View source for Trinity College, Cambridge

{{short description|Constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England}}
{{distinguish|Trinity Hall, Cambridge|Trinity College, Oxford}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{Infobox residential college
| university     = [[University of Cambridge]]
| name           = Trinity College 
| shield         = Trinity College, Cambridge arms.svg
| shield_alt     = Trinity College coat of arms
| shield_caption = [[Coat of arms]] of Trinity College
| blazon         = ''Argent, a chevron between three roses gules barbed and seeded proper and on a chief gules a lion passant gardant between two closed books all Or''
| image          = Trinity College - Great Court 02.jpg
| alt            = Trinity College Great Court
| caption        = Trinity College Great Court
| scarf          ={{Scarf/University of Cambridge |Trinity}}
| full_name      = The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity within the Town and University of Cambridge of King Henry the Eighth's Foundation
| abbreviation   = 
| name_Latin     = Collegium Trinitatis
| motto_Latin    = Virtus Vera Nobilitas<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9Oob0qL4SVoC&pg=PR62|title=Latin Matters: A Little Knowledge Is A Dangerous Thing|first=Simon|last=James|date=4 August 2008|publisher=Pavilion Books|isbn=9781906032319|via=Google Books}}</ref> 
| motto_English  = Virtue is true nobility
| founder        = [[Henry VIII of England]]
| named_after    = [[The Holy Trinity]]
| established    = {{start date and age|1546}}
| previous_names = [[King's Hall, Cambridge|King's Hall]] and [[Michaelhouse, Cambridge|Michaelhouse]] (until merged in 1546)
| location       = [[Trinity Street, Cambridge|Trinity Street]]
| head_label     = Master
| head           = [[Dame Sally Davies]] 
| undergraduates = 735 (2022–23)
| graduates      = 336 (2022–23)
| sister_college = [[Christ Church, Oxford]]
| homepage       = {{URL|trin.cam.ac.uk/}}
| jcr_label      = Students' union
| jcr            = {{URL|www.tcsu.net/}}
| mcr_label      = BA society
| mcr            = {{URL|basociety.net/}}
| endowment      = [[Pound sterling|£]]2.02bn (2023)<ref name="t-accounts">{{Cite web |title=Trinity College, Cambridge, Annual Report of the Trustees and Financial Statements for the Year Ended 30th June 2023 |url=https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/download/college-accounts-2023/?wpdmdl=41114&refresh=666fa4258f00e1718592549 |access-date=June 17, 2024 |website=Trinity College, Cambridge}}</ref>
| location_map   = United Kingdom Cambridge Central
| location_map2  = United Kingdom Cambridge
| visitor        = [[Image:1901 pattern Tudor Crown (2D).svg|15px|baseline]] [[Charles III]], [[The Crown]] ''ex officio''<ref name="statutes"/>
}}
'''Trinity College''' is a [[Colleges of the University of Cambridge|constituent college]] of the [[University of Cambridge]]. Founded in 1546 by King [[Henry VIII]], Trinity is one of the largest [[Cambridge colleges]],<ref>{{cite news|last1=Kirk|first1=Ashley|last2=Peck|first2=Sally|date=1 October 2019|title=Why Trinity is the best Cambridge college, according to our Oxbridge league table|language=en-GB|work=The Telegraph|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education-and-careers/2019/10/01/trinity-best-cambridge-college-according-oxbridge-league-table/|url-status=live|access-date=24 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200220033126/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education-and-careers/2019/10/01/trinity-best-cambridge-college-according-oxbridge-league-table/|archive-date=20 February 2020|issn=0307-1235}}</ref> with the largest [[financial endowment]] of any college at Oxford or Cambridge. Trinity has some of the most distinctive architecture in Cambridge with its [[Trinity Great Court|Great Court]] said to be the largest enclosed courtyard in Europe.<ref>Stephen Brewer, Donald Olson (2006). Best Day Trips from London: 25 Great Escapes by Train, Bus Or Car. Frommer's. p. 56. {{ISBN|0-470-04453-5}}.</ref> Academically, Trinity performs exceptionally as measured by the [[Tompkins Table]] (the annual unofficial league table of Cambridge colleges), coming top from 2011 to 2017,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/17736|title=Exclusive: Christ's triumphant in 2019 Tompkins Table|access-date=7 February 2021|archive-date=7 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107233512/https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/17736|url-status=live}}</ref> and regaining the position in 2024.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/28202|title=Trinity tops 2024 Tompkins Table as Christ’s is toppled|date=23 September 2024}}</ref> 

Members of Trinity have been awarded 34 Nobel Prizes out of the 121 received by members of the University of Cambridge (more than any other Oxford or Cambridge college).<ref>{{cite web |date=28 January 2013 |title=Research at Cambridge/Nobel Prize |url=https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/research-at-cambridge/nobel-prize |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170128192532/https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/research-at-cambridge/nobel-prize |archive-date=28 January 2017 |access-date=8 August 2021 |website=University of Cambridge}}</ref> Members of the college have received four [[Fields Medal]]s, one [[Turing Award]] and one [[Abel Prize]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Famous Trinity College Medallists and Prize Winners |url=https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/alumni/famous-trinity-alumni/medallists-and-prize-winners/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128062642/https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/alumni/famous-trinity-alumni/medallists-and-prize-winners/ |archive-date=28 November 2020 |access-date=28 August 2020 |publisher=Trin.cam.ac.uk}}</ref> Trinity alumni include [[Francis Bacon]], six British [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|prime ministers]] (the highest number of any Cambridge college), physicists [[Isaac Newton]], [[James Clerk Maxwell]], [[Ernest Rutherford]] and [[Niels Bohr]], mathematicians [[Srinivasa Ramanujan]] and [[Charles Babbage]], poets [[Lord Byron]] and [[Lord Tennyson]], English jurist [[Edward Coke]], writers [[Vladimir Nabokov]] and [[A. A. Milne]], historians [[Lord Macaulay]] and [[G. M. Trevelyan]], and philosophers [[Ludwig Wittgenstein]] and [[Bertrand Russell]] (who the college expelled before reaccepting). Two members of the [[British royal family]] have studied at Trinity and been awarded degrees: [[Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh|Prince William of Gloucester and Edinburgh]], who gained an MA in 1790, and King [[Charles III]], who was awarded a lower second class BA in 1970.

