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- 1. St Helena and St Mary, Bourn, Cambridgeshire, England
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Parish church A cruciform church with an aisled nave and a W tower with chapels to N and S (i.e. a species of W transept). Most of this, that is to say the lower stage of the tower with the W doorway and the N, S and E arches inside, the N nave arcade, the clerestorey with circular windows with plate-tracery quatrefoils, the S nave doorway and the N transept must date from the early 13thc. The S nave arcade, however, is older in conception and is described below. The S transept is in fact a later chapel, and looks 14thc., the same date as the upper storeys of the tower. The aisleless chancel is presumably c.1200 but its windows are later and the chancel arch is 19thc. Construction is all of pebble rubble with ashlar dressings, and the tower has a crumpled spire.
- 2. Holy Sepulchre, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England
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Parish church 12thc. circular aisled nave with unlighted gallery and central ribbed dome on a lighted drum. To this is attached a rectangular two-bay aisled chancel, originally of the 13thc. The present appearance owes much to Salvin's restoration of 1841: particularly the chancel, the W doorway, the gallery capitals and the entire drum and dome of the nave, which replaced a 15thc. bell-storey. The church is built of ashlar.
- 3. Denny Abbey, Cambridgeshire, England
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Benedictine Priory originally, now part of the Farmland Museum What survives of the 12thc. work is the nave of two bays with a W doorway and a S aisle arcade, and the crossing with N and S transepts. In the 1340s, when the 12thc. church was converted into private apartments for the Countess of Pembroke, a floor was inserted just below the level of the crossing capitals and the crossing arches were blocked. At the same time the S aisle wall was removed and a new wall built further S, to convert the area into a guest range with an upper hall. The 12thc. work recorded here consists of the crossing arches, the W doorway, the S nave arcade, the windows of the nave and N transept, and an arch in the E wall of the N transept, presumably leading to a chancel aisle originally. Its counterpart in the S transept is largely obliterated by the insertion of a window during the farmhouse phase of the site's history, but its presence is attested by the N jamb and the outer relieving arch, both visible on the E face.
- 4. Ely Cathedral, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England
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Benedictine monastery originally, now Cathedral. The church begun by Abbot Simeon in 1082 had a 13-bay aisled nave, four-bay aisled transepts, a crossing with a tower, and a four-bay aisled chancel terminating in an apse. At the W end was a second transept with E chapels and a second tower. A western Galilee porch was added in the 13thc. (1198–1215), and the chancel was extended to the E with a six-bay retrochoir, completed in 1252. In 1321 the Lady Chapel was added to the N of the choir, and a year later the crossing tower collapsed. The octagon, built to replace it, was completed by 1342, and in the same campaign the remaining bays of the 11thc. chancel were replaced. The only above-ground survivals of the original chancel are the two easternmost piers of its straight section. Elsewhere in the building, the N section of the W transept collapsed in the late 15thc., and the NW corner of the N transept in 1699. The former was merely consolidated, the latter rebuilt.
- 5. Ely Infirmary, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England
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Monastic infirmary hall and chapel The infirmary complex lies to the S of the cathedral, E of the E walk of the cloister, to which it was once connected by a vaulted passage known as the Dark Cloister. It consists of a nine-bay aisled hall running E–W, terminated by a stone screen at the E with a doorway or archway into the four-bay nave of the chapel. At the E end of this is a square-ended sanctuary vaulted in two bays. A doorway in the W bay of the chapel N nave aisle gave access to the monks' cemetery. Much of this survives, but it has been incorporated into later buildings. Except for the sanctuary of the chapel the roofs are gone, and the open passage remaining is now called Firmary Lane.
- 6. St Mary, Ely, Cambridgeshire, England
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Parish church St Mary's has a seven-bay aisled nave with arcades of c.1200, a 13thc. S chapel, and a 15thc. clerestorey. The chancel is 13thc. and the tower 14thc. with an octagonal ashlar spire. Construction is of roughly coursed stone. The nave has N and S doorways, the S giving access to a hexagonal meeting room, built in 1985 and extended in 1999, while the N, under a 14thc. porch, is an elaborate composition contemporary with the nave arcades.
