Photo RGL 2016

Cavendish Avenue, Cambridge

A collection of historical notes about Cavendish Avenue

The name of the road came from that of Cavendish College, which was built during the period 1876-1891. The college was opened officially in 1889 by Lord Hartington but its fortunes had already declined and the premises were acquired by Homerton College in 1894.

The ownership of the Cavendish Estate on which Cavendish and Hills Avenues were built was in the name of Franks Waters from 1883. In May 1906 he was charged by Chesterton for work which they decided he should have carried out on the two roads in the way of paving, leveling and channeling. This amounted to £1146 for Cavendish, and £50 for Hills, Waters lived at the time at 56 Hills Road. Waters had used Edward Hammond, banker of Newmarket, to acquire £7500 to buy the land, and a further £2000 for improvements.

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1925 08 07
Sir – the proposed garage on Christ’s Pieces has called forth a crop of protesting letters; let them be directed against the ugly, barrack-like Councils houses at Chesterton and Cavendish Avenue. The majority of the houses are literally a blot on the landscape, badly designed, dreary and poverty-stricken, they are eyesores to every passer-by. Yet they are being built without a word of protest, while the cutting down of a couple of trees evokes a regular storm of indignation – Kappal. Credit: Mike Petty, Cambridge Cherryhinton Road Area Scrapbook 1897–1990.

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1938 02 03
Many unscrupulous Cambridge landlords are charging more than they are entitled under the Rent Restriction Act. There should be a crusade against them. One railwayman about to retire on a pension had been paying three shillings and ninepence rent for over 20 years. Now this had been raised by three shillings (£8). Tenants in Cavendish Avenue had been told they would have to pay sixpence a week more because the landlady was supplying sanitary dustbins. Those who felt exploited should see the Poor Man’s Lawyer 38 02 03c
Credit: Mike Petty, Cambridge Cherryhinton Road Area Scrapbook 1897–1990.

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Jack Overhill describes the bombing raid  which left 12 dead in Hills Road in his diary entry for Tuesday 25th February 1941:

The reason for this attack, probably due to a convoy of tanks that came into the town last night and wound its way along Hills Road, over the bridge with lights on and looking like a great bloody snake accordingly to a chap who told me about it. The tanks are still parked round Cavendish Avenue and a convoy of lorries is along Brookside, so we’re wondering if we’ll get it again tonight.

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Those residents of Cavendish Avenue who served in the military or as volunteers during World War are listed here:

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Residents of the road have included:

Paul Dirac (no.7) physicist

Sources: Cambridge News (Cambridgeshire Collection), UK census, Ancestry UK, Red Cross