Trinity's many college societies include the [[Trinity Mathematical Society]], the oldest mathematical university society in the United Kingdom, and the [[First and Third Trinity Boat Club]], its [[Sport rowing|rowing]] club, which gives its name to the [[First and Third Trinity Boat Club May Ball|May Ball]]. Along with [[Christ's College, Cambridge|Christ's]], [[Jesus College, Cambridge|Jesus]], [[King's College, Cambridge|King's]] and [[St John's College, Cambridge|St John's]] colleges, it has provided several well-known [[List of Cambridge Apostles members|members of the Cambridge Apostles]], an intellectual [[secret society]]. In 1848, Trinity hosted a meeting at which Cambridge undergraduates representing [[Public school (United Kingdom)|fee-paying private schools]] codified a set of early rules of football known as the [[Cambridge rules]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i32zcifYgEgC&q=%22association+football%22+trinity+college&pg=PA3|title=The World's Game: A History of Soccer|isbn=9780252067181|last1=Murray|first1=Bill|last2=Murray|first2=William J|date=1 January 1998|publisher=University of Illinois Press |access-date=22 November 2020|archive-date=1 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220501050731/https://books.google.com/books?id=i32zcifYgEgC&q=%22association+football%22+trinity+college&pg=PA3|url-status=live}}</ref> Trinity's sister college is [[Christ Church, Oxford]]. Trinity has been linked with [[Westminster School]] since the school's re-foundation in 1560, and its Master is an ''ex officio'' governor of the school.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://intranet.westminster.org.uk/lists/whoswho/governors.asp |title=Westminster School Intranet |publisher=Intranet.westminster.org.uk |access-date=25 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713102645/http://intranet.westminster.org.uk/lists/whoswho/governors.asp |archive-date=13 July 2012 }}</ref>

==History==
[[File:Cambridge 1575 colour Trinity College.jpg|thumb|left|1575 map showing the [[King's Hall, Cambridge|King's Hall]] (top left) and [[Michaelhouse, Cambridge|Michaelhouse]] (top right) buildings before [[Thomas Nevile]]'s reconstruction.]]

===Foundation===
The college was founded by [[Henry VIII]] in 1546 with the name ''College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity within the Town and University of Cambridge of King Henry the Eighth's Foundation'', from the merger of two existing colleges: [[Michaelhouse, Cambridge|Michaelhouse]] (founded by [[Hervey de Stanton]] in 1324), and [[King's Hall, Cambridge|King's Hall]] (established by [[Edward II]] in 1317 and refounded by [[Edward III]] in 1337). At the time, Henry had been seizing (Catholic) church lands from abbeys and monasteries. The universities of [[University of Oxford|Oxford]] and [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]], being both religious institutions and quite rich, expected to be next in line. The King duly passed an [[Act of Parliament]] that allowed him to suppress (and confiscate the property of) any college he wished. The universities used their contacts to plead with his sixth wife, [[Catherine Parr]]. The Queen persuaded her husband not to close them down, but to create a new college. The king did not want to use royal funds, so he instead combined two colleges ([[King's Hall, Cambridge|King's Hall]] and [[Michaelhouse, Cambridge|Michaelhouse]]) and seven hostels to form Trinity.

===Nevile's expansion===
[[File:Trinity College Cambridge 1690.jpg|thumb|left|300px|[[David Loggan]]'s print of 1690 showing Nevile's Great Court (foreground) and Nevile's Court with the then-new [[Wren Library]] (background) – New Court had yet to be built.]]

The monastic lands granted by [[Henry VIII]] were not on their own sufficient to ensure Trinity's eventual rise. In terms of architecture and royal association, it was not until the Mastership of Thomas Nevile (1593–1615) that Trinity assumed both its spaciousness and its association with the governing class that distinguished it since the Civil War. In its infancy Trinity had owed a great deal to its neighbouring college of [[St John's College, Cambridge|St John's]]: in the words of [[Roger Ascham]], Trinity was a ''colonia deducta''.<ref name="british-history1">{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=66656#s20 |title=The colleges and halls – Trinity College &#124; British History Online |publisher=British-history.ac.uk |access-date=25 March 2010 |archive-date=26 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526040047/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=66656#s20 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Most of Trinity's major buildings date from the 16th and 17th centuries. [[Thomas Nevile]], who became Master of Trinity in 1593, rebuilt and redesigned much of the college. This work included the enlargement and completion of [[Trinity Great Court|Great Court]] and the construction of [[Nevile's Court, Trinity College, Cambridge|Nevile's Court]] between Great Court and the [[river Cam]]. Nevile's Court was completed in the late 17th century with the [[Wren Library]], designed by [[Christopher Wren]]. Nevile's building campaign drove the college into debt from which it surfaced only in the 1640s, and the Mastership of [[Richard Bentley]] adversely affected applications and finances.<ref name="british-history1"/> Bentley himself was notorious for the construction of a hugely expensive staircase in the Master's Lodge and for his repeated refusals to step down despite pleas from the Fellows. Besides, despite not being a sister college of [[Trinity College Dublin]], as is the case with St John's College, Cambridge, it is believed that the Irish institution takes its name from this college, which was the ''alma mater'' of its first provost, [[Adam Loftus (bishop)|Adam Loftus]] and, likewise, from [[Trinity College, Oxford]].

===Modern day===
[[File:Cambridge Science Park rear entrance.jpg|thumb|Trinity established Cambridge Science Park, the UK's first science park, in 1970.]]
[[File:cmglee_Cambridge_Trinity_College_Remembrance_Service_2018.jpg|thumb|upright|Remembrance Service at the Great Court in 2018.]]
In the 20th century, Trinity College, St John's College and [[King's College, Cambridge|King's College]] were for decades the main recruiting grounds for the [[Cambridge Apostles]], an elite, intellectual secret society. In 2011, the [[John Templeton Foundation]] awarded Trinity College's Master, the astrophysicist [[Martin Rees]], its controversial million-pound<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2011/apr/06/martin-rees-templeton-prize|title=Martin Rees wins controversial £1m prize|newspaper=The Guardian|date=6 April 2011|access-date=29 February 2012|first=Ian|last=Sample|archive-date=30 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130930041826/http://www.theguardian.com/science/2011/apr/06/martin-rees-templeton-prize|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Templeton Prize]], for "affirming life's spiritual dimension". Trinity is the richest [[Oxbridge]] college with a landholding alone worth £800&nbsp;million.<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/may/28/oxford-and-cambridge-university-colleges-hold-21bn-in-riches|title = Oxford and Cambridge university colleges hold £21bn in riches|website = [[TheGuardian.com]]|date = 28 May 2018|access-date = 20 May 2019|archive-date = 30 October 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211030012504/https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/may/28/oxford-and-cambridge-university-colleges-hold-21bn-in-riches|url-status = live}}</ref> For comparison, the second richest college in Cambridge (St John's) has estimated assets of around £780&nbsp;million, and the richest college in Oxford ([[Magdalen College, Oxford|Magdalen]]) has about £940&nbsp;million.<ref name="Ruddick">{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/9046781/Cambridges-Trinity-College-buys-50pc-stake-in-Tesco-stores.html|title=Cambridge's Trinity College buys 50pc stake in Tesco stores|date=28 January 2012|access-date=29 February 2012|newspaper=Daily Telegraph|first=Graham|last=Ruddick|archive-date=6 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206160759/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/9046781/Cambridges-Trinity-College-buys-50pc-stake-in-Tesco-stores.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
In 2005, Trinity's annual rental income from its properties was reported to be in excess of £20&nbsp;million. The college owns:
* 3400 acres (14&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) housing facilities at the [[Port of Felixstowe]], Britain's busiest container port.
* the [[Cambridge Science Park]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ukspa.org.uk/science_parks/content/1059/cambridge_science_park|title=Cambridge Science Park|date=November 2006|access-date=29 February 2012|publisher=UK Science Parks Association|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120130154419/http://www.ukspa.org.uk/science_parks/content/1059/cambridge_science_park|archive-date=30 January 2012}}</ref>
* the [[The O2 Arena (London)|O2 Arena]] in London (formerly the [[Millennium Dome]]).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/constructionandproperty/6280090/Trinity-College-buys-O2-concert-arena.html|title=Trinity College buys O2 concert arena|date=9 October 2009|access-date=29 February 2012|newspaper=Daily Telegraph|archive-date=12 October 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091012085941/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/constructionandproperty/6280090/Trinity-College-buys-O2-concert-arena.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2018, Trinity revealed that it had investments totalling £9.1 million in companies involved in oil and gas production, exploration and refinement. These included holdings of £1.2 million in Royal Dutch Shell, £1.7 million in Exxon Mobil and £1 million in Chevron.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/16518|title=Big Oil and deep sea drilling: The corporations underpinning Cambridge colleges' investments|website=Varsity Online|language=en|access-date=28 May 2019|archive-date=28 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190528083455/https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/16518|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2019, Trinity confirmed its plan to withdraw from the [[Universities Superannuation Scheme]] (USS), the main pre-1992 UK University pension provider.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/about/college-notices/trinity-college-and-uss/|title=Trinity College and USS – Trinity College Cambridge|language=en-US|access-date=28 May 2019|archive-date=26 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190526090303/https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/about/college-notices/trinity-college-and-uss/|url-status=live}}</ref> In response, more than 500 Cambridge academics signed an open letter undertaking to "refuse to supervise Trinity students or to engage in other discretionary work in support of Trinity's teaching and research activities".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EHwkVrK5MAPsDfYOX3qlbRs6uaywPG88OLFAbn0zMwA/edit?usp=embed_facebook|title=An open letter to the Council and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge|website=Google Docs|language=en|access-date=28 May 2019|archive-date=1 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220501050729/https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EHwkVrK5MAPsDfYOX3qlbRs6uaywPG88OLFAbn0zMwA/edit?usp=embed_facebook|url-status=live}}</ref> On 17 February 2020, protestors from the campaign group [[Extinction Rebellion]] dug up the front lawn of Trinity College to protest against the College's investments in fossil fuels and its negotiations to sell off a farm in Suffolk that was to be turned into a lorry park.<ref>{{Cite news|url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-51534446|title = Cambridge's Trinity College lawn dug up by Extinction Rebellion|work = BBC News|date = 17 February 2020|access-date = 20 February 2020|archive-date = 19 February 2020|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200219232438/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-51534446|url-status = live}}</ref>

