Gonville and Caius College

Gonville & Caius College, or simply Caius (pronounced ‘Keys’), was first founded in 1348. It is the fourth oldest college in the University of Cambridge and is one of the largest, with about 550 undergraduates and about 200 research and postgraduate students. It also has around 110 Fellows or senior members, who carry out College teaching, and govern the whole organisation.

Caius has produced 15 Nobel Prize winners, including Francis Crick, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA. Notable old members include Harold Abrahams, the Olympic sprinter immortalised in the film Chariots of Fire, and physicist Stephen Hawking.

Caius’ Old Courts site is situated on Trinity Street and the Waterhouse Building, designed by architect Alfred Waterhouse, is prominent from King’s Parade. There is architectural interest within, not least the Gate of Virtue, built in the 1560s by Humfrey Lovell, Elizabeth I’s own Master Mason.

The College is open daily from 10am-3pm for self-guided tours. Please call in to the Porters’ Lodge on Trinity Street.