Corn Exchange Street is a street 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...

. It runs between 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...

 to the northwest and Downing Street

Downing Street, Cambridge

Downing Street is a street in central Cambridge, England. It runs between Pembroke Street and Tennis Court Road at the western end and a T-junction with St Andrew's Street at the eastern end. Corn Exchange Street and St Tibbs Row lead off to the north...

 to the southeast. To the northeast, Guildhall Place, a cul-de-sac

Cul-de-sac

A cul-de-sac is a word of French origin referring to a dead end, close, no through road or court meaning dead-end street with only one inlet/outlet...

, runs parallel with Corn Exchange Street at the northern end, an extension of 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...

.

On the northwest corner of Corn Exchange Street is the Cambridge Corn Exchange

Cambridge Corn Exchange

The Cambridge Corn Exchange is a concert venue in Cambridge, England. It is also used as an examination hall for students at Cambridge University.-Building the venue:...

, a music and theatrical venue. To the southwest is the New Museums Site

New Museums Site

The New Museums Site is a major site of the University of Cambridge, located in the centre of the city, on Pembroke Street and Free School Lane, sandwiched between Corpus Christi College, Pembroke College and the Lion Yard. Its postcode is CB2 3QH...

, a site of the University of Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

 with several museums, such as the Cambridge University Museum of Zoology

Cambridge University Museum of Zoology

The Cambridge University Museum of Zoology is a museum of the University of Cambridge, located on the New Museums Site, just north of Dowing Street in central Cambridge, England....

 near the corner with Downing Street.

The street acts as the main vehicle access and exit for a large multi-storey car park

Multi-storey car park

A multi-storey car-park is a building designed specifically to be for car parking and where there are a number of floors or levels on which parking takes place...

 used by shoppers in central Cambridge.

History

Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 pottery has been found in the area of Corn Market Street. Evidence for a number of ditch

Ditch

A ditch is usually defined as a small to moderate depression created to channel water.In Anglo-Saxon, the word dïc already existed and was pronounced 'deek' in northern England and 'deetch' in the south. The origins of the word lie in digging a trench and forming the upcast soil into a bank...

es over the centuries and medieval settlement has been found on the northeast side of the street.

Corn Exchange Street has been a street since at least the 16th century when it was known as Slaughter Lane. The street straddles the line of the medieval King's Ditch. By 1574, the ditch was filled in at this location. On the far side of the ditch from the town centre, to the east of Slaughterhouse Lane was the Beast Market and a slaughteryard. To the west was a White Friars monastic house, straddling the ditch.

The Corn Exchange was built in the 19th century and the northeast side consisted of small shops and inns. In the 20th century, the character of the street was completely changed through the development of the 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...

shopping centre, the associated multi-storey car park, and a hotel.