===Legends===
[[Lord Byron]] purportedly kept a pet bear whilst living in the college.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.internationalbyronsociety.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5&Itemid=7 |title=University |publisher=International Byron Society |access-date=25 March 2010 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726181932/http://www.internationalbyronsociety.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5&Itemid=7 |archive-date=26 July 2011  }}</ref> Trinity is also often cited as the inventor of an English version of [[crème brûlée]], known as "Trinity burnt cream".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thefoody.com/pudding/burntcream.html|title=Cambridge Trinity Burnt Cream|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100114110606/http://thefoody.com/pudding/burntcream.html|archive-date=14 January 2010|publisher=thefoody.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=TRINITY BURNT CREAM |url=https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/about/historical-overview/trinity-burnt-cream/ |publisher=Trinity College, Cambridge |access-date=17 February 2020 |archive-date=2 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200302173304/https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/about/historical-overview/trinity-burnt-cream/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Trinity in Camberwell===
Trinity College has a long-standing relationship with the Parish of St George's, [[Camberwell]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dswark.org/parishes/051l.htm|title=Diocese of Southwark:Parishes|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040904051226/http://www.dswark.org/parishes/051l.htm|archive-date=4 September 2004|publisher=Diocese of Southwark}}</ref> in South London. Students from the College have helped to run holiday schemes for children from the parish since 1966. The relationship was formalised in 1979 with the establishment of '''Trinity in Camberwell''' as a registered charity.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/ |title=Charity Commission Homepage |publisher=Charity-commission.gov.uk |date=21 May 2007 |access-date=25 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100402222408/http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/ |archive-date=2 April 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Buildings and grounds==
[[File:Historical plan of Trinity College, Cambridge (1897) - cambridgedescri00atkiuoft 0571.png|thumb|400px|A historical plan of the development of Trinity College by 1897.]]

===Great Gate===
The Great Gate is the main entrance to the college, leading to the [[Trinity Great Court|Great Court]]. A statue of the college founder, [[Henry VIII]], stands in a niche above the doorway. In 1983, Trinity College undergraduate [[Lance Forman|Lance Anisfeld]], then Vice-President of CURLS (Cambridge Union Raving Loony Society), replaced the chair leg with a bicycle pump. Once discovered the following day, the college removed the pump and replaced it with another chair leg. The original chair leg was auctioned off by TV Presenter Chris Serle at a Cambridge Union Society charity raffle in 1985. In 2023, the college replaced the chair leg with a sceptre to mark the 75th birthday of [[Charles III]], an alumnus of the college.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-67420099 |title=Trinity College statue's chair leg replaced with sceptre |work=BBC News |date=14 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208174358/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-67420099 |archive-date=8 December 2023}}</ref> In 1704, the University's first [[Astronomy departments in the University of Cambridge|astronomical]] [[observatory]] was built on top of the gatehouse. Beneath the founder's statue are the coats of arms of [[Edward III]], the founder of King's Hall, and those of his five sons who survived to maturity, as well as William of Hatfield, whose shield is blank as he died as an infant, before being granted arms.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/node/1162 |title=Trinity Tour |publisher=Trin.cam.ac.uk |access-date=1 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160703231958/http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/node/1162 |archive-date=3 July 2016 |url-status=dead  }}</ref>

===Great Court===
{{main|Trinity Great Court|l1=Great Court}}
[[Trinity Great Court|Great Court]] (built 1599–1608) was the brainchild of [[Thomas Nevile]], who demolished several existing buildings on this site, including almost the entirety of the former college of [[Michaelhouse, Cambridge|Michaelhouse]]. The sole remaining building of Michaelhouse was replaced by the then current Kitchens (designed by [[James Essex]]) in 1770–1775. The Master's Lodge is the official residence of the Sovereign when in Cambridge. King's Hostel (built 1377–1416) is located to the north of Great Court, behind the [[Trinity College Clock|clock tower]]. This is, along with the King's Gate, the sole remaining building from [[King's Hall, Cambridge|King's Hall]]. Bishop's Hostel (built 1671) is a detached building to the southwest of Great Court, and named after [[John Hacket]], Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry. Additional buildings were built in 1878 by Arthur Blomfield.

===Nevile's Court===
{{main|Nevile's Court, Trinity College, Cambridge|l1=Nevile's Court}}
[[File:Cmglee Cambridge Trinity College Neviles Court.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Wren Library]] at Nevile's Court.]]

Nevile's Court (built 1614) is located between Great Court and the river. It was created by a bequest by the college's master, [[Thomas Nevile]], originally two-thirds of its current length and without the [[Wren Library]]. The court was extended and the appearance of the upper floor remodelled slightly in 1758 by [[James Essex]]. Cloisters run around the court, providing sheltered walkways from the rear of Great Hall to the college library and reading room as well as the Wren Library and New Court.

[[File:WrenLibraryInterior.jpg|thumb|Wren Library interior, showing the limewood carvings by Grinling Gibbons.]]
The Wren Library (built 1676–1695, [[Christopher Wren]]) is located at the west end of Nevile's Court, the Wren is one of Cambridge's most famous and well-endowed libraries. Among its notable possessions are two of [[Shakespeare]]'s First Folios, a 14th-century manuscript of [[The Vision of Piers Plowman]], letters written by Sir Isaac Newton, and the [[Eadwine Psalter]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/library/home/ | title=Library }}</ref> Below the building are the pleasant Wren Library Cloisters, where students may enjoy a fine view of the Great Hall in front of them, and the river and [[The Backs|Backs]] directly behind.

