Hughes Hall

Hughes Hall began in 1885 as a training college for women graduates, set up to prepare them for teaching careers. It opened with fourteen students in a small house called Crofton Cottage in Newnham, under its first principal, Elizabeth Phillips Hughes. The college took her name in 1949, once women had become full members of the university, and gained its royal charter as a full college in 2006. Today every student is a mature student, aged over 21, and the college counts more than sixty nationalities among them.

What to look for

• The Wileman Building. William Fawcett designed the main building, finished in 1895 and now Grade II listed. It is red brick in a Neo-Dutch manner with a terracotta porch, and it faces Fenner's, the university cricket ground. It is named for Margaret Wileman, the college's seventh principal, and its Pfeiffer Wing recalls the couple whose gift paid for much of the original construction.
• Fenner's Building. Opened in 2005, its terraces and dining hall look west across the ground to the spire of Our Lady and the English Martyrs, which the college describes as the tallest in Cambridge.
• A first. In 1973 Hughes Hall became the first of the formerly all-female colleges to admit men.

Teacher training and a first principal

Cambridge set up a Teachers' Training Syndicate in 1878 to devise a training curriculum for university students heading into teaching, and Hughes Hall, founded in 1885, was the women's counterpart. Its early backers included a fellow of St Catharine's, a London girls' school headmistress, the first principal of Newnham and a Trinity professor. Elizabeth Phillips Hughes (1851-1925), herself a Newnham graduate, led the college from 1885 to 1899. A memoir of the period, A London Girl of the 1880s, came from one of the first students. Once women became full members of the university, the college became a recognised institution in 1949 and an approved foundation in 1985.

Later buildings and a quiet neighbour

Next to the Wileman Building stands Wollaston Lodge, a symmetrical early twentieth-century house in buff brick designed by Edward Schroeder Prior, which provides further student rooms. Chancellor's Court was inaugurated in 1992 and the Centenary Building opened in 1997. In 2014 the college acquired the former university gym on Gresham Road, across the cricket ground, and building work there began in 2015. A short walk away, Mill Road Cemetery holds the graves of several prominent university figures, among them the astronomer James Challis, the Newton editor Percival Frost and the historian John Seeley.

Practical notes

The college sits in Petersfield, between the railway station and the Market Square, and is the closest college to the station. Mill Road and its shops are close, and the most direct route into the centre for walkers and cyclists is across Parker's Piece. Hughes Hall is a working graduate community rather than a visitor attraction, so contact the college on 01223 330484 before planning a visit.