Burden Hostel (White Swann), Green Street, Cambridge

History of Burden Hostel

Burden Hostel occupied a site extending from Messrs MacIntosh’s yard next to 28 Green Street as far as a frontage on Trinity Street facing Trinity Lane.

It was reached by Green Street Passage (Burden Hostel Lane). The hostel was for students of law and faced on to Trinity Street. It was two buildings;  one was from the 13th century and came to be used by students of Peterhouse. Adjoining it on the Green Street corner was originally Spalding’s Inn, name after one of the first Fellows of Clare Hall. In the 14th century the house was sold to the prior of Ely and was used by monks. Then Clare Hall took control and the two buildings were generally known as Borden’s Hostel, housing members of Clare and Peterhouse until 1539 when the property was sold to a Cambridge alderman who converted it into the White Swann Inn.