Since the completion of the [[Wren Library]] in 1695, a number of prominent portraits have been displayed within its walls, including those of [[Arthur Balfour|Arthur James Balfour]], [[John Hacket]], [[Isaac Barrow]], [[William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne|William Lamb]], and [[Thomas Nevile]].<ref>{{cite web |date=15 October 2019 |title=Portraits in the Wren Library, part 1 - Trinity College Library, Cambridge |url=https://trinitycollegelibrarycambridge.wordpress.com/2019/10/15/portraits-in-the-wren-library/ |access-date=10 August 2025 |website=Treasures from the Collection |publisher=Trinity College, Cambridge}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=5 December 2019 |title=Portraits in the Wren Library, part 2 - Trinity College Library, Cambridge |url=https://trinitycollegelibrarycambridge.wordpress.com/2019/12/05/portraits-in-the-wren-part-2/ |access-date=10 August 2025 |website=Treasures from the Collection |publisher=Trinity College, Cambridge}}</ref> As of November 2024, the portrait of Balfour was temporarily relocated to an undisclosed location in Cambridge after being vandalised by an activist associated with the group [[Palestine Action]].<ref>{{cite news |date=6 November 2024 |title=Palestine Action vandalism repairs to cost £24,000 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg7j28pxy3po |access-date=10 August 2025 |work=BBC News}}</ref> Trinity College stated that revealing the painting's current location or restoration studio would present a security risk.<ref>{{cite news |date=6 November 2024 |title=Palestine Action vandalism repairs to cost £24,000 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg7j28pxy3po |access-date=10 August 2025 |work=BBC News}}</ref>

===New Court===
New Court (or ''King's Court''; built 1825, [[William Wilkins (architect)|William Wilkins]]) is located to the south of Nevile's Court, and built in Tudor-Gothic style; this court is notable for the large tree in the centre. A myth is sometimes circulated that this was the tree from which the apple dropped onto [[Isaac Newton]]; in fact, Newton was at home in [[Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth|Woolsthorpe]] when he deduced his theory of gravity – and the tree is a [[horse chestnut]] tree.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://alumni.trin.cam.ac.uk/document.doc?id=101 |title=Trinity College Cambridge, "The Fountain", Issue 14, Spring 2012, p.12 |access-date=29 May 2013 |archive-date=6 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606220447/http://alumni.trin.cam.ac.uk/document.doc?id=101 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.pitchcare.com/news-media/dutch-master.html |title=Trinity College Cambridge – Dutch Master |date=18 January 2019 |access-date=19 May 2023 }}</ref> For many years it was the custom for students to place a bicycle high in branches of the tree of New Court. Usually invisible except in winter, when the leaves had fallen, such bicycles tended to remain for several years before being removed by the authorities. The students then inserted another bicycle.

===Other courts===
[[File:cmglee Cambridge Trinity College Whewells Court.jpg|thumb|left|Whewell's Court north range]]
Whewell's Court (1860–1868, [[Anthony Salvin]])<ref>{{cite web|title=Whewell's Court, Trinity College|url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-47282-trinity-college-whewell-s-court-whewell-s|work=British Listed Buildings|publisher=English Heritage|access-date=21 March 2014|archive-date=22 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140322002130/http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-47282-trinity-college-whewell-s-court-whewell-s|url-status=live}}</ref> is located across the street from Great Court, and was entirely paid for by [[William Whewell]], the Master of the college from 1841 until his death in 1866. The north range was later remodelled by [[W.D. Caroe]]. Angel Court (built 1957–1959, [[H. C. Husband]]) is located between Great Court and [[Trinity Street, Cambridge|Trinity Street]], and is used along with the Wolfson Building for accommodating first year students.

The Wolfson Building (built 1968–1972, [[Architects' Co-Partnership]]) is located to the south of Whewell's Court, on top of a podium above shops, this building resembles a brick-clad ziggurat, and is used exclusively for first-year accommodation. Having been renovated during the academic year 2005–06, many rooms are now en-suite. Blue Boar Court (built 1989, [[MJP Architects]]) is located to the south of the Wolfson Building, on top of podium a floor up from ground level, and including the upper floors of several surrounding Georgian buildings on Trinity Street, Green Street and [[Sidney Street, Cambridge|Sidney Street]]. [[Burrell's Field]] (built 1995, MJP Architects) is located on a site to the west of the main College buildings, opposite the [[Cambridge University Library]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mjparchitects.co.uk/index.php?show=Burrells_Field_%3Cbr%3ETrinity_College,%3Cbr%3E_Cambridge |title=MJP Architects |publisher=MJP Architects |access-date=25 March 2010 |archive-date=27 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527112505/http://www.mjparchitects.co.uk/index.php?show=Burrells_Field_%3Cbr%3ETrinity_College,%3Cbr%3E_Cambridge |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Chapel===
{{main|Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge|l1=Trinity College Chapel}}
[[File:Trinity College, Cambridge - chapel.jpg|thumb|upright|Inside [[Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge|Trinity College Chapel]]]]
[[Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge|Trinity College Chapel]] dates from the mid 16th century and is [[Grade I listed]].<ref>[http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-47269-trinity-college-the-buildings-surrounding Trinity College, the Buildings Surrounding Great Court, Nevile's Court and New Court, and Including – Cambridge – Cambridgeshire – England] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131014025152/http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-47269-trinity-college-the-buildings-surrounding |date=14 October 2013}}. British Listed Buildings. Retrieved on 24 August 2013.</ref> There are a number of memorials to former Fellows of Trinity within the Chapel, including statues, brasses, and two memorials to graduates and Fellows who died during the World Wars.<ref>[http://www.trinitycollegechapel.com/about/memorials/memorials-index/ Index of memorials in Trinity College Chapel and Ante-Chapel] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130719212910/http://trinitycollegechapel.com/about/memorials/memorials-index/ |date=19 July 2013}}. Trinity College Chapel. Retrieved on 24 August 2013.</ref> Among the most notable of these is a statue of Isaac Newton by [[Roubiliac]], described by [[Sir Francis Chantrey]] as "the noblest, I think, of all our English statues."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://trinitycollegechapel.com/about/memorials/statues/newton/|title=Trinity College Chapel – Isaac Newton|website=trinitycollegechapel.com|access-date=9 July 2019|archive-date=17 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190717043100/http://trinitycollegechapel.com/about/memorials/statues/newton/|url-status=live}}</ref> The Chapel is a performance space for [[The Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge|the College Choir]] which comprises around thirty Choral Scholars and two [[Organ Scholar]]s, all of whom are ordinarily students at the University.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.trinitycollegechoir.com/about/|title=Trinity College Choir – About|website=www.trinitycollegechoir.com |access-date=1 August 2013|archive-date=29 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130929234018/http://www.trinitycollegechoir.com/about/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Grounds===
The Fellows' Garden is located on the west side of [[Queen's Road, Cambridge|Queen's Road]], opposite the drive that leads to the Backs. The Fellows' Bowling Green is located north of Great Court, between King's Hostel and the river.  It is the site for many of the tutors' garden parties in the summer months, while the Master's Garden is located behind the Master's Lodge. The Old Fields are located on the western side of [[Grange Road, Cambridge|Grange Road]], next to Burrell's Field. It currently houses the college's gym, changing rooms, squash courts, badminton courts, rugby, hockey and football pitches along with tennis and netball courts.

