Church Heritage Record 614038

The church consists of chancel with north chapel and south vestry; clearstoried and aisled nave; and west tower set within west end of aisles with vaulted narthex underneath; south-west porch.

The nave measures 18m x 10m (65ft x35), the aisles are 8m (26 ft) wide, The chancel is 12m 40ft) long, The tower is 10m x 8m.

Prehistory

The earliest clear evidence of occupation is the remains of a Neolithic farmstead discovered at the site of Fitzwilliam College. There is further archaeological evidence through the Iron Age, with several farmsteads excavated in the area; several continued into the Roman-British period. There has been no evidence from the immediate area of Great St Mary's and the potential for prehistoric archaeological remains is considered to be low. The anticipated deposit depth on the site varies from 1.50m to over 3.00m.

Roman

The first major development of the area began with the Roman invasion of Britain. Castle Hill made Cambridge a useful place for a military outpost from which to defend the River Cam. It was also the crossing point for the Via Devana which linked Colchester in Essex with the garrisons at Lincoln and the north. This Roman settlement has been identified as Duroliponte.

The settlement remained a regional centre during the Roman occupation. There have been limited archaeological finds in the Castle hill area.  St Peter's Church, halfway up Castle Hill, has Roman tiles in its walls. Late Iron Age to Roman settlement (1st-4th century), including an aisled building was discovered during excavations in 1951-2 for the northern suburbs of Cambridge. The potential for Roman archaeological remains is considered to be moderate.

Saxon and Viking period

After the withdrawal of Roman forces, Anglo-Saxon settlers occupied the area on and around Castle Hill, although the British population is likely to have survived and mingled with them. Archaeological evidence suggests that one settlement was within the ruins of the Roman town around Castle hill, but the other settlement was on the lower ground south and east of the river, in the St Bene’ts church area.

These settlements were united under Mercian rule as a port called Grantabrycge in the 9th century, which Haslam has argued was already a burh. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that after the Danish Great Army wintered in Repton in 873/4, part of it came to Grantebrycge. A few years later Cambridge came under the Danelaw. The Danes settled mainly to the south of modern Quayside, and developed the settlement into a major trading settlement and local administrative centre.

Following the Saxon reconquest of East Anglia by 921, Cambridge swore allegiance to Edward the Elder, who confirmed its emerging status as a county town.  The market moved to its present location from the Roman settlement during this period. Evidence of the economic standing of Cambridge is afforded by the existence of a mint there from 975 onwards. Coins of five pre-Conquest kings are known.

The first stone churches, all apparently early 11th-century, appear to have been St Bene’ts, St Mary the Less, and St Giles (demolished 1875).

Norman Conquest and aftermath

After the conquest of England in 1066- 1068, William I, returning from York and the Harrowing of the North campaign, visited Cambridge and ordered a castle to be erected there. His Sheriff Robert Picot built this first Motte and Bailey Castle which stands on the highest point in Cambridge. The strategic importance of this location overlooking the River Cam was recognised, and the Domesday Book records that 27 houses were demolished to make way for it, which gives some idea of the density of housing in Saxon Cambridge.  Several churches were built or rebuilt, including St Mary’s, first mentioned in 1205.

Medieval Cambridge

The castle was remodelled in stone by Edward I in the late 13th century. A new Guildhall was built in 1386, following a major fire in the town, and lasted until being replaced in 1782. The market area was very different from its modern appearance. There were buildings attached to the east of Great St Mary's, then Pump Lane (with public water pumps), then houses approximately in the middle of the modern market.

The space for the actual market was essentially Peas Hill, the space in front of the Guildhall and the right-hand side of the modern market.  The potential for Early Medieval archaeological remains on the site of the church is therefore high.

The Building of the Church

The church of St Mary the Virgin is first mentioned in 1205 (when it was known as St Mary-by-the-market), when King John presented Thomas de Chimeleye to the rectory, and Gervase, his chaplain, to the vicarage for life. This suggests that the church was built in the late 12th century at the latest. During its early years the church was the property of the crown, but in 1342 it was passed to King’s Hall. The advowson then passed to Trinity College, where it has remained since.

The Guild of St Mary based in the church is first mentioned 1282–5; its minutes are extant for 1298–1319, and also its Bede Roll for 1349. It is once referred to as 'the Guild of Merchants of the blessed Virgin of Cambridge', and it augmented its funds by small-scale trading, but it cannot be regarded as a Guild Merchant of the chartered type. By 1337 it had five chaplains. In 1352 by royal grant it was allowed to coalesce with the Guild of Corpus Christi to found a college.

