Clare College (founded 1326), although the second oldest College in the University, is one of the more progressive and informal. It spans the River Cam, running between the Old Schools (the administrative centre of the University) and the University Library. We take pride in having a balanced mix of students from a wide range of backgrounds.
Clare College is the second oldest of Cambridge’s thirty-one colleges (its foundation having been anticipated, among surviving institutions, only by Peterhouse). It was founded in 1326, and generously endowed a few years later by Lady Elizabeth de Clare (Lady de Burgh), a granddaughter of King Edward I (1272-1307). In 1336 King Edward III (1327-77) granted licence ‘to his cousin Elizabeth de Burgo’ to establish a collegium (the word originally meant ‘a corporation of scholars’, not, as in modern English ‘college’, the buildings in which the scholars were housed); although it was in the first instance referred to unspecifically as ‘the House of the University of Cambridge’, it became known as Clare Hall as early as 1339 (the present simplified title, ‘Clare’, dates from 1856).
