"On the Road..." - A tree and some fish in Cambridge

"On the road..." is a series of posts about our Discovery of Britain's highways and byways.  Whether it be some family fun, a surprising connection or just a beautiful spot we want to share our love for this country with you.  

Today we visit Cambridge

Outside of Trinity College at Cambridge University is this rather special tree.  

Isaac Newton was a fellow at Trinity College and his lodgings were in the oriel window you can see immediately behind the tree to the left.  A statue to him can be found at the back of Trinity’s chapel – the building to the right of the tree (not visible in this photo). 

Isaac Newton was born in 1642 at Woolsthorpe Manor, near Grantham, Lincolnshire .   When he was 24 years old he was in the Manor’s gardens and pondered why apples fell to the ground and his first musings on gravity began to form.   The apple tree at Woolsthorpe Manor soon became and continues to be a tourist attraction.  The ‘gravity tree’ was blown over in a storm in 1816, but it re-rooted and continues to flower each year.  Cuttings from the ancient apple tree have been sent worldwide and various places have a tree which claims descent from the one tree – including this one outside of Trinity College.   From what I can deduce this Cambridge tree would be the grandchild of the original – although I suspect Find My Past and Ancestry.com will have a bias against non human research so I'm not sure how to check my assumption (have I discovered the next big family history breakthrough – a family tree for trees).     

You will also find some of the tree’s children and grandchildren planted at The Physics Department at the University of York, the King’s School in Grantham, the Cambridge University Botanic Garden and even afar afield as the University of Nebraska and the Balseiro Institute in Argentina.   

In 2010 a piece of the original tree was taken as a guest on the space shuttle, and in 2015 the astronaut Tim Peake took some of its seeds with him to the International Space Station.  When he returns those seeds will be planted at Woolsthorpe – so the gravity tree having experienced zero gravity will become a gravity tree once again!  Or will it?  Will those apples fall towards space?  Will gravity start to unravel?   This is sounding like the plot of a bad science fiction movie.

You can even buy (for £29.99) a direct descendant of the tree to plant in your own garden.  You can soon be enjoying some of the most famous apple pies in the world!  Buy your own tree here   

  One tree to rule them all, One Tree to find them,
One Tree to bring them all and in the pie bind them.

The simple event of an apple falling from a tree triggered a chain of thought about motion and resulted in the publication of Newton's thoughts in Principia - one of the most important science books ever written. 

So...what does all this have to do with fish?

Edmond Halley (1656-1742) - the same Halley for whom Halley's Comet is named - was responsible for getting Isaac Newton to publish his findings on gravity and the laws of motion.  The Royal Society, who would normally support such a work, had spent their budget on publishing “The History of Fish” which was selling really badly so they were unable to provide funds for Newton.  Halley stepped in and paid for Newton’s book with the assurance by the Society he would be paid back.  They never could afford to pay him in money, but he did become the lucky owner of the unsold copies of The History of Fish as recompense.

This tree and story will be included in an upcoming self guided tour we are currently researching which will explore the streets of Cambridge.  We have already created self guided tours for London, Oxford, Liverpool, Preston, Gloucester and Ledbury and have plenty more brewing.  Take a peek at www.obelisktours.com

On the Road...Oxford's Hidden Treasures

"On the road..." is a series of posts about our Discovery of Britain's highways and byways.  Whether it be some family fun, a surprising connection or just a beautiful spot we want to share our love for this country with you.  

Today we visit a hidden treasure in Oxford.

Each Oxford college has its own library with many beautiful and significant antiquarian books.  On one of our group visits to Oxford we were privileged to get a behind the scenes tour of the impressive collection of the Harris Manchester College with books dating back to the seventeenth century. 

The College began life in 1786 as the Manchester Academy based in Manchester.  At that time Oxford was for the education of Anglicans only, so the Academy provided further education for non-conformists.   It moved to York in 1803, back to Manchester in 1840, down to London in 1853, and finally settled down in Oxford in 1889.  In 1996 it was renamed Harris Manchester in honour of Philip Harris (1942-  ) who’s carpet wealth has richly benefited the college.

These were some of the highlights from their library collection:  

• The Dutchman, Erasmus (1466-1536) had been invited to teach Greek at Cambridge University (the Other Place!), and while in England he translated the Bible from the original Greek - a work now considered one of the most important early documents of the English Reformation.

A column of original Greek with a revised Latin translation

His Greek translation (1513) highlighted that the commonly used Latin version of the Bible had many inaccurate translations which, in turn, had led to some false theology and practises.   His new Bible showed the original Greek and a revised Latin translation.

Erasmus also promoted the converting of scripture into local languages.  He said,

"I totally disagree with those who are unwilling that the Holy Scriptures should be translated into everyday languages and read by unlearned people."

• That message resounded deeply with the likes of Martin Luther in Germany who, in 1522, released this German translation of the New Testament.  

• The 'Great Bible' was published in 1539 by Miles Coverdale.  Two years earlier the Matthew Bible had been released - in English - but it contained some marginal notes which many Church leaders found unacceptable.   Coverdale's version eliminated those remarks.  

• This 1578 edition of the Bishop's Bible is sometimes called a Treacle Bible because Jeremiah 8:22 reads "Is there not treacle at Gilead?"  In subsequent editions treacle became "balm", but historically 'treacle' referred to an antidote to poison.

• This 1613 book "An Introduction to a Devout Life" is made especially valuable as Charles Wesley's signature is in the front (dated June 5, 1734), 

• They also have Charles Wesley's glasses.

• And finally Sir Isaac Newton's famous work Principia (1687) - one of the most important science books of all time.  This monumental work which first explained the laws of gravity was brought to us due to a book on fish.  To find out what that is all about you'll have to join us next Monday when "On the road..." takes us to Cambridge.  

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These books and the Harris Manchester Library are not open to the General Public, but more details about the people, places and events associated with these sites can be found on the tour Oxford’s Noble and Great Ones - Part 2 available on   www.obelisktours.co.uk