- 7. St Mary Magdalene, Ickleton, Cambridgeshire, England
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Parish church Architecturally, Ickleton is one of the most important Romanesque churches in the county. It was originally a cruciform church of c.1100 with aisleless chancel, aisled four-bay nave with clerestory, transepts and a central tower. The S aisle was widened (14thc.) to the width of the transept, and a chapel added to the N side of the chancel (15thc.), which was later removed although its entrance arch remains. The N transept has since been shortened to the width of the aisle. The original nave clerestory was very low, with windows above the apex of each arch. When the aisle roofs were raised, new windows were added at a higher level, but five rather than four, so that the clerestory is out of phase with the arcade. The chancel was rebuilt in the later Middle Ages, and again in 1882. The upper storey of the tower is 14-15thc., and it has a lead broach spire and a Sanctus bell. The church is constructed of flint and Sarsen pebbles. Restoration work following a deliberate fire in 1979 resulted in the discovery of a celebrated cycle of wall paintings from the 2nd half of the 12thc. decorates the N wall of the nave. Sculpture described here comprises the nave arcades, W crossing arch and W doorway.
- 8. St Mary the Virgin, Sawston, Cambridgeshire, England
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Parish church A flint and pebble church consisting of nave and aisles with an aisleless 13thc. chancel and a W tower with a lead spike and an external Sanctus bell. A vestry was added to the S of the tower in the 19thc. The three W bays of both nave arcades date from the later 12thc., while the two E bays are 13thc.
- 9. St Andrew, Soham, Cambridgeshire, England
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Parish church A cruciform church of c.1200 with aisled nave, transepts and aisleless chancel. The crossing tower was removed and a W tower built to replace it, referred to in 1502 as the novum campanile and probably dating from around that time. The nave clerestorey is also late medieval, as is the chapel added to the N of the chancel. The W crossing arch provides a spectacular display of chevron ornament, and all four crossing arches have carved capitals, as do the nave arcades. Finally there are plain arches leading from the nave aisles into the transepts.
- 10. St Mary and St Botolph, Thorney, Cambridgeshire, England
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Originally Benedictine Abbey, now parish church What survives of the abbey church begun under Gunter, abbot from 1085, is the five W bays of the nave, with alternating round and compound piers, divided into bays by half-column responds running up from floor to ceiling, where they terminate in a cornice, presumably of 1638. The nave was originally aisled and had a gallery and clerestorey. The aisles have been demolished and the arcade walled below and glazed above. Likewise the gallery arches have been glazed and the roof lowered by the removal of the clerestorey (although the blocked windows of the W bay survive, visible on the exterior). The arcade and gallery arches are thus visible both inside and out. All this remodelling work dates from the rebuilding of 1638. At the W end the Norman buttresses have become the twin turrets of a 15thc. façade, with a Perpendicular W window and doorway. At the E a transept copying the Romanesque work, with vestries and organ in the arms and the altar in the centre, was added by Edward Blore, architect of Buckingham Palace, from 1839-41.
- 11. St Giles, Tydd St Giles, Cambridgeshire, England
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Parish church St Giles's is a large church with a freestanding tower to the SE. The church has a six-bay aisled nave with late 12thc. or early 13thc. arcades and later N and S doorways, the N under a porch. The present, Perpendicular, clerestory is higher than the original, which can still be seen on the outside as a series of round or slightly pointed arches. The chancel was destroyed in a gale in 1741, although the early 13thc. chancel arch survives. It was rebuilt shorter the following year and finally taken down in the 1868 restoration. This was undertaken by the Rector, Canon John Scott, under the direction of his brother, Sir George Gilbert Scott. Construction is of roughly coursed stones with brick repairs. The freestanding tower, begun in the 13thc., is of three storeys, the lowest of stone rubble, the second rendered for most of its height, and the remainder of brick. The ground floor was originally open on all four sides. The nave arcades and chancel arch are described here, although all probably date from the early years of the 13thc.
- 12. St Peter and St Paul, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, England
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Parish church The earliest fabric suggests the existence of a late-12thc., six-bay aisled nave with a W tower and a chancel of unknown form. Towards the end of the 13thc. the church was almost doubled in width by widening the N aisle and replacing the S aisle with a second nave, as wide as the first, and equipped with its own chancel and S aisle. At the same time or slightly later the original chancel was enlarged in both length and width, so that it was now wider than the original nave, to which it was linked by a diagonal bay. An open arcade separated the two chancels. Around 1500 the W tower collapsed, taking the 12thc. S arcade with it. The arcade was replaced and a new tower built, detached from the church at the NW and bearing the arms of Bishop Goodrick (1534–54). Remains of the original tower survive in the form of its N and S arches and the E arch bases. The church therefore consists of a double nave with aisles to N and S, and arcades of (from N to S) c.1200, c.1500, and c.1300; a two-storey 14thc. S porch; a double chancel; W tower arches but no W tower, and a detached NW tower of the 1530s. Construction is of ashlar, that on the S of roughly coursed stones. The tower is of regular large blocks. Romanesque sculpture is found on the capitals of the tower arches and the N nave arcade.
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