This is a large college with attractive grounds and many sculptures. It’s full name is ‘The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund’, but that is a bit of a mouthful. The cockerel is the college symbol, after it’s founder John Alcock, Bishop of Ely.
The buildings were originally a Nunnery. The Chapel, founded in 1157, is the oldest buidling in Cambridge still in use. Thomas Cranmer was a notable figure, he published the Book of Common Prayer. He attended the college at the age of 14, and became the first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury. Samuel Coleridge (English Romantic Poet) Prince Edward and Nick Hornby (novelist) were also previous students here.
