Trinity Hall guarantees accommodation for all first-year graduate students. You will be asked to apply in Easter term for accommodation in subsequent years and if rooms are
available after first years have been allocated, then you will be assigned one.

This page summarises information about renting with College; you can find the MCR’s advice on renting privately here.

MCR Guidance for Renting Privately or with College

The MCR Committee has put together a handy guide for students looking at accommodation in and out of college: download it here (pdf, 0.4 MB).

College Accommodation for Graduates

The College houses graduates in several locations:

• at Wychfield Site:
  • New Build
  • Launcelot Fleming and Walter Christie Houses
  • Herrick House (flats for couples)
• Norwich Street

Grads do not normally reside at Central Site, but there may be exceptions to this (e.g. for students with disabilities – see below).

Bear in mind that smoking is prohibited everywhere on college grounds except designated outdoor smoking areas. Details can be found in the Red Book.

You can see some photos of the Trinity Hall accommodation on the photos page.

Wychfield

Living at Wychfield,  you will be situated in beautiful gardens and amongst many friends. Wychfield is about a 20 minute walk or ten minute cycle from the centre of Cambridge. Three supermarkets, Aldi, Co-op and Iceland are just a 10-minute walk away, and there are some pubs and restaurants nearby. There are several other colleges in the area, including Churchill, Murray Edwards, Fitzwilliam and St. Edmund’s. This means the area is often full of students and that there are plenty of opportunities to visit other colleges. You will also relish the open skies and relative quiet of being somewhat removed from the city centre (click here for a satellite view of the neighbourhood), being surrounded instead by quite suburban streets. Philosophers might be interested to know that Ludwig Wittgenstein’s final resting place is practically next door.

Wychfield is the primary site for MCR accommodation. Its well maintained facilities and evergreen surrounds, as well as the on-site playing fields, gym and squash court, make it a popular residence for MCR members old and new alike. Other major plusses are the Wychfield Porters’ Lodge and on-site maintenance teams. Our lovely Porters are delighted to help collect your mail, pump your bike tires and provide any first aid advice you might need (amongst many other things!). The maintenance team are always handy to make sure that everything is working as it should, to ensure that that your time in Wychfield is as pleasant as possible.

 

New Build

This is the newest and highest-quality graduate accommodation at Trinity Hall. New Build is located at Wychfield Site, adjacent to the Wychfield Porters’ Lodge and next door to Launcelot Fleming and Walter Christie Houses, Herrick House as well as the sports pavilion, playing fields and gardens. Rooms in New Build are arranged in paired staircases, each eight to eleven en-suite rooms. There is a kitchen per floor, normally shared by four people. On the ground floor of each pair of staircases is a large living room with couches and a TV.

Launcelot Fleming & Walter Christie Houses

Each building is centred around a large common room with couches, a table and a TV. Sitting in there can be like being in an M.C. Escher drawing: the many windows inside the building give you views into the kitchens and stairwells of the building, as well as to the outside. There are around 25 students living in each of the two buildings, which lends itself to an occasionally lively communal atmosphere.
Both halves of each floor have their own kitchen and shower, shared by around four people. Storage and refrigerator space is adequate, but somewhat limited. Nevertheless, the kitchens are nice both for cooking and eating in. The showers and toilets are minimalist in design but clean and functional. Each room is equipped with ample storage space, several tables and lamps, and includes a sink and mirror.

About half of the rooms receive ample sunlight, but the other half, due to the orientation of the buildings and the placement of several very large trees, can be quite dark throughout parts of the  year.

On the top floor are two split-level rooms, which have skylights and access to a small area of outside space. Every room in these buildings is slightly different from the rest, and there is some variation in size and rent, so it’s worth emphasising on your accommodation form whether your priority is size or price.

Overall, Walter Christie and Launcelot Fleming are pleasant living environments. They are clean, functional, well-serviced and splendidly located in the Wychfield gardens. If you ever find yourself at home alone on an evening, and wish not to be, just make your way down to the common room or your kitchen and chances are you’ll quickly be joined by someone else! Rooms tend to be slightly cheaper than New Build, but still conducive for both work and rejuvenation.

Herrick House

Set in the centre of Wychfield, between the New Buildings and Launcelot Fleming and Walter Christie Houses, Herrick House is an architectural marvel. It is a large cube of concrete situated in a pretty garden through which little grey squirrels are constantly bounding. Its compact cubicness sits in strong contrast to the dreaming spires in town, but the building won awards (in its time) for innovative interior design. Certainly, some clever things have been done to maximise storage space, and it’s as big if not bigger than most couples flats.

The building consists of three floors, with four flats on each floor. In a given flat there are two main rooms: a large living/kitchen room and a slightly smaller bedroom. There is also a modern bathroom and a short hallway. The living room has a kitchenette along one wall, including a bar fridge, sink, oven, hotplates, bench space and plenty of cupboards. It’s perfectly equipped if you feel like cooking all the time (although you will have to supply your own crockery and cooking utensils). The rest of the room is the living/study area, which has ample light, a kitchen table with chairs, a desk with four shelves over it (and an internet connection). Each flat also has a window seat, which is very nice for sitting and reading in, or for simply admiring the view out over the gardens. The bedroom is not large, but contains a double bed as well as a chest of drawers. One excellent feature is that one of the bedroom walls can be slid back to make one big L-shaped room, giving the feeling of much more space and light. Finally, there is a passageway from the entry to the bedroom, which was optimistically described by one resident as a ‘walk-in wardrobe’ but which is more like a very small hallway with a wardrobe and shelves on one side. Generally there is quite a bit of storage space, and the heaters work well.

Like the other Wychfield sites, Herrick House is well-tailored to the needs of Trinity Hall students. In addition, it offers a more personal and private space that many find ideal. In terms of couples accommodation, Herrick House is generally considered very good value for money.

Students with Disabilities

If you are a student with a disability and have any concerns about accessibility or proximity to college please contact  Clare Kerr, the Postgraduate Administrator, at  cak34@trinhall.cam.ac.uk. Arrangements, can be made to suit your needs. These arrangements are handled on a case-by-case basis. It may be wise to take a look at the University of Cambridge Disability Resource Center page to see what other assistance the University can offer you. If you would like to know more about disability access in Trinity Hall, do check out our Students with Disabilities welfare page.

Private Accommodation

Students can also choose to live privately (i.e. outside of Trinity Hall owned accommodation). This can be a particularly appealing option for those who prefer to live in more homey surrounds. The perks of living privately often include a double bed,  the ability to personalise and take ownership over your living room and other communal spaces, the opportunity to pick your housemates and the opportunity to pick your location. With patience and research it is regularly possible to get housing at a similar price to that offered by College. However, average market prices for rent do exceed those offered by College. Renting privately can be a particularly favourable option for those who (a) plan to be in Cambridge for a full 12 months; (b) know the area and/or have the capacity to inspect houses in the city (either in person or by proxy); and, (c) have a little bit of extra cash to pay the upfront deposit asked for by most landlords (typically one or two months rent).

Contact Us.

If you have any questions, queries or concerns, please contact the MCR President via mcr-president@trinhall.cam.ac.uk .