Grantchester

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Village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England

title: "Grantchester" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["grantchester", "villages-in-cambridgeshire", "civil-parishes-in-cambridgeshire", "south-cambridgeshire-district"] description: "Village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England" topic_path: "general/grantchester" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grantchester" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox UK place"]

FieldValue
official_nameGrantchester
countryEngland
regionEast of England
os_grid_referenceTL432555
coordinates
post_townCAMBRIDGE
postcode_areaCB
postcode_districtCB3
dial_code01223
shire_countyCambridgeshire
shire_districtSouth Cambridgeshire
static_image_nameBanks of the Cam at Grantchester.jpg
static_image_captionThe banks of the River Cam at Grantchester (May 2008)
population540
population_ref(2011 Census)
constituency_westminsterSouth Cambridgeshire
::

| official_name = Grantchester | country = England | region = East of England | os_grid_reference = TL432555 | coordinates = | post_town = CAMBRIDGE | postcode_area = CB | postcode_district = CB3 | dial_code = 01223 | shire_county = Cambridgeshire | shire_district = South Cambridgeshire | static_image_name = Banks of the Cam at Grantchester.jpg | static_image_caption = The banks of the River Cam at Grantchester (May 2008) | population = 540 | population_ref = (2011 Census) | constituency_westminster = South Cambridgeshire

Grantchester () is a village and civil parish on the River Cam or Granta in South Cambridgeshire, England. It lies about 2 mi south of Cambridge.

Name

The village of Grantchester is listed in the 1086 Domesday Book as Grantesete and Grauntsethe. Before, it is also mentioned briefly in book IV, chapter 19 of Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People. John de Grauntsete, a lawyer who had a successful career as a judge in Ireland, was born in Grantchester, , and took his surname from his birthplace. The present name derives from the common Old English suffix -ceaster (variously developed as "-cester", "-caster", and -"chester"), used in names of forts or fortified cities throughout England.

Grantchester is sometimes identified as the Cair Grauth ("Fort Granta") listed in the History of the Britons among the 28 cities of Britain, but the Roman Duroliponte and subsequent major British and Saxon settlements in the area were at Castle Hill in Cambridge, whose Old English name was Grantabrycge. The confusion arises from the lower stretches of the Granta having been renamed the Cam after the city.

Overview

Grantchester is said to have the world's highest concentration of Nobel Prize winners, most of these presumably being current or retired academics from the nearby University of Cambridge. Students and tourists often travel from Cambridge by punt to picnic in the meadows or take tea at The Orchard. In 1897, a group of Cambridge students persuaded the owner of Orchard House to serve them tea in its apple orchard, and this became a regular practice. Lodgers at Orchard House included the Edwardian poet Rupert Brooke, who later moved next door to the Old Vicarage. In 1912, while in Berlin, he wrote a poem of homesickness entitled "The Old Vicarage, Grantchester". The house is currently the home of the Cambridge scientist Mary Archer and her husband, Jeffrey Archer.

The footpath to Cambridge that runs beside Grantchester Meadows is nicknamed the Grantchester Grind. Further upstream is Byron's Pool, named after Lord Byron, who is said (by Brooke, at least) to have swum there. The pool is now below a modern weir where the Bourn Brook flows into the River Cam. Byron's Pool is a Local Nature Reserve.

In popular culture

Grantchester is the subject of "Grantchester Meadows" (composed and performed by Roger Waters) a song by Pink Floyd, with the village being home to band member David Gilmour. A few years later, Gilmour also wrote a song about Grantchester Meadows, called "Fat Old Sun". The village is also the setting for James Runcie's sleuth novels The Grantchester Mysteries, adapted as an ITV drama titled Grantchester shown in the UK from autumn 2014 and filmed on location in Grantchester.

The village is the subject of Rupert Brooke's poem The Old Vicarage, Grantchester.