The church was damaged by fire in 1290 and then rebuilt, in which the Guild probably took an active part.  The remnant of this church would appear to be the chancel, which was lengthened in 1352 when the church was again rebuilt. The orders for the consecration of the new church were sent out on 17 May 1346, but were not enacted until 15 March 1351. Prior to 1352 it was known as the Church of St Mary the Virgin, but since that year has become known as Great St Mary's.

The connection with the developing University was firm by 1381, as it led to St Mary’s being ransacked by rioters in that year. On Sunday morning,  mass at St Mary’s was disturbed by a crowd led by John Giboun, who broke open the University chest kept in the church and burnt and destroyed the muniments in it. Jewels and vessels were also seized.

Convocation sat at the church during the Parliament of 1388. Conferences between town and gown took place there, and the Black Assembly was held there annually.

St Mary’s was almost completely rebuilt between 1478 and 1519, University meetings being held during this time in the churches of the Austin or Grey Friars. Subscription lists are extant and include the names of Richard III and Henry VII (who donated wood for the roof in 1505), but most of the funds came from the University.

The nave roof was being framed in 1506, the altar in the Lady Chapel was consecrated in 1518, the nave seats were made in 1519. Craftsmen associated with the work include the masons William Burdon, John Bell and William Rotherham, and the carpenter William Buxton. The contract survives for the building of the magnificent rood loft in 1522–3, the scale of which was made possible by the great height of the new nave. The loft was demolished in 1562 by Bishop Parker's orders.

The tower was begun in 1491 and completed as far as the belfry in 1596, when the parish books record that 'this year all our bells are rung out and was never before'. The corner turrets were completed in 1608, when John Warren, churchwarden and acting clerk of the works, was killed in an accident. An inscription on the tower wall, copied from his former monument, records: ”Here John Warren sleeps among the dead, Who with the church his own life finished”.  

Post-Medieval Cambridge

By the Elizabethan period the castle was rapidly falling into decay with stone being robbed for use in other buildings in Cambridge. Only the south-western gatehouse survived intact and was used as the County Gaol during this period. In 1643 Cromwell remodelled the castle defences, which were never tested and demolished in 1647. The barracks and gatehouse were again used as a prison until the 19th century.

The Post-Reformation Church

The report sent to Laud as to the use made of the church in 1636 gives a vivid picture of its interior at that date, serving as a ‘lumberhouse’ between commencements and ‘blinded up’ by shops. In 1640, chiefly owing to the efforts of Nicholas (later Bishop) Cosin, then Master of Peterhouse, a new chancel screen was erected, seen and described by Cole before it was destroyed in 1754 to make room for the gallery over the chancel known as the Throne, or Golgotha. The south porch was demolished in 1783.

The building of galleries to accommodate the listeners to University sermons had begun in 1610 with a gallery for the doctors, which was pulled down seven years later by order of James I. In 1736 the galleries over the aisles were built, under James Gibb’s directions, to accommodate undergraduates and bachelors, a legacy for their erection and maintenance having been left by William Worts in 1709. These galleries survive today. James Essex directed the building of the Throne in 1754. The west gallery was installed in 1837 to designs by Edward Blore, who also intended to add a spire to the tower, but this was never carried out.

Victorian Changes

In 1849 a fire destroyed much of the market so the Corporation used the opportunity to clear the entire space. It obtained an Act of Parliament for purchasing the land and in 1855/6 moved the conduit head and erected a new central drinking fountain, creating the present appearance. The fountain was pulled down in 1953.

The Elizabethan west porch of 1576 was replaced by a Gothic-style door in 1850-1 by Gilbert Scott, and the old vestry was demolished and the chancel re-clad in 1857 by Anthony Salvin. Both Throne and west gallery were taken down in 1863, and the box pews were also removed and replaced with benches, but the aisle galleries remain, supplying over 400 of the 1,700 seats which the church affords today.

The south porch was rebuilt along its original lines in 1888, and the tower was restored in 1892.

The Late 20th century

Despite having a university, Cambridge was not granted its city charter until 1951. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s the size of the city was greatly increased by several large council estates planned to hold London overspill. The biggest impact has been on the area north of the river, there are also smaller estates to the south of the city.

In 1962 Cambridge's first shopping arcade, Bradwell's Court, opened on Drummer Street, though this was demolished in 2002. Other shopping arcades followed at Lion Yard, which housed a relocated Central Library for the city, and the Grafton Centre. Both of these projects met strong opposition at the time.

