The Other Cambridge

Cambridge is often thought by those who do not know much about the place to mean the University. But there have been people living in this place for over 2000 years and the University celebrated its 800th anniversary in 2009. There has always been a Cambridge existing in its own right without the University, as a place of agriculture, an inland port, centre of trade and manufacture. For example, 2010 marks the one thousandth anniversary of the sack of Cambridge by the Danish army and the Jomsvikings, when the city was razed to the ground. Cambridge's present heritage is far more than the college buildings (constructed by Cambridge town artisans and craftsmen): it was the place of major fairs, one of them, Sturbridge, reputed to be the largest in Europe; it has its own traditional patterns in building, traditional customs such as molly dancing, mumming and mumping, and even a unique traditional tune, The Cambridge Hornpipe. 
Since he helped to found Cambridge Voice in 1968, Nigel Pennick has promoted the history, lore and traditions of the Town of Cambridge - the Other Cambridge, the overlooked counterpart of the University. Currently, he is a member of the Traditional Music of Cambridgeshire Collective, a group which plays local traditional music, having performed recently at the Fen Edge Festival at Cottenham and at the opening as a museum of John Clare's cottage at Helpston, near Peterborough. The picture here is the flag of Cambridgeshire, which currently no-one is manufacturing, and, unlike the flags of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, proudly flown by residents, is rarely seen. But this will change.