“All was so pretty and picturesque – in particular, that one covered bridge of St John’s College, which is like the Bridge of Sighs at Venice” — Queen Victoria
The Bridge of Sighs is one of Cambridge’s most recognisable and beautiful landmarks and is an integral part of life at St John’s.
Built in 1831, this covered bridge spans the River Cam, linking the College’s Third Court and New Court. Though named after its Venetian counterpart, our Bridge of Sighs is beloved not for sorrow, but for its striking beauty and quiet charm
Designed by architect Henry Hutchinson in the Victorian Gothic style, it remains to this day the only covered bridge to cross the River Cam. The bridge features intricate stonework and arched windows that reflect gracefully in the water below. It’s regularly voted one of the most picturesque sights in the city and is a favourite among photographers, punters, and students alike.
The bridge isn’t just a pretty structure—it’s part of everyday life at St John’s, quietly connecting the historic and modern parts of College. Whether admired from the Backs or glimpsed through the mist on a wintry morning, it remains a symbol of the College’s enduring tradition and elegance.
The first known photograph of the bridge was taken by pioneering photographer William Henry Fox Talbot in around 1844. Since then, the Bridge of Sighs has featured in countless artworks, photographs, television dramas and films including The Theory of Everything (2014) and Elizabeth:The Golden Age (2007). It has even had a car suspended from its arches –twice – thanks to the ingenuity of student pranksters.
Originally called the New Bridge, the name “Bridge of Sighs”was coined after Queen Victoria remarked upon its resemblance to the Venetian structure during a visit in 1847. Today, it is an iconic feature of St John’s College, and one of the most recognised sights in Cambridge — if not the world.
St John’s was already more than 300 years old when the Bridge of Sighs and New Court were built. Until then, Cambridge college buildings traditionally occupied just one side of the River Cam, with agricultural land, orchards and fishponds on the opposite bank. St John’s was the first to expand our courts across the Cam, in the area known as ‘The Backs’. A benefit of having the largest physical site of any College at 18 acres, is that we remain unusual in having significant buildings on both sides of the river.
New Court and the new bridge were designed in 1827 by Henry Hutchinson, a pupil and business partner of the Gothic revivalist Thomas Rickman, and were finished in 1831, a few months before Hutchinson died.
Architecturally, the Bridge of Sighs belongs to the broader Gothic Revival movement that was sweeping across Britain in the 19th century. The bridge spans the Cam with a graceful arch and open Gothic windows, with bars perhaps intended to deter students from using it as an easy route into College once the main gates were locked at night.
Hutchinson’s design reflects the movement’s fondness for medieval aesthetics, and the bridge’s dramatic stonework and pointed arches demonstrate the growing interest in restoring and celebrating Gothic forms.
The upstream façade of the bridge has more decoration than the downstream side, echoing New Court’s exuberant Gothic ornamentation on its southern elevation and plain brick on the north side. The flights of architectural fancy that delivered New Court and the Bridge nearly bankrupted the College. Brick was the cheapest way to complete the building and, as St John’s didn’t own the site behind New Court until the 1950s, the Fellows could easily avoid this visible reminder of their folly.
The ‘New Bridge’ subsequently became known as ‘the Bridge of Sighs’ thanks to Queen Victoria, who was enchanted by it during a visit to Cambridge in 1847. She wrote in her diary about a walk ‘along the beautiful avenues of lime-trees in the grounds of St John’s College, along the water and over the bridges’…
While most commentators would question the resemblance between our Bridge of Sighs and that of Venice, today’s tourists and punters definitely embrace the romance of the gondolier as they glide under its arch with the Old Library and New Court towering on either side of the river.
Beyond its architectural and historical significance, the Bridge of Sighs has become a symbol of Cambridge itself. It frequently appears in promotional material, postcards, and tourism websites as one of the most recognisable and iconic features of the city.
For St John’s students, the Bridge of Sighs is an integral part of everyday life. Whether walking across it between supervisions or catching a glimpse of it from the Backs, it has earned its place as one of the defining features of College life.
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Only 20 metres upstream from the romantic arches of the Bridge of Sighs is the ‘Wren Bridge’, also known as Kitchen Bridge, which was built more than a century earlier.
This stone bridge was designed by Sir Christopher Wren, who rebuilt St Paul’s Cathedral and many other churches after the Great Fire of London in 1666. Wren submitted designs for a stone bridge to replace an old wooden bridge in the 1690s and building work ran from 1709 to 1713.
Remarkably, the bridge is believed to be formed from one single slab of stone spanning the river. Its construction was overseen by Robert Grumbold, a local master stonemason and architect who also built the Wren Library at Trinity College.
The bridge reflects Wren’s design, although in his original drawings he suggested urns and pyramids, which were never added. At least, not yet.
