11 Iconic Buildings to Explore in Cambridgeshire

Anglesey Abbey is a National Trust property in the village of Lode, 5 1⁄2 miles northeast of Cambridge, England. The property includes a country house, built on the remains of a priory, 98 acres of gardens and landscaped grounds, and a working mill. It is a Jacobean-style country house with formal gardens for each season.

Audley End is a mansion with a difference. It was one of England's finest country houses which is famous for its architectural features and varied collections. More than 30 lavishly decorated rooms are open to the public, displaying in their historic context the accumulated Howard Neville and Cornwallis collections. The park was designed by Lancelot Capability Brown in 1763 It contains a circular temple and a bridge over the River Cam, designed by Robert Adam.

Cherry Hinton Hall is a Grade II listed Victorian country house in southeast Cambridge. It’s set in a beautiful green park, which is open to the public. The Hall is most well known for hosting the annual Cambridge Folk Festival and it has wide open grass spaces and the large duck pond which for many is the defining feature of the park along with the vast array of other wildlife living there.

Denny Abbey has a unique and fascinating history, having been occupied at various times by three different monastic orders. Founded in 1159 as a Benedictine monastery, in 1170 it was taken over by the Knights Templars and used as a home for aged and infirm members of the order. Find out about farming in the past by visiting the farm buildings including a 17th-century threshing barn, explore the craft workshops, which include a wheelwright and blacksmith.

Elton Hall was built in 1666, on the site of a medieval house, and there have been many additions. A compartment garden was made in the 1670s. The house has been the home of the Proby family since 1660, although previous generations held land at Elton from the time of Elizabeth I. The Victorian gardens have been skillfully restored in recent years and contain a knot garden, a new rose, and herbaceous garden, fine hedges, and a Gothic orangery built to celebrate the Millennium.

Hinchingbrooke House is an English stately home in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, now part of Hinchingbrooke School. This Tudor country house built around an early 13th-century nunnery. Located in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire it has now a stunning wedding and events venue. With its historical features and exclusive use of the extensive grounds and rooms it is the perfect place for all of life’s celebrations.

King’s College Chapel is the oldest surviving building within the College site and perhaps the most iconic building in Cambridge. Work on this Chapel only started five years after King’s College was founded by Henry VI in 1441. Construction of the chapel started in 1446 and forced the relocation of Christ’s College – known then as God’s House, which was, at that time, on the site where King’s chapel now stands. It was one of the iconic building in this area and is attracted by many tourists.

An elegant Georgian merchant's house on the North Brink of the River Nene, built-in 1722. It includes a museum room with displays on the Quaker banking family who lived in the house. There is also a handling collection and dressing-up clothes for children. The two-acre garden is regarded as one of the finest walled town gardens in the country which includes glasshouses, summerhouses, two pool gardens, over 70 species of roses, and a croquet lawn.

The house where Oliver Cromwell and his family lived from 1636-1647 is an attractive half-timbered building that once served as the vicarage for nearby St Mary's Church. The house was built in the 13th century, and portions of that first structure survive in the east wing of the current house.

Parker's Piece was the original home of Cambridge Town but is best remembered as being the nursery for the university. The grass is mown and the area is known today chiefly as a spot for picnics and games of football and cricket and serves as the games field for nearby Parkside Community College. Fairs tend to be held on the rougher ground of Midsummer Common.

The Manor is a house in the village of Hemingford Grey, Cambridgeshire. It was built in the 1130s and is one of the oldest continuously inhabited houses in this area. The house is surrounded by four acres of garden and is renowned for its collection of over 200 old roses and a collection of irises.