Photo: Cmglee · CC BY-SA 3.0
Central · Founded 1546
Trinity College
The largest and wealthiest Cambridge college, founded by Henry VIII, whose members range from Isaac Newton to more than thirty Nobel laureates.
The college
A closer
look.
Central — Trinity Street
Founded 1546. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, who merged two medieval colleges — Michaelhouse (1324) and King's Hall (1337) — into a single royal foundation, so parts of the site are two centuries older than the college itself.
Tudor grandeur on the largest scale: Great Court, the biggest enclosed court of any Cambridge or Oxford college, was assembled under Master Thomas Nevile around 1600, and beyond it Nevile's Court ends in Sir Christopher Wren's library of 1695.
On a visit
Don’t miss.
- 01Great Court and its central fountain
- 02The Great Gate with its statue of Henry VIII
- 03The Wren Library
- 04Nevile's Court cloisters
- 05The apple tree by the Great Gate commemorating Newton
- 06The clock that strikes each hour twice
Connected to
Notable
names.
- Sir Isaac Newton
- Francis Bacon
- Lord Byron and Alfred, Lord Tennyson
- Srinivasa Ramanujan
- Jawaharlal Nehru
- More than thirty Nobel laureates, the most of any Cambridge college
Before you go
Visiting Trinity College
The courts, including Great Court, are not open to casual visitors; the college charges for entry via guided tours (£10 per person, children under 12 free) run at set times each day. The Wren Library is free to visit during limited hours, and the riverside Backs gates are normally open from 9am to 5pm, subject to closures.
Opening hours, admission and access change often — check the official site before you travel.
- Founded
- 1546
- Area
- Central — Trinity Street
- Type
- College
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