Portugal Place, Cambridge

History of Portugal Place

The feature water-colour is labelled on the back Thompson’s Lane but the picture must be of Portugal Place, with the tower of St Clement’s on the right and St John’s Chapel tower straight-ahead.

Two stories about the origin of Portugal place are described in the CWN (7 May 1981)

Dr Cavaliero (29 Portugal Place) believes that Portugal Place got its name from the Peninsular War.  As some houses were already built by 1820, he believes they may have been intended for officers returning from the Peninsular War.

Another story, as told by Henry Bosanquet in one of the Vanished Walks Round Cambridge, is that some Portuguese coins were dug up when the houses were built in the mid-C19th.