Clare College Bridge
Other tales involve the Clare Bridge of Clare College, built 1639-40 which is adorned with spherical stone ornaments. One of these has a quarter sphere wedge removed from the back, a feature pointed out on almost all tours over the bridge. Three tales explaining this are:
- The bridge's builder was not paid in full due to the college's dissatisfaction with its construction. The builder thus took his revenge by committing a small act of petty vandalism.
- A college fellow removed the quarter-sphere to ensure another fellow could not win a bet with him as to how many spheres there are on the bridge.
- The sphere was deliberately incomplete so that Clare College could avoid paying a "bridge tax"; an unfinished bridge did not count.
In reality, the reason for the missing wedge is due to a weathered repair. As a result of corrosion of the sphere's fixing to the bridge, it became loose. It was removed, and a segment cut out to allow access to the fixing, set in place with cement, and the segment replaced. It was orientated with the cut facing outward so that it would be least noticeable to people crossing the bridge. Through subsequent weathering of the cement, the segment detached from the rest of the sphere, and presumably fell into the river. On close examination, it can be seen that a number of the other spheres have had similar repairs carried out, but their cut segments have remained attached.
Read more about this topic: University Of Cambridge Legends
Famous quotes containing the words clare, college and/or bridge:
“I never saw so sweet a face
As that I stood before:
My heart has left its dwelling-place
And can return no more.”
—John Clare (1793–1864)
“I never feel so conscious of my race as I do when I stand before a class of twenty-five young men and women eager to learn about what it is to be black in America.”
—Claire Oberon Garcia, African American college professor. As quoted in the Chronicle of Higher Education, p. B3 (July 27, 1994)
“Oh, who will now be able to relate how Pantagruel behaved in face of these three hundred giants! Oh my muse, my Calliope, my Thalie, inspire me now, restore my spirits, because here is the ass’s bridge of logic, here is the pitfall, here is the difficulty of being able to describe the horrible battle undertaken.”
—François Rabelais (1494–1553)