===Trinity Bridge===
{{Main|Trinity College Bridge|l1 = Trinity Bridge}}
[[File:Trinity Bridge (geograph 5157201).jpg|thumb|Trinity Bridge]]
Trinity Bridge is a stone built triple-arched road bridge across the River Cam. It was built of Portland stone in 1765 to the designs of [[James Essex]] to replace an earlier bridge built in 1651 and is a [[Grade I listed]] building.<ref>{{NHLE|num=1331804|desc=TRINITY COLLEGE, TRINITY BRIDGE |access-date= 13 April 2017}}</ref>

===Gallery===
<gallery class="center" widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:TrinityCollegeCamGreatGate.jpg|Great Gate
File:Clock Tower, Great Court, Trinity College, Cambridge.jpg|Clock Tower
File:ISH WC Trinity2.jpg|Fellows' Bowling Green, with the oldest building in the college in the background.
File:cmglee_Cambridge_Trinity_College_Old_Kitchen.jpg|Old Kitchen set up for a formal dinner.
File:cmglee_Cambridge_Trinity_College_New_Court_doorway.jpg|New Court after 2016 refurbishment.
File:River Cam green.JPG|The [[River Cam]] as it flows past the back of Trinity, Trinity Bridge is visible and the punt house is to the right of the moored punts.
File:cmglee_Cambridge_Trinity_College_avenue.jpg|The Avenue of lime and cherry trees, and wrought iron gate to Queen's Road viewed from the Backs.
File:cmglee_Cambridge_Trinity_College_Fellows_Garden_sundial_shelter.jpg|Sundial and shelter at the Fellows' Garden.
File:cmglee_Cambridge_Trinity_College_Burrells_Field_axis.jpg|1995 development of [[Burrell's Field]].
File:cmglee_Cambridge_Trinity_College_Blue_Boar_Court.jpg|Blue Boar Court, with the Wolfson Building in the background.
</gallery>

==Academic profile==
Since 1997, the college has always come at least eighth in the [[Tompkins Table]], which ranks the twenty-nine undergraduate Cambridge colleges according to the academic performance of their undergraduates, and on eleven occasions it has been in first place. Its average position in the Tompkins Table over that period has been between second and third, higher than any other.  In 2016, 45% of Trinity undergraduates achieved First Class Honours, twelve percentage points ahead of second place Pembroke – a record among Cambridge colleges.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.varsity.co.uk/news/10514|title=The Tompkins Table 2016: Christ's has risen|access-date=10 December 2016|archive-date=28 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161128171910/http://www.varsity.co.uk/news/10514|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Admissions===

Trinity's history, academic performance and alumni have made it one of the most prestigious constituent colleges of the University, making admission extremely competitive. About 50% of Trinity's undergraduates attended independent schools. In 2006 it accepted a smaller proportion of students from state schools (39%) than any other Cambridge college, and on a rolling three-year average it has admitted a smaller proportion of state school pupils (42%) than any other college at either Cambridge or Oxford.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/reporter/2006-07/special/11/table7.pdf |title=Cambridge 2005/2006 admissions statistics by college |access-date=28 February 2012 |archive-date=12 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120612032653/http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/reporter/2006-07/special/11/table7.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/reporter/2005-06/special/11/table7.pdf |title=Cambridge 2004/2005 admissions statistics by college |access-date=28 February 2012 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304051221/http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/reporter/2005-06/special/11/table7.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/about_the_university/facts_and_figures/undergraduate_admissions_statistics/school_type.html|title=Oxford 3-year average admissions statistics by college|access-date=1 August 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130802013322/http://www.ox.ac.uk/about_the_university/facts_and_figures/undergraduate_admissions_statistics/school_type.html|archive-date=2 August 2013}}</ref> According to the ''[[Good Schools Guide]]'', about 7% of British school-age students attend private schools, although this figure refers to students in all school years – a higher proportion attend private schools in their final two years before university. Trinity states that it disregards what type of school its applicants attend, and accepts students solely on the basis of their academic prospects. Trinity admitted its first female graduate student in 1976, its first female undergraduate in 1978 and elected its first female fellow ([[Marian Hobson]]) in 1977.<ref>{{cite web |author=Trinity College, Cambridge |url=http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/about/history/20th-century-present |title=Trinity College Cambridge – 20th Century to Present |publisher=Trin.cam.ac.uk |access-date=1 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160702194201/http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/about/history/20th-century-present |archive-date=2 July 2016 |url-status=dead  }}</ref>

===Scholarships and prizes===
[[File:StatueOfIsaacNewton.jpg|thumb|left|upright|The statue of [[Sir Isaac Newton]] in the chapel, where scholars are typically installed.]]
The Scholars, together with the Master and Fellows, make up the '''Foundation of the College'''. In order of seniority:

* '''Research Scholars''' receive funding for graduate studies. Typically, one must graduate in the top ten percent of one's class and continue for graduate study at Trinity. They are given first preference in the assignment of college rooms and number approximately 25.
* The '''Senior Scholars''' usually consist of those who attain a degree with [[British undergraduate degree classification|First Class honours]] or higher in any year after the first of an undergraduate [[tripos]]. The college pays them a stipend of £250 a year and allows them to choose rooms directly following the research scholars. There are around 40 senior scholars at any one time.
* The '''Junior Scholars''' usually consist of those who attained a First in their first year. Their stipend is £175 a year. They are given preference in the room ballot over 2nd years who are not scholars.

These scholarships are tenable for the academic year following that in which the result was achieved. If a scholarship is awarded but the student does not continue at Trinity then only a quarter of the stipend is given. However, all students who achieve a First are awarded an additional £240 prize upon announcement of the results.

Many final year undergraduates who achieve first-class honours in their final exams are offered full financial support, through a scheme known as Internal Graduate Studentships, to read for a [[master's degree]] at Cambridge.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/postgraduate/graduate-funding-awards/|title=Trinity Graduate Student Funding Awards – Trinity College Cambridge|language=en-US|access-date=9 July 2019|archive-date=13 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190713171951/https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/postgraduate/graduate-funding-awards/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Other support is available for [[Doctorate|PhD]] degrees. The College also offers a number of other bursaries and studentships open to external applicants. The right to walk on the grass in the college courts is exclusive to Fellows of the college and their guests. Scholars do, however, have the right to walk on the Scholars' Lawn, but only in full academic dress.

==Traditions==

===Great Court Run===
[[File:cmglee Cambridge Trinity College Great Court.jpg|thumb|400px|[[Trinity Great Court|Great Court]], with (from left to right) the dining hall, Master's Lodge, fountain, clock tower, chapel and Great Gate.]]

