Parker’s Piece: Cambridge Rules and the Birthplace of Modern Football

Parkers’s Piece is a 25-acre park near the centre of Cambridge, where modern football, or soccer, was first played.

It was originally owned by Trinity College and was named after the college cook who leased it from the college to farm.

In the first half of the 19th century students from various English public schools and universities began playing various football games at Parker’s Piece. There was no standard set of rules for these games.

But it was here that the Cambridge Rules of 1848 were first put into practice. They were very influential in the creation of the modern rules of Association Football, drawn up in London by The Football Association in 1863.

Parker’s Piece is also known for its 1838 feast for 15,000 people, which celebrated the coronation of Queen Victoria.

Cambridge, Oxford, Brighton, Windsor, Eton… there are so many amazing day trips from London just a short train ride away!