Corpus Christi College

Corpus Christi College stands in the centre of Cambridge on Bene’t Street, beside the 11th-century church that shares its name. Founded in 1352 by the town’s Corpus Christi and Blessed Virgin Mary guilds, it is the sixth-oldest college in the university. For two centuries it was also called Bene’t College after the street and the guild. The oldest surviving part is Old Court, built in the late 14th century around a single modest court near the parish church. The college has long been one of Cambridge’s academically strongest, regularly placing in the top three of the unofficial Tompkins Table. In 2024 it ranked first overall for finalists and third for first-class degrees. Its wealth is unusually visible: the silver collection is among the richest in Cambridge, and the endowment now exceeds £200 million. Archbishop Matthew Parker, Master in the 16th century, gave the college its greatest library and a pelican as its symbol. Visitors enter Old Court through a low archway into a quiet square of grey stone. The Talbot gable above the gate still bears the heraldic supporter of the Talbot family, added after repairs in the 1460s. A narrow passage links the court to St Bene’t’s Church, once the college chapel. The Parker Library holds early manuscripts under strict conditions, and every few years representatives from other colleges inspect the collection for losses. The college’s modest scale and historic rooms give a sense of Cambridge before the grand 19th-century expansions.