The Backs

The Backs is a riverside area east of Queen’s Road in Cambridge where six colleges turn their backs to the street and face the River Cam. St John’s and Queens’ stand on both banks, while Trinity, Clare, King’s and Trinity Hall occupy the east bank. The colleges’ grounds include meadows, avenues of trees and several bridges over the Cam. In the 16th century these fields were used for grazing cattle and growing fruit. The river once carried goods to the mill at Silver Street. The landscape has been shaped by landscape architects and college committees over centuries. In 1772 Capability Brown designed a wilderness planting behind St John’s that survives today. A Backs Committee formed in 1979 fought Dutch elm disease and planted new trees. English Heritage listed the whole area as a Grade I Historic Park in 1995. Visitors walk along tree-lined avenues and cross bridges that include Clare Bridge and the Bridge of Sighs. Cattle still graze behind King’s College. The Mathematical Bridge at Queens’ and the Kitchen Bridge at St John’s link the two banks. A new landscape plan proposes extending wild plantings and screening traffic from Queen’s Road. The colleges and city council continue to agree on how to care for the riverside landscape.