimming Pool
• Punting in Cambridge
• Rivers of the United Kingdom

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

River Cam

The following is a list and brief history of the bridges over the River Cam in Cambridge, England. ... Jesus Green Swimming Pool is an outdoor lido situated on Jesus Green in Cambridge, England. ... Punting while dressed for Cambridge graduation This article concentrates on the history and development of punts and punting in England, for other usages see the disambiguation pages at punt and punter. ... This is a list of rivers of Great Britain. ... Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... Wikimedia Commons logo by Reid Beels The Wikimedia Commons (also called Commons or Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ...

External links

• History and course of the River
• Conservators of the River Cam
• First and Third Trinity Boat Club guide to the Cam