Since the middle of the seventh century AD, several successive churches have stood upon the lands now occupied by the college. The original church was founded in 655 AD by Cedd, a Northumbrian priest on his way to reconvert Essex to Christianity. Surviving the Danish occupations in the late ninth century, the church was used as an administrative centre until the town was recaptured by forces loyal to the Edward the Elder in 921.
In 1010, however, Cedd’s church was crippled in the final burning of Cambridge by the Danes. Between this time and the Norman Conquest, the now county town had grown prosperous through its extensive trade links. Thus, local merchants were able to finance the rebuilding of the church, which was dedicated to St Cedd himself – to honour both the original foundation as well as Cedd’s patronage of interpreters in this new multilingual trade centre.
The Church of St Cedd survived the subsequent town fires of 1174 and 1385, continuing to serve the people of its parish until its non-combustible luck ran out in 1520. Accounts vary when recounting the cause of this devastating fire, but one persisting story tells of a secret midnight wedding sabotaged by a jealous lover with a jewelled candelabrum. However the fire started, local historians and records agree that the building was destroyed for a second time.
The facts become enticingly mysterious following the second burning. The Fourth Baronet of Cambridge is recorded as having financed and overseen the building of the Second Church of St Cedd, as it was known during the project. But, upon closer examination, one discovers that no record of a Cambridge baronetcy exists prior to 1520, let alone three predecessors. Furthermore, the Fourth Baronet is never named in any official documents.
Any possibility of fraud is seemingly banished when, shortly before construction was completed in 1523, the Fourth Baronet resurfaced in petitions to both Henry VIII and Nicholas West, the Bishop of Ely, seeking permission for the foundation of a new college around the church. Since a Royal Charter was granted soon after, it may be assumed that both King and Bishop recognised the legitimacy of this enigmatic baronetcy.
Perhaps to frustrate us, the Fourth Baronet named the college for St Cedd, rather than himself. Even the terms of the Charter yield no clues as to our founder’s identity, dedicating the college to the education of clergymen in modern languages with ecclesiastical studies – both associated with Cedd.
What we do know is that construction of the dining hall and First Court was completed in the summer 1526, with the church converted into a freestanding chapel. The college admitted its first students in the following autumn; and its first fellows were churchmen of the parish, complemented by visiting fellows of nearby Peterhouse.
After the abolition of the Faculty of Canon Law by Henry VIII in 1536, St Cedd’s broadened its curriculum to include civil law and mathematics. This was the first major teaching change until 1563, when the college admitted its first lay students seeking non-ecclesiastic education. From this period onwards, the curriculum would slowly expand further to encompass the arts and sciences, in line with the rest of the University.
In December of 1819, HM King George III established the Regius Professorship of Chronology, amid fears of time beginning to run in reverse. Since its inception, the Regius Professor of Chronology has been a fellow of St Cedd’s college – a proud record unique among the collegiate universities of the United Kingdom.
The famous ‘Grass Rule’ was established in 1822 when representatives of the Crown searched the college for a known fugitive. Upon being turned out of their rooms, fellows and students were gathered on the grass of Second Court to be better contained and identified. As a result, a line was written into the college rules and regulations permitting students to set foot on the grass ‘only if directly, or indirectly, instructed to do so by the Crown’. Mysteriously, one fellow was missing from the grass that night but was not taken into custody. The fugitive was never found.
The first women were enrolled at St Cedd’s in 1975, but only as postgraduates; female undergraduates were permitted to attend in 1982. Today, the college enjoys an even male-female split and a warm, vibrant atmosphere among its student population.