St Edmund's College

St Edmund's began in 1896 as St Edmund's House, a joint venture of two Catholic laymen, the Duke of Norfolk of the day and Anatole von Hügel, who curated Cambridge's archaeology museum. Its purpose was to give Catholic students a place to live and study in the city. The ban on Catholics attending the ancient English universities had been lifted in 1895. The college says it is the only full college in Cambridge or Oxford with a Catholic founding after the Reformation. It began as a hostel for men, mostly priests, who were matriculated elsewhere, and now welcomes students of all faiths and none. Today it admits graduate students and undergraduates aged 21 or over, and it is named for St Edmund of Abingdon, a 13th-century Archbishop of Canterbury.

What to look for

• The Norfolk Building. The oldest building on the site dates from 1896 and was originally the Ayerst Hostel, a lodging house for non-collegiate students that had closed through lack of funds. The Gothic Revival building, extended in 1989, now contains the dining hall and combination room.
• The chapel. Consecrated in 1916, the chapel is Grade II listed and noted for its plain Gothic Revival design. Although it is a Catholic chapel, it is open to members of other Christian denominations. A bronze sculpture of the college's patron stands at the front.
• The Okinaga Tower. Created in 1993 with a bequest from the Teikyo Foundation, it is the tallest structure on the site and holds the Master's Lodge.
• White Cottage. A modest 18th-century brick farmhouse that predates the college and was the first home of the Von Hügel Institute.

The road to college status

For decades St Edmund's House was a lodging house and then a recognised house of residence, and proposals to make it a constituent college met opposition in the university's Regent House, partly because the Catholic Church held its property in trust. The early 1960s expansion of graduate numbers changed matters. In 1965 it could matriculate students in its own right, in 1975 it became an Approved Foundation, and in 1986 its assets passed to an autonomous governing body and it became St Edmund's College. University approval of full collegiate status came in 1996, confirmed by a royal charter in 1998.

Dining and dress

The college has no separate high table: undergraduates, postgraduates and fellows sit together at dinner. Students are still expected to wear academic gowns at formal hall, ceremonies and college occasions, and the undergraduate gown is a short black clerical style with a blue cord and button.

Practical notes

The college is on Mount Pleasant, north-west of the centre, in gardens at the fringe of the Roman-era settlement. Nearby colleges include Fitzwilliam, Murray Edwards and Lucy Cavendish. Phone the Porters' Lodge on 01223 336250 for visiting enquiries, as the college's pages do not give public opening times.