Girton’s Medieval Legacies

While maybe not itself a medieval foundation, Girton College is certainly situated in an environment with deep roots in the Middle Ages, and has long been at the centre of medieval research.

Girton’s Medieval Context:

Directly on the Roman road Via Devana (now Huntingdon Road), the current College grounds contained a Roman and Anglo-Saxon cemetery, excavated when the college was constructed in the 19^th century. The cemetery contained the burials of at least 230 people, over half of whom were cremated. The dead were buried with a range of jewellery, dress accessories and cosmetic implements, and the cremated dead were buried in hand-made, stamped urns. Roman building material reused in the graves indicate that a substantial Roman building once stood nearby.

Girton College exceptionally has its own dedicated museum, the Lawrence Room, which includes the mummy Hermione. The museum now holds a number of notable Anglo-Saxon articfacts from the cemetery, including cremation urns and grave goods such as copper alloy brooches, glass beads, bone combs, and more. For more on this, see the the Lawrence Room’s leaflet and catalogue, as well as the talk delivered by Girton Fellow in Archaeology, Emma Brownlee:

One of Girton’s unique Anglo-Saxon urns was even recently replicated by Potted History:

Today at Potted History 🏺⚱️I'll be mostly working on a replica Anglo-Saxon urn based on one found in the grounds of @girtoncollege.bsky.social. Still got some way to go but watch this space… #Archaeology

— Graham Taylor (@pottedhistory.bsky.social) 2026-05-15T12:27:51.754Z

Almost certainly inhabited throughout the Anglo-Saxon period, Girton village is listed as Grittune (Old English grēot + tūn, ‘gravel-village’) in the 1086 Domesday Book which records the majority of land being owned by Ramsey Abbey and with a population of ~150. Picot, the infamous Norman Sheriff of Cambridgeshire maligned as ‘a ravening wolf’ in contemporary sources, also held several tracts.

From the Victoria County History:

• ‘By 1086 the village was inhabited by 32 peasants and 2 servi, and in 1279 had c. 90 landholders. There were 56 taxpayers in 1327, and 196 adults paid the poll tax in 1377. Girton may have shrunk slightly in the later Middle Ages. Only 45 people paid the subsidy in 1524, and there were only 34 households in 1563’.¹

Girton’s standing parish church was dedicated to St Andrew in 1240, but existed earlier and some sections of wall date to the 11th century. Now visible inside, an Anglo-Saxon altar stone of uncertain date was found in the churchyard, having been made into a Norman coffin lid. St Andrews’ was then enlarged in the 13th and 14th centuries, some of these earlier elements still survive although much of the church was rebuilt in the 15th and 16th centuries. Owned by Ramsey Abbey until the 1539 Dissolution of the Monasteries. See further detailed information on the church’s website.

The Village’s Sign features two geese in reference to those kept in Washpit Brook (which still runs through the village) and whose feathers provided quills for the medieval University of Cambridge which had developed 3km south in 1209.

Pioneering Medievalists at Girton College:

After Girton’s 1869 foundation as the UK’s first residential institution offering university-level education for women, it soon became a major producer for leading medieval scholars, many of whom were pioneering women in their field. An incomplete reckoning of these from Girton’s early decades include:

• Ellen McArthur (1862-1927), alumna and esteemed economic historian known for work on the medieval period, ODNB
• Dame Bertha Phillpotts (1877-1932), alumna and Mistress, major early work on Scandinavian literature and translations of the sagas, ODNB
• Helen Maud Cam (1885-1968), Fellow, historian of medieval English law and governance, first woman appointed a tenured professor at Harvard University , ODNB
• Eileen Power (1889-1940), alumna and DoS in History, economic historian of medieval Europe, still honoured by annual Eileen Power Lectures in Girton, ODNB
• Nora K. Chadwick (1891-1972), DoS in A.S.N.C., Celticist with endowed annual A.S.N.C. lecture, ODNB
• Muriel C. Bradbrook (1909-1993), alumna and Mistress, first woman to become Professor of English at Cambridge, medieval work on Thomas Mallory, ODNB

Into the 20th century eventually saw Girton become coeducational in 1976, Girton’s excellence in medieval studies continues through the work of notable associated scholars including archaeologist Audrey Meaney, as well as historians Gabrielle Lambrick, Wendy Childs, and Marjorie Chibnall (annual Anglo-Norman Studies prize named in her memory).

In the 21st century, Girton is a diverse and active intellectual community with particular stength in medieval studies. This is supported by an active cohort of medievalist fellows and associated academics, as well as the many accomplished medievalists produced by Girton including Miri Rubin and Sarah Kay.

Medieval Things to See in College:

• Medieval holdings in the Lawrence Room museum, open Thursdays 2-4pm, Sundays (during term-time) at 1:30-2:30pm
  • Anglo-Saxon finds from the cemetery on the grounds (above)
  • Unique c. 1380 diptych by Siennese painter Francesco di Vannuccio (below), featured in the National Gallery’s 2025 exhibition Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300 ‒1350
• Heritage orchard following medieval East of England traditions and other gardens, see Garden Tour Map
• Mostly early modern but demonstrating continuity from medieval traditions, a unique collection of Russian icons are displayed outside the Chapel, including this 16th-century example
• On view in the corridor surrounding Cloister Court (alongside the public People’s Portraits exhibition) is a facsimile of the c. 1300 Hereford Mappa Mundi (the largest surviving medieval map), donated by Margaret Mountford, see description on Seb Falk’s website

1. ‘Girton: Introduction’, in A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 9, Chesterton, Northstowe, and Papworth Hundreds. Edited by A P M Wright, C P Lewis (London, 1989), British History Online, https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol9/pp115-118. ↩︎