Grantchester Church

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/St_Mary_and_St_Andrew,_Grantchester,Cambridgeshire-geograph.org.uk-_334067.jpg" caption="St Mary and St Andrew Church"] ::

The oldest parts of the Church of St Andrew and St Mary (Church of England) date from the twelfth century. The chancel is mid-fourteenth century and the tower is late-fourteenth or early fifteenth century. The porch is sixteenth century. The nave was extensively restored in 1876–1877. The church is a Grade II* listed building. Rachel Rosborough became vicar in 2017.

Graveyard

The church is surrounded by a graveyard, where the burials include:

It also contains the Commonwealth war graves of three British Army soldiers of the First World War and an airman of the Second World War.

Barrel race

Every year on Boxing Day (26 December), Grantchester holds an inter-village barrel race which is around 40 minutes long and ends with a hog roast at the Rupert Brooke pub. This tradition dates back to the 1960s.

Legends

An underground passage is said to run from the Old Manor house to King's College Chapel 2 mi away. It was said that a fiddler who offered to follow the passage set off playing his fiddle; the music became fainter and fainter, until it was heard no more and the fiddler was never seen or heard of again. This story is told of many supposed tunnels. On a 17th-century map of Grantchester, one of the fields is called Fiddler's Close.

Gallery

Grantchester1.jpg|The Green Man Grantchester2.jpg|Grantchester Meadows Manor Farmhouse, Grantchester.jpg|alt=A large farmhouse with many red-brick chimneys|Manor Farmhouse GRantchester Meadows Sign.jpg|alt=Road name sign in front of foliage|Grantchester Meadows sign Grantchester Village Hall.jpg|alt=Small thatched building|Grantchester Village Hall

References

References

  1. "Open Domesday: Grantchester".
  2. [[Nennius]] ({{abbr. attrib.. Traditional attribution). [[Theodor Mommsen]] ({{abbr. ed.. Editor). [[s:la:Historia Brittonum#VI. CIVITATES BRITANNIAE. ''Historia Brittonum'', VI.]] Composed after AD 830. {{in lang. la Hosted at [[s:la:Main Page. Latin Wikisource]].
  3. Ford, David Nash. "[http://www.britannia.com/history/ebk/articles/nenniuscities.html The 28 Cities of Britain] {{Webarchive. link. (15 April 2016 " at Britannia. 2000.)
  4. (13 October 2014). "Nine things you didn't know about Grantchester". Cambridge News.
  5. (10 August 1997). "Yes Rupert, there's still honey for tea...". The Independent.
  6. (9 June 2012). "Helaine Blumenfeld: 'Art is a commitment to risk, a reflection of life – nothing stays the same'". The Independent.
  7. Cambridge: A Cultural and Literary History Martin Garrett - 2004 -- Page viii 1902669797 "Its propensity to flood has threaded through Cambridge from the pubs in Grantchester to the Ditton Plough, a broad green ribbon of flood plain — Grantchester Meadows, The Iammas Land, the Backs, Jesus Green, Midsummer Common, ... "
  8. (9 July 2009). "Going swimming with Roger Deakin". The Guardian.
  9. "Byron's Pool". Natural England.
  10. "Map of Byron's Pool". Natural England.
  11. (26 August 2013). "A Pink Floyd spotter's guide to Cambridge". Cambridge News.
  12. [http://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/itv-announces-cast-new-six-part-drama-grantchester] {{webarchive. link. (1 April 2014)
  13. {{National Heritage List for England
  14. Elliott, Chris. (20 April 2017). "The new vicar of Grantchester is a woman - and she won't be trying to solve crimes". Cambridge News.
  15. "Interesting People".
  16. "GRANTCHESTER (SS. ANDREW AND MARY) CHURCHYARD".
  17. (20 December 2009). "Where to go bonkers on Boxing Day". The Guardian.
  18. Ash, Russell. (1973). "Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain". Reader's Digest Association Limited.
  19. [http://www.thegreenmangrantchester.co.uk/flash/index-3.html] {{webarchive. link. (20 October 2013)

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grantchestervillages-in-cambridgeshirecivil-parishes-in-cambridgeshiresouth-cambridgeshire-district