Gonville Place is a road (part of the A603) in southeast central Cambridge, England. [1] [2] It forms part of the city's inner ring road. At the southwest end is the junction of Regent Street and Hills Road, where the road continues as Lensfield Road. At the northeast end is the junction of Parkside and Mill Road, where the road continues as East Road, a dual carriageway.
Cambridge is a university city and the county town of Cambridgeshire, England, on the River Cam approximately 50 miles (80 km) north of London. At the United Kingdom Census 2011, its population was 123,867 including 24,506 students. Cambridge became an important trading centre during the Roman and Viking ages, and there is archaeological evidence of settlement in the area as early as the Bronze Age. The first town charters were granted in the 12th century, although modern city status was not officially conferred until 1951.
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to the west and Scotland to the north-northwest. The Irish Sea lies west of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.
A ring road is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist in reducing traffic volumes in the urban centre, such as by offering an alternate route around the city for drivers who do not need to stop in the city core.
To the northwest is Parker's Piece, a large grassed area with footpaths. There are panoramic views of Parker's Piece from Gonville Place. The distinctive Parkside Pools indoor swimming pool building with a wavy roof was built 1998–99, with support from the United Kingdom National Lottery. [3]
Parker's Piece is a 25-acre (100,000 m2) flat and roughly square green common located near the centre of Cambridge, England, regarded by some as the birthplace of the rules of Association Football. The two main walking and cycling paths across it run diagonally, and the single lamp-post at the junction is colloquially known as Reality Checkpoint. The area is bounded by Park Terrace, Parkside, Gonville Place, and Regent Terrace. The Cambridge University Football Club Laws were first used on Parker's Piece and adopted by the Football Association in 1863. "They embrace the true principles of the game, with the greatest simplicity". 'The Cambridge Rules appear to be the most desirable for the Association to adopt'.
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or paddling pool is a structure designed to hold water to enable swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground or built above ground, and are also a common feature aboard ocean-liners and cruise ships. In-ground pools are most commonly constructed from materials such as concrete, natural stone, metal, plastic or fiberglass, and can be of a custom size and shape or built to a standardized size, the largest of which is the Olympic-size swimming pool.
The National Lottery is the state-franchised national lottery in the United Kingdom.
There is a YMCA on the southeast side of the road opposite Parker's Piece. [4] Behind the YMCA is Fenner's, the cricket ground of the University of Cambridge, which has hosted first-class cricket since 1848. The Best Western Gonville Hotel is also located on the southeast side of Gonville Place, near the south corner of Parker's Piece. [5]
The Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries from 120 national associations. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by Sir George Williams in London and aims to put Christian principles into practice by developing a healthy "body, mind, and spirit".
Fenner's is Cambridge University Cricket Club's ground.
The University of Cambridge is a collegiate public research university in Cambridge, United Kingdom. Founded in 1209 and granted a Royal Charter by King Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's fourth-oldest surviving university. The university grew out of an association of scholars who left the University of Oxford after a dispute with the townspeople. The two 'ancient universities' share many common features and are often referred to jointly as 'Oxbridge'. The history and influence of the University of Cambridge has made it one of the most prestigious universities in the world.
There was little development around Gonville Place until the 19th century. [1] The most important building along it in the early 19th century was the Cambridge Town Gaol. However, by the late 19th century, the construction of large houses with landscaped gardens meant that the street became a fashionable residential area. Some of these houses were replaced during the 1960s and 1970s. The street now forms part of the busy ring road, with the associated traffic problems that brings, especially for the many cyclists in the city. [6] [7]
A stage of the 2014 Tour de France started from Gonville Place. [8]
The 2014 Tour de France was the 101st edition of the race, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The 3,660.5-kilometre (2,274.5 mi) race included 21 stages, starting in Leeds, Yorkshire, United Kingdom, on 5 July and finishing on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 27 July. The race also visited Belgium for part of a stage. Vincenzo Nibali of the Astana team won the overall general classification by more than seven minutes, the biggest winning margin since 1997. Jean-Christophe Péraud placed second, with Thibaut Pinot (FDJ.fr) third.
