Cool Places
Magdalene College
Magdalene Street Cambridge CB3 0AG
Alumni of this peaceful Tudor court include Samuel Pepys, who joined in 1650, and was admonished for ‘having bene scandalously overseene in drink’ one night. In spite of this, the famous diarist bequeathed his library on condition that it remain intact, which it does to this day – 3,000 tomes in a handsome library in the Second Court. The college itself has a distinctive structure and most of the old buildings are in brick rather than the usual stone. Despite an early 20th-century expansion, it is one of the smaller colleges at the univeristy and retains a real charm, often earning it the title of Cambridge's most 'traditional' college.
