Radcliffe Square

Radcliffe Square is identifiable by the Radcliffe Camera, a massive circular stone library with a lead-covered dome that rises from the center of the cobbled space. Built between seventeen thirty-seven and seventeen forty-nine, the building was funded by a bequest from the estate of John Radcliffe, a physician to the King. The square occupies a site that once held a collection of private houses, a coach house, and a brewery; these were demolished in the seventeen thirties to provide enough ground for the library.