Paving block, 1860 - 1999

File

Reference Code: GBR/0272/KIP/68

Scope and Contents

Wooden paving block c. 1860-70; photocopy from a contemporary (identity now unknown) ?register of the improvements to 'King's Parade and Senate House Hill' annotated 'Circa 1870'; and brass plaque from the 1990s reading 'Mahogany cobble circa 1860 King's Parade Cambridge'.

Dates

Creation: 1860 - 1999

Conditions Governing Access

From the Sub-Fonds:

ADMINISTRATIVE DOCUMENTS LESS THAN ONE HUNDRED YEARS OLD MAY BE SUBJECT TO RESTRICTIONS. ASK THE ARCHIVISTS FOR MORE INFORMATION.

Biographical / Historical

In the 1990s King's Parade was being resurfaced and a King's porter collected this old wooden cobble at that time, caused the brass plaque to be made, and gave them to the present donor.

Biographical / Historical

No evidence has been seen to support the rumour that the Fellows thought that there was too much noise from the horses and carriages riding over the gravel/stones, adversely affecting the students' concentration and they required the Council to lay some wooden cobbles to mute the sound. The College Governing Body voted on 26 November 1875 that 'the College Representatives on the Cambridge Improvement Board be requested to call the attention of the Board to the state of the pavement on King's Parade, and to urge upon them the advisability of taking advantage of the necessary disturbance to the roadway, in the event of a Tramway being laid down, to replace the present pavement by asphalte or wood'.