The city of Cambridge is an old English university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire. It lies approximately 50 miles (80 km) north-northeast of London and is surrounded by a number of smaller towns and villages. It is also at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen and is one of the major constituent parts of the Oxford-Cambridge Arc.

Cambridge is best known for the University of Cambridge, which includes the renowned Cavendish Laboratory, the King’s College Chapel, and the Cambridge University Library. The Cambridge skyline is dominated by the last two, along with the chimney of Addenbrooke’s Hospital in the far south of the city and St. John’s College Chapel tower in the north. The city’s name is pronounced “Came-bridge”, as opposed to another Cambridge in Gloucestershire, England, which is pronounced “Cam-bridge”: as it is spelt.

According to the 2001 census, the population was 108,863 (including 22,153 students). The university was founded in the 13th cent. Central Cambridge still maintains much of its medieval atmosphere and appearance. Its noted medieval churches include St. Benet’s or Bene’t’s, the oldest, dating from the late Saxon period; St. Edward’s (begun 12th cent.), where Hugh Latimer preached; St. Mary the Great (1478), the university church; and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one of four Norman round churches in England.

Cambridge also has varied light industries. High-technology firms, drawing on the university’s scientific prominence, have multiplied in recent years, and the city has come to be called “Silicon Fen.”