In the church, there was also some refurnishing and restoration in the 20th-century, including reordering in the chancel in 1958.  A shop has been introduced into the west end of the south aisle, and toilets and offices into the west end above internal partitions. The south chapel has been converted into two levels with floor and glazed screen between the gallery and room.

The narthex

Entering through the west tower doorway, which has good oak doors (mid 19th-century), one progresses into a long transverse vaulted space which spans the tower and the west aisle bays. This has now been subdivided with toilets in the south end with offices over, and more offices in the north. There are several benefaction boards here. The floor is of stone flags.

The tower

The stair to the ringing chamber is entered through a pointed doorway.  The chamber is lined with 16th-century linenfold panelling and later ringing boards, a very fine room indeed, used as a study. The belfry stage is entered through another pointed arch.  The ring of twelve bells is housed in an iron frame. Above this the staircase is of wood, the walls of brick. One exits onto the lead-clad roof through a door, enjoying excellent views of the roofs and surrounding town.

Above the tower arch is a projecting stone gallery housing the very large pipe organ, the gallery painted elephant grey.

The aisled nave

The tower arch rises through two stories to the head of the clerestory windows; it is partially closed by the organ gallery. The lower part, with a Perpendicular-style doorway in artificial stone, is probably part of the former west gallery of 1819. Looking east from under the tower arch, there is a rather makeshift shop stall in the west end of the north aisle, with a plain wooden partition behind. Adjacent to this and in front of the pointed entrance to the tower stair stands the font, which appears rather forlorn in this position.

The piers and arches of the arcades and tower arch are left bare stone. The tall nave aisle arcades, tower and chancel arch are pointed but only just so (segmental arches as in the windows). The moulded arches are carried on clustered piers without capitals. The spandrels are taken up by excellent interlocking floriate patterns, and a band of such ornament continues above the tower arch under a moulded cornice.

The 18th-century galleries with fielded panelled fronts cut across the line of the arcades and the aisle windows, with steeply raked seating of high quality, and raked undersides over the aisles. The stairs at the west end are thought to have been designed by James Gibbs. The gallery does impinge on the originally intended flooding of the interior with light, diminishing the Perpendicular ideal of the “Glasshouse”. 

Apart from the arcades the wall surfaces are whitewashed.  The monuments mounted on the walls give texture.

The aisles extend across the western bay of the chancel to form chapels, and there is a polygonal rood stair turret on the south side at the junction of aisle and chapel. The north and south aisle doorways are early 16th-century, those in the chapels are late 16th, as is that to the rood stair. The north tower screen wall door is 17th-century, that on the south 15th-century. Late 15th-century piscina in the south aisle.

Very fine late medieval roofs in the nave, aisles and chapels with carved bosses and openwork tracery in the spandrels of the braces; the bosses in the nave are very fine. The internal string courses in the aisles and chapels are also decorated with paterae, flowers, masks and heraldic devices. The fine nave roof is of the early 16th century, of 10 bays, with arch braces supported alternately on slender shafts that descend to the piers and corbels between the clerestory windows. The roof was preserved by James Essex, who left it suspended under a new roof in 1766.   There are separate boarded tunnel-vault roofs to the nave and aisles.  

There are fine 18th-century carved oak screens at the east ends of the aisles (which used to continue across and close off the chancel completely until the 1860s), with doorways leading into the chapels there. This is said to be the remnants of the 18th-century 3-decker pulpit.

The wooden furnishings and the ranks of bench pews which fill the nave and aisles are a defining feature of the visual appearance of the interior, though there are now gaps at the west end. The late 19th-century nave benches (of 1863?) have poppyheads and shaped ends, copying the 16th-century benches which still survive in the north aisle. The floors are of stone flags with heating grilles down the centre of the nave alley between the benches.

The Chancel and Chapels

The arches to the chancel chapels are late 15th-century. The eastern bay of the chancel is filled with the ornate choir stalls, set facing each other across the entrance (collegiate-wise). They cut across a tall pointed arch to the north chapel.  Just visible in the south wall is a blocked late 13th-century arch, the most obvious architectural feature surviving from earlier phases. There is also a large 14th-century arched tomb niche in the north wall and piscine with sedilia opposite, both much restored. The chancel east window is 14th-century internally, as are two ogee-headed statute niches flanking the window. There is also evidence for former 14th-century north and south doors and windows.

The focus is provided by a gilded oval reredos of the Risen Christ flanked by symbols of the Evangelist, behind the altar table.