The market square at the middle of Cambridge, a trading place since Saxon times.
Market Hill, also called the Market Square, is the open space where the Cambridge Market sets up. The site has been a marketplace since Saxon times, and a daily outdoor market with stalls still operates there.
The square sits in the middle of the city and is reached from several directions. Going round from the north: pedestrian Rose Crescent heads for Trinity Street; Market Street and the pedestrianised Petty Cury both lead off eastwards, the latter ending at a busy meeting of roads; Guildhall Street and Peas Hill go south; and two narrower ways, St Mary's Passage and St Mary's Street, lead west to King's Parade.
The west side is taken up by the Church of St Mary the Great, the University Church, whose tower faces onto King's Parade. The Guildhall, built in the 1930s, is on the south side. The Grand Arcade and the Lion Yard lie to the south-east.
The square was mostly filled with buildings until a major fire in 1849 led to its clearance. A branch of Hobson's Conduit reached the square in 1614 and fed a fountain in the centre. After the fire the market was redeveloped, a Gothic Revival fountain was put up in 1855, and most of it was demolished in 1953; the water supply was cut off in 1960 during the construction of Lion Yard and never restored.
In June 1381, during the Peasants' Revolt, the university's ledgers were destroyed here on the 16th by a crowd that the town's mayor led. One participant, Margery Starre, is said to have danced and shouted the cry "Away with the learning of clerks".
Historical names: Market Square, Market Place
Sources: Wikipedia: Market Hill, Cambridge · Wikidata: Market Hill, Cambridge (Q6770688)