The Great Court Run requires a circuit of the 400-yard perimeter of [[Trinity Great Court|Great Court]], in the 43 seconds of the clock striking 12. The time varies according to humidity. Students traditionally attempt to complete the circuit on the day of the Matriculation Dinner. It is a difficult challenge: one needs to be a fine sprinter to achieve it, but it is not necessary to be of Olympic standard, despite assertions made in the press.<ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/athletics/article2748773.ece Student breaks 'Chariots of Fire' record] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220710062921/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/ |date=10 July 2022 }} ''Times Online'' article. 27 October 2007.</ref>

It is widely believed that [[Sebastian Coe]] successfully completed the run when he beat [[Steve Cram]] in a charity race in October 1988. Coe's time on 29 October 1988 was reported by [[Norris McWhirter]] to have been 45.52 seconds, but it was actually 46.0 seconds, while Cram's was 46.3 seconds. The clock on that day took 44.4 seconds and the video film confirms that Coe was some 12 metres short of the finish line when the final stroke occurred. The television commentators were wrong to speculate that the dying sounds of the bell could be included in the striking time, thereby allowing Coe's run to be claimed as successful. One reason Olympic runners Cram and Coe found the challenge difficult is that they started at the middle of one side of the court, having to negotiate four right-angle turns. In the days when students started at a corner, only three turns were needed. In addition, Cram and Coe ran entirely on the flagstones, while until 2017 students have typically cut corners to run on the cobbles.<ref>{{cite web |title=Great Court Run reverts to tradition |url=https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/news/great-court-run-reverts-to-tradition/ |website=Trinity College Cambridge |access-date=7 February 2022 |date=11 October 2017 |archive-date=7 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220207025947/https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/news/great-court-run-reverts-to-tradition/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Great Court Run was portrayed in the film ''[[Chariots of Fire]]'' about the British Olympic runners of 1924. The run was filmed at [[Eton College]] in Berkshire, not in Great Court.  Until the mid-1990s, the run was traditionally attempted by first-year students at midnight following their matriculation dinner.<ref>[http://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2015-10-13/runners-latest-attempt-to-beat-the-college-clock/ "Runners' latest attempt to beat the college clock"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015230712/http://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2015-10-13/runners-latest-attempt-to-beat-the-college-clock/ |date=15 October 2015 }}, ''ITV News'', 13 October 2015</ref> Following a number of accidents to undergraduates running on slippery cobbles, the college now organises a more formal Great Court Run, at 12 noon on the day of the matriculation dinner: while some contestants compete seriously, many others run in fancy dress and there are prizes for the fastest man and woman in each category.<ref>[https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/news/great-court-run-reverts-to-tradition/, "Great Court run reverts to tradition"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220710062931/https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/news/great-court-run-reverts-to-tradition/ |date=10 July 2022 }}, Trinity College, 11 October 2017</ref>

===Open-air concerts===
{{ Annotated image
| image   = cmglee Cambridge Singing on the River 2016.jpg
| caption = ''Singing on the River'', 5 June 2016
| width   = 250 | height = 150 | image-width = 500 | image-left = -200 | image-top = -80
| float   = left
}}
One Sunday each June, the [[Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge|College Choir]] perform a short concert immediately after the clock strikes noon. Known as ''Singing from the Towers'', half of the choir sings from the top of the Great Gate, while the other half sings from the top of the Clock Tower approximately 60 metres away, giving a strong [[antiphon]]al effect. Midway through the concert, the Cambridge University Brass Ensemble performs from the top of the Queen's Tower.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.trinitycollegechoir.com/concerts/|title=Trinity College Choir – Concerts|work=trinitycollegechoir.com|access-date=6 June 2013|archive-date=29 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130429135931/http://www.trinitycollegechoir.com/concerts/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Later that same day, the College Choir gives a second open-air concert, known as ''Singing on the River'', where they perform [[madrigal]]s and arrangements of popular songs from a raft of [[punt (boat)|punts]] lit with lanterns or fairy lights on the [[River Cam|river]]. For the finale, [[John Wilbye]]'s madrigal ''Draw on, sweet night'', the raft is unmoored and punted downstream to give a [[Fade (audio engineering)|fade out]] effect. As a tradition, however, this latter concert dates back only to the mid-1980s, when the College Choir first acquired female members. In the years immediately before this, an annual concert on the river was given by the University Madrigal Society.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.practicalintroduction.com/2022/02/NewInformationScholarshipProgram2022atUniversityUniversityofCambridgeinUK.html|title=New Information Scholarship Program 2022 at University of Cambridge in UK|website=Practical Introduction|access-date=8 April 2022|archive-date=8 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408235705/https://www.practicalintroduction.com/2022/02/NewInformationScholarshipProgram2022atUniversityUniversityofCambridgeinUK.html|url-status=live}}</ref>{{Clear|left}}

===Mallard===
[[File:cmglee_Cambridge_Trinity_College_mallard.jpg|thumb|The mallard in the hall's rafters]]
Another tradition relates to an artificial duck known as the Mallard, which should reside in the rafters of the Great Hall. Students occasionally moved the duck from one rafter to another without permission from the college. This is considered difficult; access to the Hall outside meal-times is prohibited and the rafters are dangerously high, so it was not attempted for several years. During the Easter term of 2006, the Mallard was knocked off its rafter by one of the pigeons which enter the Hall through the pinnacle windows. It was reinstated by students in 2016, and is only visible from the far end of the hall.<ref>{{Cite book|first1=Geoffrey Winthrop |last1=Young|first2= John |last2=Hurst|first3= Richard |last3=Williams|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KuOvj8huqGgC&pg=PA29|title=The Roof-Climber's Guide to Trinity: Omnibus Edition|page=29|publisher= Oleander Press|year= 2013|ISBN=0900891920|author-link1=Geoffrey Winthrop Young}}</ref><ref>{{Cite periodical|first2=Jovan|last2=Powar|first1=Kate|last1=Pfeffer|url=https://issuu.com/travistytrinity/docs/travisty_issue_1|magazine=Travisty Issue 1|title=Mallard Returns|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220501050611/https://issuu.com/travistytrinity/docs/travisty_issue_1|archive-date=1 May 2022|date=29 January 2017}}</ref>

===College rivalry===
The college remains a great rival of [[St. John's College, Cambridge|St John's]] which is its main competitor in sports and academia. This has given rise to a number of anecdotes and myths. It is often cited as the reason that the older courts of Trinity generally have no J staircases, despite including other letters in alphabetical order. A far more likely reason is that the [[Latin alphabet]] did not have the letter J—the older courts of [[St John's College, Cambridge|St John's College]] also lack J staircases. There are also two small muzzle-loading cannons on the bowling green pointing in the direction of John's, though this orientation may be coincidental. Another story sometimes told is that the reason that the clock in Trinity Great Court strikes each hour twice is that the fellows of St John's once complained about the noise it made.

===College Grace===
[[File:ISH WC Trinity1.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.5|The High Table is at the far end of the dining hall under the portrait of [[Henry VIII]].]]

