Trinity Hall College Cambridge

Wedged cosily among the great and famous colleges (but unconnected to better-known Trinity), diminutive Trinity Hall was founded in 1350 as a refuge for lawyers and clerics escaping the ravages of the Black Death. The college's chapel is one of the most beautiful in Cambridge; you can visit for evensong during some terms; check with the college for details. Graduates include writer JB Priestley, astrophysicist Stephen Hawking and actor Rachel Weisz. The college's 16th-century library (not normally open to the public) has original Jacobean reading desks and books chained to shelves.