Market Hill is the location of the marketplace

Marketplace

A marketplace is the space, actual, virtual or metaphorical, in which a market operates. The term is also used in a trademark law context to denote the actual consumer environment, ie. the 'real world' in which products and services are provided and consumed.-Marketplaces and street markets:A...

 in central Cambridge

Cambridge

The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. Operating as a marketplace since Saxon

History of Anglo-Saxon England

Anglo-Saxon England refers to the period of the history of that part of Britain, that became known as England, lasting from the end of Roman occupation and establishment of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the 5th century until the Norman conquest of England in 1066 by William the Conqueror...

 times, a daily outdoor market with stalls continues to run there.

The market square

Market square

The market square is a feature of many European and colonial towns. It is an open area where market stalls are traditionally set out for trading, commonly on one particular day of the week known as market day....

 commands a central location in Cambridge. It is connected via the following streets (clockwise from the north):

• Rose Crescent (pedestrianised), north towards Trinity Street
  Trinity Street, Cambridge
  Trinity Street is a historical street in central Cambridge, England. The street continues north as St John's Street and south as King's Parade and then Trumpington Street....
  
  
• Market Street
  Market Street, Cambridge
  Market Street is a shopping street in central Cambridge, England. It runs between Market Hill, location of the city's central Market Square to the west and Sidney Street to the east. On the other side of the market square, the street continues west as St Mary's Street north of Great St Mary's, the...
  
  . east towards Sidney Street
  Sidney Street, Cambridge
  Sidney Street is a major street in central Cambridge, England. It runs between Bridge Street at the junction with Jesus Lane to the northwest and St Andrew's Street at the junction with Hobson Street to the southeast....
  
  
• Petty Cury
  Petty Cury
  Petty Cury is a pedestrianised shopping street in central Cambridge, England. It connects Market Hill, the location of Cambridge's central outdoor market, and Guildhall Street to the west with the shopping streets of Sidney Street and St Andrew's Street to the east...
  
    (pedestrianised), east towards the junction of Sidney Street and St Andrew's Street
  St Andrew's Street, Cambridge
  St Andrew's Street is a major street in central Cambridge, England. It runs between Sidney Street, at the junction with Hobson Street, to the northwest and Regent Street to the southeast...
  
  
• Guildhall Street
  Guildhall Street, Cambridge
  Guildhall Street is a street in central Cambridge, England. To the north is the southeast corner of Market Hill at the junction with the pedestrianised shopping street Petty Cury...
  
  , south towards Guildhall Place and Wheeler Street
  Wheeler Street, Cambridge
  Wheeler Street is a street in central Cambridge, England. It runs between Bene't Street to the southwest and Guildhall Street and Corn Exchange Street to the northeast...
  
  
• Peas Hill
  Peas Hill
  Peas Hill is a street in central Cambridge, England. It runs between Wheeler Street to the south and Market Hill to the north. King's Parade runs parallel with the street to the west...
  
   (partially pedestrianised), south towards Wheeler Street and Bene't Street
  Bene't Street
  Bene't Street is a short but historic street in central Cambridge, England. There is a junction with King's Parade to the north and Trumpington Street to the south at the western end of the street. Free School Lane leads off to the south. To the east, the street continues as Wheeler Street.The...
  
  
• St Mary's Passage (pedestrianised), west towards King's Parade
  King's Parade
  King's Parade is a historical street in central Cambridge, England. The street continues north as Trinity Street and then St John's Street, and south as Trumpington Street. It is a major tourist area in Cambridge, commanding a central position in the University of Cambridge area of the city...
  
  
• St Mary's Street
  St Mary's Street, Cambridge
  St Mary's Street is a historic street in the centre of the University area in Cambridge, England. The street links with the junction of King's Parade and Trinity Street to the west, along which many of the University's oldest colleges are to be found. To the east is Market Hill, the location of...
  
  , west also towards King's Parade

On the west side of Market Hill is Great St Mary's, the Cambridge University Church, with its tower on King's Parade

King's Parade

King's Parade is a historical street in central Cambridge, England. The street continues north as Trinity Street and then St John's Street, and south as Trumpington Street. It is a major tourist area in Cambridge, commanding a central position in the University of Cambridge area of the city...

.
On the south side of the Market Square is the Cambridge Guildhall

Cambridge Guildhall

Cambridge Guildhall is a listed building designed in 1939 by Charles Cowles-Voysey in the centre of the historic city of Cambridge, England. It includes two halls, The Large Hall and The Small Hall, and is used for many disparate events such as comedy acts, conferences, craft fairs, live music,...

, built in the 1930s.
To the southeast are the Grand Arcade

Grand Arcade (Cambridge)

The Grand Arcade is a large shopping centre in St Andrew's Street, Cambridge, England. It is anchored by the John Lewis Department Store, which is situated to the southeast of the site and which opened on 8 November 2007, prior to the rest of the development, which opened on 27 March 2008.It links...

 and Lion Yard

Lion Yard

The Lion Yard Shopping Centre is a city centre undercover shopping centre in Cambridge, England. It predates and is significantly smaller than either the Grafton Centre or the Grand Arcade. The latter connects directly to the Lion Yard, which is in the city centre...

, two shopping centres.

The current Market Square was mainly filled with buildings originally and was not cleared until 1849 when a major fire occurred.

Hobson's Conduit

The Market Place branch of Hobson's Conduit was completed in 1614. This branch brought fresh water to the Market fountain in the centre of the Market Place. Following the fire in 1849, the Market Square was redeveloped and in 1855 a Gothic Revival gabled fountain was erected (marked on many contemporary maps as "lavatory") and the original structure of Hobson's Conduit was moved to the corner of Lensfield Road

Lensfield Road

Lensfield Road is a road in southeast central Cambridge, England. It runs between the junction of Trumpington Street and Trumpington Road to the west and the junction of Regent Street and Hills Road to the west...

 and Trumpington Road

Trumpington Road

Trumpington Road is an arterial road in southeast central Cambridge, England. It runs between the junction of Trumpington Street and Lensfield Road at the northern end to the junction of the High Street in the village of Trumpington and Long Street at the southern end...

in south Cambridge in 1856. Most of the fountain was demolished in 1953.
Flow to this branch was cut off in 1960 during construction of the Lion Yard shopping centre development and has never been restored.

External links

• Market Hill circa 1860 and Market Hill 1870, Cambridge Revisited