The Caius College Building Estate in Barnwell

History of development of Petersfield

In 1809 Gonville and Caius College became the principal landowners of an area of southern Barnwell in Cambridge. The attached dissertation describes the development of a larger part of this estate, lying between Mill Road and Hills Road.

The study attempts to show that the evolution of the estate was governed by the following primary factors:

1. The patterns of rural use preceding Enclosure.
2. The patterns of land ownership following Enclosure.
3. The legal and economic restrictions on the development of college land.
4. The influence of neighbouring developments.
5. The various types of housing demand.
6. The activities of property speculators on leasehold land.

It is hoped that a discussion of the ways in which the estate was developed will contribute to a wider understanding of the mechanisms determining the growth of Cambridge in the nineteenth century and in particular the roles of colleges as developers in this context.

Capturing Cambridge thanks the author, Jeremy Lander, for permission to make this paper available on the website.

Read the complete dissertation as a PDF