List of fictional Cambridge colleges

Fictional colleges are perennially popular in modern novels, allowing the author much greater licence when describing the more intimate activities of a Cambridge college and a way of placing events that might not be permitted by actual Cambridge geography.

Below is a list of some of the fictional colleges of the University of Cambridge.

Bishop Weblog's College - Featured in NST IA Biology of Cells 2007 and 2008 Practical Examination Papers, and is usually the subject of some microorganism based conundrum that students must solve.
Brakespeare College - Manalive by G. K. Chesterton
Bursill Hall - Named after a lecturer in History of Maths.
Coli College - Featured in an NST IA Biology of Cells Practical Class during Lent term 2008-10, which was apparently suffering from an outbreak of food poisoning caused by a virulent strain of a mysterious bacterium.
Fisher College - The Cambridge Murders by Dilwyn Rees, situated between real-life St John's College and Trinity College.
Haworth College - Dr Rose Fenemore in Stormy Petrel by Mary Stewart is described as the College's English tutor, though most of the novel is set on the Isle of Mull.
Lady Jane's College - mentioned in a short story by Cordwainer Smith, founded as part of the Rediscovery of Man.
Lancaster College - various books by Simon Raven. Bears more than a passing resemblance to King's College.
Lauds College - various books by Susan Howatch. Fictionally contains Cambridge Cathedral, so is similar to Christ Church, Oxford. Charles Ashworth was a fellow of the College and many other characters studied there. Named after William Laud, controversial seventeenth century Archbishop of Canterbury
Pelby College - spoof college that Cambridge students use as an "unmistakable landmark" when giving directions to tourists. By convention it is located somewhere between Magdalene and St John's.^[1]
Porterhouse College - Porterhouse Blue and Grantchester Grind by Tom Sharpe. The name suggests Peterhouse, though it is also a pun on college porters and porterhouse steaks. It is also reputedly based loosely on Pembroke, Sharpe's alma mater and its location is somewhere near Peterhouse and Pembroke.
St Agatha's College - The Wyndham Case (1993), A Piece of Justice (1995), Debts of Dishonour (2006) and The Bad Quarto (2007) by Jill Paton Walsh, located between Castle Mound and Chesterton Lane.
St Alupent's College - in the novels of Mary Selby/Joanna Bell. The author studied at Gonville and Caius College.
St Angelicus College - The Gate of Angels (1990) by Penelope Fitzgerald. Situated not far from Christ's Pieces.
St Barnabas' College - Tomorrow's Ghost (1979) by Anthony Price.
St Bartholemew's College - Nights in White Satin (1999) by Michelle Spring. Located near the police station and New Square, with murders investigated by Laura Principal of Newnham College.
St Bernard's College - Darkness at Pemberley by T. H. White. Loosely disguised version of Queens' College.^[2]
St Botolph's College - Example college in Cambridge University Computing Service documentation.
St Cedd's College - Various works by Douglas Adams. Based on St. John's College, the alma mater of Douglas Adams.
St Dunstan's College, Cambridge - College of Professor Austin Herring, who appears in Chris Addison's The Ape That Got Lucky and Civilisation
St Ignatius' College - the university that Albert Campion went to, according to the novels of Margery Allingham.
St Margaret's College - The Cambridge Theorem by Tony Cape
St Martha's College - Matricide at St. Martha's by Ruth Dudley Edwards.
St Martin's College - War Game by Anthony Price
St Mary's College - The Hills of Varna by Geoffrey Trease.
St Matthew's College - Various works by Stephen Fry. Loosely disguised version of Queens' College, revealed by names of bridges and courts.
St Radegund's College - an all-female college in Hearts and Mind by Rosy Thornton.
St Stephen's College - For the Sake of Elena by Elizabeth George, located between Trinity College and Trinity Hall, modelled on the latter.
St Swithin's College - In James Hilton's Random Harvest, the college attended by Charles Ranier, the main character, and a decade later by Harrison, the narrator. Founded in the latter 1500s.
Tudor College - the home of the main characters in The Night Climbers by Ivo Stourton.
Weirdsister College - Magical college, setting of a sequel to The Worst Witch.
Wetmarsh College - subject of an operetta by Mark Wainwright and Roland Anderson entitled Wetmarsh College, or, Dr Middlebottom, first staged at the ADC Theatre, Cambridge, in 2005 (Wetmarsh is never explicitly said to be in Cambridge, but Wainwright's libretto [albeit including a little Oxford terminology] and the place of its composition and first performance make it fairly clear).
an unnamed college in C. P. Snow's novel The Masters and other novels in the Strangers and Brothers series. Snow disparaged what he called the 'Christminster' convention of the naming of fictitious colleges.
An unnamed college in the BBC Radio 4 comedy series High Table, Lower Orders.

References

^ Varsity, October 2002
^ Darkness at Pemberley at England Have My Bones

[1] Varsity, October 2002

[2] Darkness at Pemberley at England Have My Bones

[1]

[2]

See also

References