The Cambridge Guildhall is run and operated
by Cambridge City Council and features two impressive spaces,
The Large Hall and The
Small Hall which are interconnected and used for a variety
of events from live music events to comedy, talks craft
fairs, conferences, weddings and much more. Located in the
heart of the city the Guildhall is also situated across
the road from the Cambridge
Corn Exchange the region's largest entertainment venue
with both venues programmed by Cambridge
City Council - Arts & Entertainments.
 THE
LARGE HALL
THE
SMALL HALL
CONFERENCE
FACILITIES
HISTORY
OF THE GUILDHALL
THE LARGE
HALL
The Large Hall is the main space within
the Guildhall. An impressive room it offers 330sq metres
of floor space and can hold 400 people for standing concerts
or 646 seated (including the balcony). The room also features a large original pipe
organ.
THE SMALL
HALL
Interconnected to the Large Hall, the
beautiful Small Hall of the Guildhall offers 144sq meters
of floor space with a standing capacity of 186. The room offers a
large source of natural light making the room ideal for
art exhibitions and displays by day whilst being a perfect
room for a variety of events by night.
CONFERENCE
FACILITIES
The Guildhall is, in conjunction with
the Cambridge Corn Exchange (situated across the road),
the ideal place to hold a conference, whatever the size.
For full information please click
here.
HISTORY
OF THE GUILDHALL
The first recorded property on this site
belonged to one Benjamin the Jew. The building was granted
to the town by Henry III in the 1220's. How it became vacant
and what happened to Benjamin is not known, it was well
before the official expulsion of the Jews from Cambridge
(which was itself some 20 years before they were expelled
from the country altogether). Part of it was used as the
town gaol, an adjoining synagogue (Benjamin clearly being
wealthy) was leased to the Franciscan order.
The Franciscans moved some 50 years later
to a purpose built convent on the site of what is now Sidney
Sussex College. The vacated premises became the Town Hall,
or Tolbooth as it was more commonly known, its principal
function being the disposition of tolls for entry into the
town and trading at the market.
The building was raised on arches with
the market stalls below (the present Market Square being
largely filled with buildings at that time which were not
cleared until the great fire of 1849). A Shire Hall was
built on the open space in front in 1747, again on arches
with stalls beneath. The Shire Hall and the Tolbooth were
connected by a wooden bridge over an alley (Butter Row,
containing stalls which sold dairy produce, surprisingly
enough).
After new Law Courts were built on Castle
Hill in 1842 the Shire Hall and the new Town Hall (built
in 1782 on the site of the old one) were amalgamated into
a Guildhall. The current Guildhall was built on the site
of these twin buildings (along with a few other adjoining
houses) in the 1930's. It was constructed in two parts,
and if you look closely at the front you can just about
see a line where the bricks don't match.
Copyright: Dr Chris Hadley. For more Cambridge
History, why not visithis website: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~ckh11/cam.html
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