The Church of St Peter is a redundant

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

(

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

) church in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, in the Parish of the Ascension of the Diocese of Ely, located on Castle Street between Honey Hill and

Kettle's Yard Kettle's Yard is an art gallery and house in Cambridge, England. The director of the art gallery is Andrew Nairne. Both the house and gallery reopened in February 2018 after an expansion of the facilities. Kettle's Yard galleries, shop and caf ...

. The church is now in the care of the

Churches Conservation Trust The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...

. The church is usually open and sometimes hosts art exhibitions in cooperation with the Kettle's Yard gallery.

History

The church has been known as "St Peter by the

Castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

" (''ad castrum'') or "Beyond the Bridge" to distinguish it from St Peter-without-Trumpington Gate (now Little St Mary's). The present structure is the remnant of one that went back to the 12th century, with a nave, chancel, south aisle, and west tower and spire. Former

county archaeologist A county archaeologist is a local government employee in the United Kingdom, responsible for overseeing development-led archaeological investigations as required by PPG16. Nominated as the archaeological advisor by each local planning authority, ...

Alison Taylor suggests that, due to its location, across the Roman road from St Giles' Church, it may have its origins in the Anglo-Saxon period but no evidence of the church prior to the Norman period has currently been discovered. Under the Tudor monarchy, the

advowson Advowson () or patronage is the right in English law of a patron (avowee) to present to the diocesan bishop (or in some cases the ordinary if not the same person) a nominee for appointment to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living, ...

came to the Crown, and Elizabeth I granted it to the See of Ely. In 1650 the town commissioners found that St Peter's had neither parsonage nor vicarage, and recommended that the parish should be united with St Giles'. It has been annexed to the vicarage of St Giles for several hundred years. St Peter's is now a single-cell church with a west tower and an octagonal 14th-century spire with dormers. Construction is of stone rubble with pebble for the tower and ashlar for the spire. The church was rebuilt on a reduced scale in 1781, although there are several surviving medieval details. It has a 13th-century south doorway, and a 12th-century font, decorated with mermen at the angles. By the beginning of the 20th Century the building was almost derelict again. The

weathervane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...

has the initials AP; these are said to be those of

Andrew Perne Andrew Perne (26 April 1589), Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University and Dean of Ely, was the son of John Perne of East Bilney, Norfolk. Biography Perne was educated at St John's College, Cambridge, graduating BA in 1539, BD in 1547 and DD ...

, a self-serving sixteenth-century vice-chancellor of Cambridge University and

dean of Ely The position of Dean of Ely Cathedral, in East Anglia, England, in the Diocese of Ely was created in 1541 after the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The first Dean of Ely had been the last Benedictine prior of Ely. List of deans Early modern ...

. The initials were said to denote 'A

Papist The words Popery (adjective Popish) and Papism (adjective Papist, also used to refer to an individual) are mainly historical pejorative words in the English language for Roman Catholicism, once frequently used by Protestants and Eastern Orthodo ...

', 'A

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

', or 'A

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...

', depending on which way the wind blew.

Diarmaid MacCulloch Diarmaid Ninian John MacCulloch (; born 31 October 1951) is an English academic and historian, specialising in ecclesiastical history and the history of Christianity. Since 1995, he has been a fellow of St Cross College, Oxford; he was former ...

, ''Reformation: Europe's House Divided'', p.209. Bearded Iris by entrance to St Peter's Church, Cambridge

The church was gradually restored with concreted stone in the 1930s.

Gallery

cmglee_Cambridge_St_Peters_inside3.jpg, Interior from under the tower St Peter's Church, Castle Street - geograph.org.uk - 492178.jpg, South door Baptismal font at St Peter's Church, Cambridge 002.jpg, 12th-century baptismal font Stained glass window at St Peter's Church, Cambridge 002.jpg, Stained glass Keys of Saint Peter at St Peter's Church, Cambridge.jpg, Saint Peter's keys Jim Ede memorial stone at St Peter's church, Cambridge.jpg, Memorial stone to Jim Ede "who created

and helped to preserve this church"

References

External links

St Peter's Church
at the Churches Conservation Trust website

Cambridgeshire Churches Site
CCT information for teachersChurch at Castle parish'The city of Cambridge: Churches', ''A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely:'' Volume 3: The City and University of Cambridge (1959)
{{coord , 52, 12, 39.8, N, 0, 6, 50, E, type:landmark_region:GB-CAM, display=title

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

Cambridge, St Peter's Church

Grade II* listed buildings in Cambridge

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links