Each evening before dinner, grace is recited by the senior fellow presiding, as follows:

{{Verse translation |lang=la
|1=Benedic, Domine, nos et dona tua,
quae de largitate tua sumus sumpturi,
et concede, ut illis salubriter nutriti
tibi debitum obsequium praestare valeamus,
per Christum Dominum nostrum.
|2=Bless us, Lord, and these gifts
which, through your generosity, we are about to receive
and grant that we, wholesomely nourished by them,
may be able to offer you the service we owe
through Christ our Lord.
}}

If both of the two high tables are in use then the following [[antiphonal]] formula is prefixed to the main grace:

{{Verse translation |lang=la
|1=A. Oculi omnium in te sperant Domine:
B. Et tu das escam illis in tempore.
A. Aperis tu manum tuam,
B. Et imples omne animal benedictione.
|2=The eyes of all are on you, Lord:
and you give them their food, in due time.
You open your hand
and bestow upon all living things your blessing.<ref>[[Psalm 145]]:15–16</ref>
}}

Following the meal, the simple formula {{lang|la|Benedicto benedicatur}} is pronounced.<ref>Reginald H. Adams, The College Graces of Oxford and Cambridge (Oxford: Perpetua Press, 1992).</ref>{{Clear|left}}

===Punt names===
[[File:cmglee_Cambridge_Trinity_College_punt_names.jpg|thumb|upright|Trinity punts moored near the Trinity Bridge]]
Befitting the term ''[[:wiktionary:trinity#Noun|trinity]]'', Trinity College [[Punt (boat)#Punting in Cambridge|punts]] are named after people or things related to the number three, such as ''[[Bronze medal|Bronze]]'' (award for third place), ''[[Codon]]'' (which has three [[nucleotide]]s) and ''[[Three wise monkeys|Wise Monkey]]''. In 2023, the launch of the punt ''Charles'' marked the coronation of alumnus [[Charles III]].<ref>Trinity College Cambridge, [http://trin.cam.ac.uk/news/crowning-glory-for-new-king-charles-iii-professorship/#:~:text=College%20tradition,%20drawing%20on%20its%20own%20name%2C%20of%20playing%20on%20the%20number%20three ''Crowning glory for new King Charles III Professorship''], 4 May 2023.</ref>

===Minor traditions===
Trinity College undergraduate gowns are readily distinguished from the black gowns favoured by most other Cambridge colleges. They are instead dark blue with black facings. They are expected to be worn to formal events such as formal halls and also when an undergraduate sees the Dean of the College in a formal capacity. Trinity students, along with those of [[King's College, Cambridge|King's]] and [[St John's College, Cambridge|St John's]], are the first to be presented to the Congregation of the Regent House at graduation.

<!----------- THIS NEEDS TO BE INCORPORATED SO AS NOT TO VIOLATE WP:Trivia
==Trinity in literature==
[[File:NewtonsPrincipia.jpg|thumb|Newton's own copy of the [[Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica|Principia Mathematica]], with handwritten corrections, on display in the Wren Library]]
{{poemquote|Near me hung Trinity's loquacious clock,
Who never let the quarters, night or day,
Slip by him unproclaimed, and told the hours
Twice over with a male and female voice.
Her pealing organ was my neighbour too;
And from my pillow, looking forth by light
Of moon or favouring stars, I could behold
The antechapel where the statue stood
Of Newton with his prism and silent face,
The marble index of a mind for ever
Voyaging through strange seas of thought, alone.|[[William Wordsworth]], ''[[The Prelude]]'' (1850), Book Third, describing his view from [[St John's College, Cambridge]].}}

{{blockquote|One night, just before ten o'clock, he [Maurice] slipped into Trinity and waited in the Great Court until the gates were shut behind him. Looking up, he noticed the night. He was indifferent to beauty as a rule, but "what a show of stars!" he thought. And how the fountain splashed when the chimes died away, and the gates and doors all over Cambridge had been fastened up. Trinity men were around him – all of enormous intellect and culture. Maurice's set had laughed at Trinity, but they could not ignore its disdainful radiance, or deny the superiority it scarcely troubles to affirm. He had come to it without their knowledge, humbly, to ask its help. His witty speech faded in its atmosphere, and his heart beat violently.|[[E. M. Forster]], graduate of [[King's College Cambridge]], writes of Maurice Hall's search for homosexual love at Trinity College in his novel, ''[[Maurice (novel)|Maurice]]'' (completed 1914, published 1970).}}

{{blockquote|[B]ut here I was actually at the door which leads into the library itself. I must have opened it, for instantly there issued, like a guardian angel barring the way with a flutter of black gown instead of white wings, a deprecating, silvery, kindly gentleman, who regretted in a low voice as he waved me back that ladies are only admitted to the library if accompanied by a Fellow of the college or furnished with a letter of introduction.

That a famous library has been cursed by a woman is a matter of complete indifference to a famous library. Venerable and calm, with all its treasures safe locked within its breast, it sleeps complacently and will, so far as I am concerned, so sleep for ever.|[[Virginia Woolf]] describes her attempt at entry to the Wren, ''[[A Room of One's Own]]'' (1929)}} -->

==People associated with Trinity==
===Notable fellows and alumni===
{{main|List of alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge}}
[[File:Duke of Wales Cropped.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Charles, King of the United Kingdom|Charles III, King of the United Kingdom]]]]
The [[Ascension Parish Burial Ground, Cambridge|Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground]] in Cambridge contains the graves of 27 Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge most of whom are also commemorated in Trinity College Chapel with brass plaques. [[Charles III]], [[King of the United Kingdom]], attended from 1967 to 1970. [[Marian Hobson]] was the first woman to become a Fellow of the college, having been elected in 1977,<ref>{{cite web |title=Marian Hobson |url=https://trinitycollegelibrarycambridge.wordpress.com/tag/marian-hobson/ |website=Trinity College Library |access-date=16 June 2018 |date=3 October 2016 |archive-date=16 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180616180429/https://trinitycollegelibrarycambridge.wordpress.com/tag/marian-hobson/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=People – Marian Hobson, CBE FBA MA PhD (Cantab) |url=http://french.sllf.qmul.ac.uk/french/people/hobson.html |website=Department of French |publisher=Queen Mary, University of London |access-date=16 June 2018 |archive-date=16 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180616154237/http://french.sllf.qmul.ac.uk/french/people/hobson.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and her portrait now hangs in the college hall along with those of other notable members of the college.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The 'hidden histories' of women at Trinity|url=https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Hidden-Histories-final-25-April-with-pics.pdf|access-date=18 September 2020|website=Trinity College Cambridge|archive-date=30 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030011710/https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Hidden-Histories-final-25-April-with-pics.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Other notable female Fellows include [[Anne Barton (Shakespearean scholar)|Anne Barton]], [[Marilyn Strathern]], [[Catherine Barnard]], [[Lynn Gladden]] and [[Rebecca Fitzgerald]].

