16 – 21 Market Hill, Cambridge

History of 16-21 Market Hill

The building is structurally part of Caius College St Michael’s Court. This south facing aspect was carried on in 1934-7 by Murray Easton. The building was designed to belong visually to the Market Place, according to Pevsner.

Calverley’s Ode to Tobacco

Calverley wrote the Ode to Tobacco in 1862. He was well known for pranks and once stole the sign of the Green Man in Trumpington and hid it at Christ’s College.

1/8/1934 Gonville and Caius College’s scheme for the complete rebuilding of the block of shops and houses on the north side of Cambridge Market Hill has been finally approved. At present the site from Rose Crescent to St Mary’s Court is occupied by a group of houses, mostly of the 18th century. Their disappearance will be regretted, even by those who knew how dilapidated they had become behind their neat Georgian facades. But the whole effect of the completed block should stifle these regrets. The shops will be set back seven feet with upper rooms carried on slender pillars. After a history of 100 years it is hardly surprising that there is a thorough tobacco atmosphere about the shop of Messrs Bacon Bros which has stood on Market Hill since 1805 and the news that it is to
be pulled down with cause regret to many. A number of ledgers over 100 years old, containing fascinating information about the smokers have come to light including the original accounts sent to C.S. Calverley whose ‘Ode to Tobacco’ appears on the outer wall of the shop. A new shop will be built on almost the same spot. (Cam.News)