Magdalene College

Magdalene College stands on the northwestern edge of Cambridge, beside the River Cam. The college was first founded in 1428 as a small Benedictine hostel for student monks, separated from the town by the river and protected by Cambridge Castle. In the 1470s the main buildings rose under John de Wisbeach, then Abbot of Crowland, and later became Buckingham College under Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries the college survived and was refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary Magdalene by Thomas Audley, Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII. Audley gave the college its motto Garde Ta Foy and the wyvern crest, though early benefactors often met violent ends. The college is one of Cambridge’s smaller institutions, with about 400 undergraduates and 200 graduates, yet it has ranked as high as second in the Tompkins Table. Samuel Pepys, the diarist, studied here in the 17th century, and his bequest of books and manuscripts is preserved in the Pepys Library. The library, built around 1700, still holds the original diaries and naval records in their original bookcases. Later masters such as Daniel Waterland and Peter Peckard shaped the college’s curriculum and reputation, while A. C. Benson’s generosity defined much of the present grounds. Visitors enter through the Great Court, where a gargoyle of Benedict Spinola spits water into the Cam as a playful reminder of a long-ago legal dispute. The Pepys Library remains a highlight, its oak cases filled with Pepys’s printed books and engravings. Beyond lie quieter courts like Benson Court, named for the master who improved the grounds. The riverfront walk offers views of Magdalene Bridge and the college’s historic buildings, while the New Library by Niall McLaughlin Architects, winner of the Stirling Prize, provides a modern contrast.