Betjeman’s Best British Churches. Richard Surman
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by Salvin in 1842, when some ‘ecclesiological’ fittings were introduced.
CAMBRIDGE † St Bene’t
Bene’t Street
OS TL448582 GPS 52.2037N, 0.1183E
The 10th-century tower with typical Saxon long and short quoins is perhaps the county’s oldest extant fabric. The tower arch has cavorting Saxon beasts; the nave and aisles, c. 1300, have suffered from heavy Victorian restoration.
CASTOR † St Kyneburgha
2m/3km W. of Peterborough
OS TL124985 GPS 52.5730N, 0.3419W
This small village stands near a Roman settlement and in Norman times was evidently still important, to judge by the fine tower of the period, crowned by a stumpy Germanic spire. Few Norman cathedrals have a more richly ornamented steeple than this, with all four walls of the tower panelled in two stages of characteristic Romanesque detail. There are fragments of Saxon carving and a rare inscription recording the dedication of the church in 1124.
CHIPPENHAM † St Margaret
4m/6km N. of Newmarket
OS TL663698 GPS 52.3012N, 0.4383E
Set in a model village, St Margaret’s church is mostly a 14th–15th-century post-fire rebuilding; there is a delightful interior with a memorable 15th-century wall-painting of St Christopher, and good Perpendicular window tracery.
DULLINGHAM † St Mary the Virgin
4m/6km S. of Newmarket
OS TL631576 GPS 52.1934N, 0.3856E
This is an Estate-village setting; flint and field stone, mainly Perpendicular, with a fine N. porch. Inside is an unexpected and rather incongruous late Victorian pulpit of green Italian marble, and numerous 18th- and 19th-century Jeaffreson monuments.
ELSWORTH † Holy Trinity
7m/11km S.E. of Huntingdon
OS TL318635 GPS 52.2546N, 0.0697W
The church is set high, overlooking this pretty village with a stream coursing through the green, and has good Decorated work with much Reticulated tracery. There are fine Tudor choir stalls with linenfold carving, and a curious mid-18th-century Ionic reredos, moved by the Victorians to the W. end.
ELY † St Mary
14m/23km N.E. of Cambridge
OS TL538802 GPS 52.3986N, 0.2599E
Of the church built by Bishop Eustace (1198–1215), the seven-bay Early English nave arcade remains, as does the finely carved N. doorway: all of excellent quality.
FLETTON † St Margaret
S. district of Peterborough
OS TL197970 GPS 52.5584N, 0.2350W
This has a good share of Norman work, not over-plentiful in the county, but is chiefly remarkable for the series of 9th-century Saxon carvings now reset in the chancel. These are wonderful products of the Mercian school, and their birds, beasts and patterns bear comparison with the glories of Breedon-on-the-Hill, Leicestershire.
ICKLETON: ST MARY MAGDALENE – frescoes above the Norman arcade depict the Passion of Christ in the upper tier and the martyrdom of saints below, in the space between the arches
FORDHAM † St Peter and St Mary Magdalene
5m/8km N. of Newmarket
OS TL633707 GPS 52.3103N, 0.3947E
The Lady Chapel is the pièce de résistance – strangely set over a vaulted porch, altered in the 15th century, but redolent of the apogee of the Decorated style. Colourful Edwardian decorations enliven the chancel.
GLATTON † St Nicholas
7m/12km S. of Peterborough
OS TL153861 GPS 52.4607N, 0.3035W
St Nicholas has a noble ashlar-faced Perpendicular W. tower with frieze, battlements and pinnacles with animal supporters. Inside are arcades of c. 1300, with scalloped capitals, benches with carved poppyheads, wall-paintings and a vaulted vestry.
GREAT PAXTON † Holy Trinity
3m/4km N.E. of St Neots across R. Ouse
OS TL209641 GPS 52.2624N, 0.2285W
A dark and cavernous church of the Conqueror’s time conceived on a thrilling scale – the arches of the crossing stupendous when compared with the man-sized nave arcade. There’s no hint of all this outside, since the central tower has disappeared and there is now a stubby 14th-century tower at the W. end. The nave rising towards the E. is an original Saxon feature and provides a link with contemporary German churches.
HARLTON † Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
6m/10km S.W. of Cambridge
OS TL387525 GPS 52.1536N, 0.0262E
The church – a complete 14th-century rebuild of clunch and field flint – and adjoining Manor Farm make a pleasant group. Inside is a stately instance of Decorated-Perpendicular transition, with a fine stone screen, late 14th-century reredos, statue niches, crocketed canopies and a good alabaster wall-monument to Sir Henry Fryer, who died in duel in 1631.
ICKLETON: ST MARY MAGDALENE – some of the kneelers on the pews record the momentous events in the life of the church and parish, including the 1979 fire and subsequent restoration
HAUXTON † St Edmund
4m/6km S. of Cambridge
OS TL435521 GPS 52.1492N, 0.0973E
This is a lovely and simple church, whose Norman nave and chancel are separated by a grand arch. A well-preserved wall-painting of St Thomas à Becket, c. 1250, fills a niche on the S. wall.
HILDERSHAM † Holy Trinity
10m/16km S.E. of Cambridge
OS TL545488 GPS 52.1162N, 0.2556E
Standing in a woodland setting overlooking the River Grant, the church is worth a visit to savour the effect of its attractive and characteristic 13th-century plan. The Victorians left their mark here, not least in the richly frescoed chancel. There are brasses to the Paris family in the chancel but, alas, the pair of lifesize wooden effigies, c. 1300 and once such a feature of the church, were stolen in 1977.
HUNTINGDON † All Saints
Corner of High Street and George Street
OS TL237718 GPS 52.3307N, 0.1850W
One of two surviving medieval churches in the town, and set close by pleasing Georgian town houses, All Saints is a 15th-century rebuilding of an earlier 13th-century church, with the 14th-century tower retained. There is pleasing Perpendicular tracery; the nave, aisles, chancel and porch are all embattled. Oliver Cromwell was baptised here.
ICKLETON † St Mary Magdalene
10m/10km S. of Cambridge
OS TL494438 GPS 52.0729N, 0.1795E
In a village-green setting and victim of a horrid fire in 1979, this church was yet the beneficiary, since it uncovered a remarkable series of 12th-century frescoes. Already celebrated for its Saxon-Norman arcades, the paintings of the Life of Christ mark Ickleton as an apogee of the rural Romanesque.