Streets and Suburbs: The Growth of Cambridge

Explore how Cambridge grew from a medieval market town into a modern city through its streets, suburbs, housing developments, railway communities and expanding neighbourhoods.

Introduction
Cambridge grew from a compact market town clustered around the river, castle and colleges into a city of expanding streets, suburbs and communities. Over the last two centuries, population growth, improved transport, industry, university expansion and new housing developments have transformed the city’s shape and character.

The story of Cambridge’s growth can be traced through its streets. Victorian terraces housed railway workers and artisans in areas such as Romsey Town and Petersfield. New suburbs emerged as farmland and orchards gave way to housing. Council estates, private developments and post-war neighbourhoods reshaped the city during the twentieth century, while villages on the edge of Cambridge gradually became part of the urban landscape.

Capturing Cambridge records this changing city through buildings, streets, census records, maps, photographs and personal memories. Together they reveal how people lived, worked and formed communities as Cambridge expanded from a small county town into a globally recognised centre of learning, research and innovation.

Explore the Theme
1. The Medieval and Early Town
How Cambridge developed around the market, river crossings, churches and colleges.

2. Victorian Expansion
The arrival of the railway, industrial growth and the creation of new working-class neighbourhoods.

3. Romsey, Petersfield and the Railway Communities
Terraced housing, railway employment and the growth of eastern Cambridge.

4. New Town and Nineteenth-Century Suburbs
Middle-class housing, planned streets and changing patterns of urban living.

5. Garden Suburbs and Inter-War Growth
The development of areas such as Queen Edith’s, Newnham expansion and council housing schemes.

6. Post-War Cambridge
New estates, schools, roads and the pressures of a growing population.

7. Villages Absorbed by the City
How places such as Chesterton and Cherry Hinton changed from separate villages into city neighbourhoods.

8. Modern Cambridge
Science parks, university expansion, new transport links and major housing developments.