St Bene’t’s Church: An Anglo-Saxon Parish Church in Cambridge
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.7
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Modern
- Civilizations
- Anglo-Saxon, British, English
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Church
On this page9 sections
History
St Bene’t’s Church is an active Church of England parish church in Cambridge, United Kingdom, founded around 1020 during the Anglo-Saxon period. It is described as the oldest church in Cambridgeshire and the oldest building in Cambridge. Dedicated to Saint Benedict of Nursia, the sixth-century Christian monk whose Rule became the basis of Benedictine monasticism, the church stands beside Corpus Christi College.
Anglo-Saxon foundation and medieval development
The church’s Anglo-Saxon tower was probably built between AD 1000 and 1050. Its long-and-short quoins, formed from alternating long and short stone blocks at the corners, survive as evidence of early English construction. The quoins project beyond the rubble wall faces, indicating that the tower was originally rendered. An eleventh-century arch supports the tower and remains its most notable internal feature.
The nave arcades belong to a rebuilding around 1300, when the aisles were also rebuilt. The earliest aisles may have been added during an earlier rebuilding, although their precise date is uncertain. The chancel was altered in the thirteenth century and later received fourteenth-century sedilia, seats for clergy beside an altar, and a piscina, a shallow basin associated with washing communion vessels.
University and college connections
St Bene’t’s served as the chapel of Corpus Christi College until 1579. The college, one of the constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge, remains the church’s patron and owns the building, while links between the parish church and the college chapel continue.
The University also maintained a long financial connection with the church’s bells. An agreement from 1273 permitted the bells to be rung for the University in return for the customary payment. This later became an annual payment of six shillings and eight pence, which was still being made in 1624 after the completion of the tower of Great St Mary’s. In 1655, the University contributed thirty shillings towards bell repairs.
Late medieval and Victorian changes
The nave clerestory, an upper range of windows above the main roofline, and the roof were constructed in 1452 in the late Perpendicular Gothic style. The church’s name appeared in several forms over the centuries. Medieval Latin documents used ecclesie sancti Benedicti, while an English contract of 6 June 1452 referred to the “cherche of seynt Bennettys.” Maps from 1574 and 1688 used forms of Benett and Bennetts, and nineteenth-century usage included St Benedict, St Benet, and St Bene’t. St Benet and St Bene’t remain in modern use.
Two Victorian restorations widened the church and changed its medieval fabric. In 1853, Raphael Brandon rebuilt the north aisle and added the porch. In 1872, Arthur Blomfield rebuilt the south aisle, chancel, and nave clerestory, including the chancel arch. The fourteenth-century aisles and the chancel’s north and east walls were removed during this work. Footings of Anglo-Saxon corner masonry found during the restorations showed that the original nave had been wider than the present one.
Later parish history
St Bene’t’s is a Grade I listed building, a category that provides England’s highest level of statutory protection for buildings of exceptional architectural or historic interest. Michael Ramsey served as vicar from 1938 to 1940 before later becoming Archbishop of Canterbury. Brothers of the Society of Saint Francis, including Brother Michael Fisher, served at the church from 1945 until 2005. Fabian Stedman, parish clerk in the mid-seventeenth century, was a pioneer of change ringing, the organized ringing of tuned bells in changing mathematical sequences. John Randall, a Cambridge professor of music, was buried in the parish churchyard.
Remains
Anglo-Saxon tower and medieval structure
The church stands on the south side of Bene’t Street, immediately beside Corpus Christi College. Its Anglo-Saxon tower is built of rubble with projecting long-and-short quoins at the corners. The masonry preserves the form of an early tower that was probably rendered, while later bell-openings were added in 1586. Inside, the eleventh-century arch carries the tower and provides the principal surviving internal feature from its earliest phase.
The nave arcade belongs to the rebuilding around 1300. Excavated Anglo-Saxon quoins show that the earlier nave extended beyond the width of the present nave. The existing church therefore brings together an early tower, medieval structural work, and later alterations that changed the plan and replaced parts of the medieval building.
Chancel and aisles
The chancel contains deeply splayed Early English Gothic lancet windows, narrow pointed windows, along its south side. One of these windows is blocked. Fourteenth-century sedilia and a piscina survive within the chancel, each framed by a Decorated Gothic ogee arch with a double-curved profile.
The present north aisle incorporates the porch added during Raphael Brandon’s rebuilding of 1853. The south aisle, chancel, and nave clerestory belong to Arthur Blomfield’s 1872 rebuilding. The present chancel arch also forms part of that later work, while the late Perpendicular Gothic clerestory and roof retain the date 1452 associated with their construction.
Bells and memorial remains
The tower contains six bells. The second was cast by an unknown founder in 1588, the third by Richard Holdfield of Cambridge in 1607, and the fifth by Holdfield in 1610. John Draper of Thetford cast the tenor in 1618, and Robert Gurney of Bury St Edmunds cast the treble in 1663. The fourth bell, made by William Dobson of Downham Market in 1825, is the youngest of the group.
A single monumental brass survives in the church. It is a small kneeling figure commemorating Richard de Billingford, who died in 1432 after serving as Master of Corpus Christi College from 1398 to 1432. Together with the tower’s masonry, medieval arch, later bell-openings, and bells, the brass reflects the church’s accumulation of material from several periods.
