Pembroke College, Cambridge facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Pembroke College
Old Court, Pembroke College
Arms of Pembroke College, Cambridge: Arms of Valence (Barry (of ten) argent and azure, an orle of French martlets gules) dimidiating St Pol (Châtillon): (Gules, three pales vair a chief or with a label of three points azure for difference)
University	University of Cambridge
Location	Trumpington Street (map)
Coordinates	52°12′07″N 0°07′12″E / 52.202°N 0.120°E / 52.202; 0.120
Full name	The College or Hall of Valence Mary (commonly called Pembroke College) in the University of Cambridge
Abbreviation	PEM
Founder	Marie de St Pol, Countess of Pembroke
Established	1347; 678 years ago (1347)
Named after	Aymer de Valence, 2nd Earl of Pembroke
Previous names	Marie Valence Hall (1347–?) Pembroke Hall (?–1856)
Sister college	The Queen's College, Oxford
Master	The Lord Smith of Finsbury
Undergraduates	484 (2022-23)
Postgraduates	282 (2022-23)
Map
Location in Central Cambridge

Pembroke College is one of the colleges that make up the University of Cambridge in England. It is officially known as "The Master, Fellows and Scholars of the College or Hall of Valence-Mary."

Founded in 1347, Pembroke is the third-oldest college at the university. It is home to over 700 students and teachers. It is one of Cambridge's larger colleges, with buildings from almost every century since it began. It also has beautiful, large gardens. Students and teachers at Pembroke are called "Valencians." The current head of the college is Lord Smith of Finsbury.

Pembroke College is known for its excellent academic results. In several recent years (2013, 2014, 2016, and 2018), it was ranked second among all Cambridge colleges for academic performance. The college has the first chapel ever designed by Sir Christopher Wren, a famous architect. Pembroke is also one of only six Cambridge colleges that has educated a British Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger. The college library has a unique Victorian Gothic clock tower and holds an original copy of the very first encyclopedia with printed diagrams.

The History of Pembroke College

An old picture of Marie de St Pol, who founded Pembroke College, Cambridge.

Pembroke College was founded by Marie de St Pol, the Countess of Pembroke (1303–1377). She was a member of the de Châtillon family from France. On Christmas Eve in 1347, King Edward III gave Marie permission to start a new school at the young University of Cambridge.

The college was first called the Hall of Valence Mary. It was created to provide a home and education for students and teachers. The rules for the college were special because they preferred students from France who had already studied in England. They also required students to report others if they were doing anything wrong.

The college was later renamed Pembroke Hall, and then finally became Pembroke College in 1856. Marie de St Pol was very involved with the college for 30 years until she passed away in 1377. She was quite strict! The original rules said that all student debts had to be paid within two weeks after term ended. There were also strict limits on how many people could attend graduation parties.

In 2015, the college received a huge gift of £34 million from the family of Ray Dolby, an American inventor and former Pembroke student. This was one of the largest single donations ever given to a Cambridge college.

College Buildings

Old Court: The First Buildings

A bird's eye view of Pembroke College in 1690 by David Loggan.

The first buildings at Pembroke formed a single court, which is now called Old Court. This court had all the important parts of a college, including a chapel, a dining hall, a kitchen, rooms for students, and the Master's house. The college also had staff like a cook, a barber, and a laundress. To build the college and its first chapel (in 1355), special permission was needed from the Pope.

The original court was the smallest at the university, measuring about 29 meters by 17 meters. It was made larger in the 1800s by taking down the buildings on the south side. The college's main gatehouse is the oldest in Cambridge.

The Chapel: A Famous Design

The inside of Pembroke College chapel in 2014.

The college's first chapel is now used as the Old Library. It has a beautiful ceiling from the 1600s, designed by Henry Doogood, which shows birds flying. During the English Civil War, one of Pembroke's teachers, Matthew Wren, who was also a chaplain to King Charles I, was put in prison. After 18 years, he was released and kept a promise he had made. He hired his nephew, Christopher Wren, to build a grand new chapel for his old college.

This new chapel was officially opened in 1665. Later, in 1880, George Gilbert Scott extended the eastern part of the chapel.

Growing the College

As more students joined Pembroke over the last 150 years, more buildings were added. The dining hall was rebuilt in 1875–1876 by Alfred Waterhouse because the old medieval hall was not safe. Waterhouse also designed new rooms called Red Buildings (1871–1872) in a French Renaissance style. He also designed a new Master's Lodge (the Master's house) in 1873. He removed the old Lodge and part of Old Court to create a clear view of the chapel. Finally, he designed a new Library (1877–1878) in a Gothic style.

Waterhouse was replaced as the architect in 1878 by George Gilbert Scott. After extending the chapel, Scott built New Court in 1881. Along the first floor of New Court, there are letters on shields that spell out a Latin phrase from Psalm 127:1: "Nisi Dominus aedificat domum…" This means "Unless the Lord builds the house, their labor is but vain that build it."

Building continued into the 1900s with W. D. Caröe as the architect. He added the Pitt Building and extended New Court. He connected his two buildings with an arched stone bridge called Caröe Bridge. This bridge allowed students to cross from one building to another without leaving the college grounds or walking through the Master's garden.

In 1926, the college decided to change Waterhouse's Hall. Maurice Webb removed the open roof and added a flat ceiling with two more floors of rooms above. The wall between the Hall and the Fellows' Parlour was removed to make a larger area for the High Table. A new Senior Parlour was then created on the ground floor. The changes were finished in 1949.

