This was in 1869, and the site chosen was as far away as Hitchen, but four years later, gaining confidence, the college was moved to Girton, a mile north-west of the town, on the Roman Via Devana.
"Beautiful Britain--Cambridge"
Gordon Home
The primeval fortress stood on the left bank of the river, which some called the Granta and some called the Cam; and for reasons best known to themselves, the Romans did not think fit to span that river by a bridge, but they made their great Via Devana pass sheer through the river-as some Dutch or German Irrationalist has pretended that the children of Israel did when they found the Jordan barring their progress-that is, those Roman creatures constructed a solid pavement in the bed of the sluggish stream, over which less audacious engineers would have thrown an arch.
"The Coming of the Friars"
Augustus Jessopp