{{Further|List of Honorary Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge}}

===Nobel Prize winners===
[[File:Amartya Sen 20071128 cologne.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Amartya Sen]]]]
[[File:Russell.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Bertrand Russell]]]]This list includes winners of the [[Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences]], which is not one of the five [[Nobel Prize]]s established by [[Alfred Nobel]]'s will in 1895.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Name
!Field
!Year
|-
| [[John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh]]
|Physics
|1904
|-
| [[J. J. Thomson|Joseph John (J. J.) Thomson]]
|Physics
|1906
|-
|[[Ernest Rutherford]]
|Chemistry
|1908
|-
|[[William Henry Bragg|William Bragg]]
|Physics
|1915
|-
|[[Lawrence Bragg]]
|Physics
|1915
|-
|[[Charles Glover Barkla]]
|Physics
|1917
|-
|[[Niels Bohr]]
|Physics
|1922
|-
|[[Francis William Aston]]
|Chemistry
|1922
|-
|[[Archibald V. Hill]]
|Physiology or Medicine
|1922
|-
|[[Austen Chamberlain]]
|Peace
|1925
|-
|[[Owen Willans Richardson]]
|Physics
|1928
|-
|[[Frederick Hopkins]]
|Physiology or Medicine
|1929
|-
|[[Edgar Douglas Adrian]]
|Physiology or Medicine
|1932
|-
|[[Henry Hallett Dale|Henry Dale]]
|Physiology or Medicine
|1936
|-
|[[George Paget Thomson]]
|Physics
|1937
|-
|[[Bertrand Russell]]
|Literature
|1950
|-
|[[Ernest Walton]]
|Physics
|1951
|-
|[[Richard Synge]]
|Chemistry
|1952
|-
|[[John Kendrew]]
|Chemistry
|1962
|-
|[[Alan Hodgkin]]
|Physiology or Medicine
|1963
|-
|[[Andrew Huxley]]
|Physiology or Medicine
|1963
|-
|[[Brian David Josephson]]
|Physics
|1973
|-
|[[Martin Ryle]]
|Physics
|1974
|-
|[[James Meade]]
|Economic Sciences
|1977
|-
|[[Pyotr Kapitsa]]
|Physics
|1978
|-
|[[Walter Gilbert]]
|Chemistry
|1980
|-
|[[Aaron Klug]]
|Chemistry
|1982
|-
|[[Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar]]
|Physics
|1983
|-
|[[James Mirrlees]]
|Economic Sciences
|1996
|-
|[[John Pople]]
|Chemistry
|1998
|-
|[[Amartya Sen]]
|Economic Sciences
|1998
|-
|[[Venkatraman Ramakrishnan]]
|Chemistry
|2009
|-
|[[Sir Gregory Paul Winter]]
|Chemistry
|2018
|-
|[[Didier Queloz]]
|Physics
|2019

|}

===Fields Medallists===
Four members or alumni of Trinity College have been awarded the [[Fields Medal]].
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Name
!Year
|-
| [[Michael Atiyah]]
|1966
|-
| [[Alan Baker (mathematician)|Alan Baker]]
|1970
|-
| [[Richard Borcherds]]
|1998
|-
| [[Timothy Gowers]]
|1998
|}

===Turing Award winners===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Name
!Year
|-
| [[James H. Wilkinson]]
|1970
|}

===British prime ministers===
[[File:William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[Portrait of Lord Melbourne (Partridge)|Portrait of Lord Melbourne]]'', 1844. [[Lord Melbourne]] whose name gave rise to the Australian city [[Melbourne]] served as [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] in 1834–1841]]
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size: 95%;"
|-
!Name
!Party
!Year
|-
|[[Spencer Perceval]]
|Tory
|1809–1812
|-
|[[Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey]]
|Whig
|1830–1834
|-
|[[William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne]]
|Whig
|1834–1841
|-
|[[Arthur Balfour]]
|Conservative
|1902–1905
|-
|[[Henry Campbell-Bannerman]]
|Liberal
|1905–1908
|-
|[[Stanley Baldwin]]
|Conservative
|1923–1924 <br> 1924–1929 <br> 1935–1937
|}

Other Trinity politicians include [[Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex]], courtier of [[Elizabeth I]]; [[William Waddington]], Prime Minister of France; [[Erskine Hamilton Childers]], fourth president of Ireland; [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], the first and longest-serving prime minister of [[India]]; [[Rajiv Gandhi]], Prime Minister of India; [[Lee Hsien Loong]], Prime Minister of Singapore; [[Samir Rifai]], Prime Minister of Jordan; [[Richard Blumenthal]], incumbent senior US senator from Connecticut; and [[William Whitelaw]], home secretary and subsequently deputy prime minister.

===Masters===
{{further|List of Masters of Trinity College, Cambridge}}
[[File:Dame Sally Davies.png|thumb|[[Dame Sally Davies]], current Master of Trinity]]

The head of Trinity College is called the Master. The role is a Crown appointment, formally made by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/index.php?pageid=172 |title=Trinity College Cambridge – Master of Trinity – Lord Rees (of Ludlow) |publisher=Trin.cam.ac.uk |date=15 January 2004 |access-date=25 March 2010 |archive-date=19 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080319025839/http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/index.php?pageid=172 |url-status=live }}</ref> Nowadays, the fellows of the college propose a new master for the appointment,<ref>{{cite web|last=McKitterick|first=David|title=Welcoming speech at the Master's Installation Dinner|url=http://issuu.com/trinityalumni/docs/trinity_record_2012-13_web|work=Annual Record 2013|date=6 December 2013 |publisher=Trinity College, Cambridge|access-date=9 March 2014|archive-date=10 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140310032921/http://issuu.com/trinityalumni/docs/trinity_record_2012-13_web|url-status=live}}</ref> but the decision is formally that of the Crown. The first Master, [[John Redman (Trinity College)|John Redman]], was appointed in 1546. Six masters subsequent to [[Rab Butler]] had been fellows of the college prior to becoming master ([[honorary fellow]] in the case of [[Martin Rees]]), the last of these being [[Sir Gregory Winter]], appointed on 2 October 2012.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/master-of-trinity/ |title=Sir Gregory Winter CBE FRS appointed Master of Trinity College, Cambridge University |publisher=Number10.gov.uk |date=16 December 2011 |access-date=28 February 2012 |archive-date=5 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305162347/http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/master-of-trinity/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/index.php?pageid=172|title=Trinity College, Cambridge. Master of Trinity|access-date=14 July 2012|archive-date=19 March 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080319025839/http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/index.php?pageid=172|url-status=live}}</ref> He was succeeded by [[Dame Sally Davies]], the first female Master of Trinity College, on 8 October 2019.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/news/new-master/|title=Professor Dame Sally Davies appointed Master of Trinity|date=8 February 2019|language=en-US|access-date=8 February 2019|archive-date=20 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201220123352/https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/news/new-master/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Isaac Newton Institute]] for Mathematical Sciences, partially funded by Trinity

==Notes==
{{reflist|30em | refs=
<ref name="statutes">{{cite web | url=https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/download/college-statutes-2004-with-2009-2018-and-2019-amendments/|title=Statutes of Trinity College, Cambridge | year=2019}}</ref>
}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Trinity College, Cambridge}}
* [http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk Trinity College, Cambridge official website]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130228074336/http://www.access.trin.cam.ac.uk/ Trinity College, Cambridge Access website]
* [http://www.newtontrust.cam.ac.uk/ Trinity College Isaac Newton Trust], established in 1988
* [https://artuk.org/visit/venues/trinity-college-university-of-cambridge-5846 Paintings at Trinity College, Cambridge], ArtUK project.

{{Trinity College, Cambridge|state=expanded}}
{{University of Cambridge}}
{{Authority control}}
{{coord|52.2070|0.1146|type:landmark|name=Trinity College|format=dms|display=title}}

[[Category:Trinity College, Cambridge| ]]
[[Category:Henry VIII]]
[[Category:Catherine Parr]]
[[Category:1546 establishments in England]]
[[Category:Colleges of the University of Cambridge]]
[[Category:Educational institutions established in the 1540s]]
[[Category:Grade I listed buildings in Cambridge]]
[[Category:Grade I listed educational buildings]]
[[Category:Edward Blore buildings]]