The park is used by pedestrians walking between the centre of the city and the Grafton Centre (a shopping centre).[2] In good weather, it is often used as a place for lunch outside as well. There are tennis courts at the northwest corner of Christ's Pieces and a bowling green in the southeast corner. The main central Cambridge bus station is north off Drummer Street on the southern edge of Christ's Pieces near the southwest corner.
There is a Christ's Pieces Residents Association (CPRA) for local residents and others interested in maintaining the character of the surrounding area.[3]
History
Previously, the area was farmland. For example, it is shown to have a cereal crop on a 1574 map.[1] Later it became pasture land.[2] Milton's Walk was a medieval lane, called "Christes Colledge Walke" in 1574.
Milton's Walk is named after the poet John Milton (1608–74), who was an undergraduate at Christ's College.[4] It marks the boundary of the college with Christ's Pieces.
In 1886, the land was bought from Jesus College by the Corporation of Cambridge for £1,000 (equivalent to £140,000 in 2023). The Corporation drained it better and created the park much as it is now, but a proposed artificial lake was never created and the bandstand no longer exists.
In 2013, its paths were used in a trial of "Starpath", which absorbs UV energy during the day and emits it at night to illuminate the path.[5]
On 15 May 2015, two Libyan cadets, who had been stationed in the nearby Bassingbourn Barracks, were each jailed for 12 years for raping a man in the park.[6] A spokesman for the employer said it condemned the behaviour and that related training will not be repeated at Bassingbourn.