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The original site covered the area of First and Second Courts but not the land between the south range of first Court and the river or up as far as Chesterton Road.
In 1428 Abbot Lytlington of Crowland Abbey was licensed by Letters Patent of King Henry VI to acquire the site so that a hostel could be established in Cambridge for student monks from Benedictine houses (Crowland, Ely, Ramsey, and Walden) to live whilst studying in Cambridge. They were over the river and so away from the temptations of the town.
John de Wisbech, Abbot of Crowland, planned First Court and began by building the Chapel in the North Range between 1470 and 1472. The Hall was built in 1519 by Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham.
In 1542 Lord Audley persuaded the King to re-found Buckingham College as the College of St Mary Magdalene but he died two years later having contributed nothing to the buildings. At the time of his death First Court was not finished and was partly open to the street on the west side. Audley’s successor was the 4th Duke of Norfolk who promised, in 1564, to help finish the Court but was put in the Tower of London in 1568 and executed in 1572. The West Range and Gatehouse were finally finished in 1584 thanks to the generosity of Sir Christopher Wray.
The building and developement of the College was affected by lack of money. In the 17th century it took a long time to raise the funds to build what is now the Pepys Building. Nothing more was built during the 18th century although internal changes were made to the Chapel. In the 19th century only a very plain Master’s Lodge was built.
The College's fortunes were revived by A. C. Benson (Master, 1915-1925) who left his mark everywhere - his initials can be seen in 20 places around College. The improvements lead to an increase in the number of students and Fellows andthis in turn lead to a programme of modernisation which was carried out between the 1950s and the 1970s. In 1990 it became possible to commercially develop the Quayside and in 2005 Cripps Court was built. The most recent building to be opened (2021) was the new Student Library.