Parker's Piece
A flat green square at the edge of the centre, tied to the early rules of association football.
Parker's Piece is a roughly square, flat expanse of grass of about 25 acres close to the middle of Cambridge. Two main paths cross it on the diagonal, and a lamp-post where they meet is known to locals as the Reality Checkpoint. Four streets enclose it: Parkside, Park Terrace, Regent Terrace and Gonville Place.
How it got its name
Trinity College owned the land until 1613, when it swapped it with the town for Garret Hostel Green, the site east of the river where Trinity's Wren Library later rose. The name comes from Edward Parker, a college cook who had rented fifteen of the acres from 1587; the remaining ten were held by Elizabeth Sherwood.
Cricket and football
Parker's Piece hosted forty-nine first-class cricket matches between 1817 and 1864. It also has a place in football history. Students played there during the 1800s, and one set of Cambridge rules, advertised for a match on the green in November 1863, helped shape the first laws published by the Football Association that December. A plaque placed in 2000 and a 2018 monument made up of four stone columns carved with the 1856 Cambridge Rules in several languages commemorate this.
Visiting
Today the green is mainly used for picnics, kickabouts and cricket; part of the north-western quarter is kept as a league cricket ground. The grass is open to all, and on the north-east side Parkside is the terminus for long-distance coach services. Christ's Pieces and Jesus Green are the city's other central open spaces.
Nearby
Within a few minutes' walk