Library Court.

In 1933, Maurice Webb built a new Master's Lodge in the college gardens. After World War II, more student rooms were built in 1957 with the Orchard Building, named because it was built on the college's old orchard. In the 1990s, Eric Parry designed new buildings where the Master's Lodge used to be, with a new Lodge at the west end. This new area, called "Foundress Court," opened in 1997 to celebrate the college's 650th birthday. In 2001, the Library was made larger and changed inside.

In 2017, Pembroke College started a new building project called "Time and The Place." This project will expand the college by a third, adding new social areas, rooms, and offices across Trumpington Street.

Beautiful Gardens

Pembroke College has lovely enclosed gardens. Some special parts include "The Orchard," which is a wilder area in the middle of the college. There is also an impressive line of Plane Trees and a bowling green. This bowling green was re-turfed in 1996 and is thought to be one of the oldest continually used bowling greens in Europe.

Gallery

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  The Croquet Lawn in New Court, designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott.

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  The Trumpington Street side of the college with the Chapel on the right, the first building by Sir Christopher Wren.

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  The Gatehouse is the oldest in Cambridge, built in the 1300s.

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  The Dining Hall.

College Coat of Arms

The official design of Pembroke College's coat of arms was recorded in 1684. It combines the symbols of the De Valence family (bars) with those of the St. Pol family (vair). It is described as:

Barry of ten argent and azure, an orle of five martlets gules dimidiated with paly vair and gules, on a chief Or a label of five points throughout azure.

College Traditions

Pembroke College holds "Formal Hall" four evenings a week. This is a special dinner where students wear gowns. There is a separate Formal Hall for students who have completed their first degree (BA students). Everyone must arrive on time for the Latin Grace, which is a prayer that starts the dinner. Like many Cambridge colleges, Pembroke also has an annual May Ball, which is a big party.

Some old stories say that ghosts live in the Ivy Court at Pembroke.

Student Life

Pembroke's boathouse on the River Cam.

Pembroke College has both undergraduate (first degree) and graduate (advanced degree) students. They are all called Valencians, named after the college's original name. The student common rooms are called "parlours" instead of the usual "combination rooms." The undergraduate students are represented by the Junior Parlour Committee (JPC), and the graduate students by the Graduate Parlour Committee (GPC).

Students at Pembroke can join many sports teams and clubs. Some of the most well-known are the Pembroke College Boat Club and the Pembroke Players. The Pembroke Players is the college's drama group, famous for alumni like Peter Cook, Eric Idle, and Tim Brooke-Taylor. It has been active for over 67 years.

Pembroke College also has its own football teams for men (PCAFC) and women (PCWAFC) that compete against other colleges. The hockey club (PCHC) teams up with Christ's College. The rugby team, Pirton RUFC, is combined with Girton College.

Female undergraduate students were first allowed to join the college in 1984.

International Study Programmes

Pembroke is the only Cambridge college with an International Programmes Department. This department offers chances for international students to study in Cambridge for a semester (from mid-January to mid-June) or part of the summer. The Spring Semester Programme is a competitive program for excellent students who want to take regular Cambridge degree courses as full university members. About thirty students are accepted each year.

In the summer, the college offers the eight-week Pembroke Cambridge Summer Programme. Besides academic studies, students go on trips to places like London. The program also includes formal dinners and fun events like croquet games and punting on the River Cam. This program also awards the special Thouron Prize, which fully supports nine American undergraduate students from Harvard, Yale, and UPenn. Additionally, the Pembroke College, Cambridge 1976 Scholarship is given to three outstanding undergraduate students from the University of California.

Famous People from Pembroke College

Many famous people have studied or taught at Pembroke College. Here are just a few:

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  Nicholas Ridley, an English Protestant leader.

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  Edmund Spenser, a famous Elizabethan poet.

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  Lancelot Andrewes, an English bishop and Bible translator.

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  Roger Williams, a religious thinker and founder of Rhode Island in the USA.

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  William Pitt the Younger, who became the youngest British Prime Minister.

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  Sir George Gabriel Stokes, a brilliant mathematician and physicist.

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  Rab Butler, an important British politician.

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  Abba Eban, an Israeli Foreign Minister.

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  Harold Bloom, a well-known literary critic.

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  Peter Cook, a famous British comedian.

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  John Sulston, a British biologist and Nobel Prize winner.

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  Eric Idle, a British comedian and member of Monty Python.

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  Naomie Harris, a British actress.

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  Tom Hiddleston, a British actor.

Places Named After Pembroke College

Pembroke College in Brown University, in Providence, Rhode Island.

Pembroke College in Brown University, which used to be a women's college at Brown University in the United States, was named after Pembroke Hall. Pembroke Hall itself was named to honor Roger Williams, a former student of Pembroke College (Cambridge) and a founder of Rhode Island.

In 1865, Pembroke College, Cambridge, gave land to create a memorial in Suffolk for Prince Albert. This land in Framlingham was used to build a school called The Albert Memorial College. Today, this school is known as Framlingham College, and one of its houses is named Pembroke House to recognize Pembroke College's gift.

In 1981, after Pembroke College merged into Brown University, the Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women at Brown was named in honor of Pembroke College. This name also celebrates the history of women's efforts to get access to higher education.

See also

In Spanish: Pembroke College (Cambridge) para niños

The World War I Memorial at Pembroke College.

• Category:Fellows of Pembroke College, Cambridge
• List of organ scholars