Cambridge

Sister cities

• Cambridge
• Heidelberg
• Szeged

History

Settlements have existed around the Cambridge area since prehistoric times. The earliest clear evidence of occupation is the remains of a year-old farmstead discovered at the site of Fitzwilliam College. Archaeological evidence of occupation through the Iron Age is a settlement on Castle Hill from the 1st century BC, perhaps relating to wider cultural changes occurring in southeastern Britain linked to the arrival of the Belgae. The principal Roman site is a small fort (') Duroliponte''' on Castle Hill, just northwest of the city centre around the location of the earlier British village. The fort was bounded on two sides by the lines formed by the present Mount Pleasant, continuing across Huntingdon Road into Clare Street. The eastern side followed Magrath Avenue, with the southern side running near to Chesterton Lane and Kettle's Yard before turning northwest at Honey Hill. It was constructed around AD 70 and converted to civilian use around 50 years later. Evidence of more widespread Roman settlement has been discovered, including numerous farmsteads and a village in the Cambridge district of Newnham. Following the Roman withdrawal from Britain around 410, the location may have been abandoned by the Britons, although the site is usually identified as , as listed among the 28 cities of Britain in the History of the Britons attributed to Nennius. Evidence exists that the invading Anglo-Saxons had begun occupying the area by the end of the century. Their settlement – also on and around Castle Hill – became known as Grantebrycge{{refn|In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, cited by Roach. Cambridge sat on the border between the East and Middle Anglian kingdoms, and the settlement slowly expanded on both sides of the river. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that Vikings…