Little St Mary's or St Mary the Less is a

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...

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 ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, on Trumpington Street between Pembroke College's Mill Lane Project development site and

Peterhouse Peterhouse is the oldest constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Today, Peterhouse has 254 undergraduates, 116 full-time graduate students and 54 fellows. It is quite o ...

. The church Is in the

Diocese of Ely The Diocese of Ely is a Church of England diocese in the Province of Canterbury. It is headed by the Bishop of Ely, who sits at Ely Cathedral in Ely, Cambridgeshire, Ely. There is one suffragan bishop, suffragan (subordinate) bishop, the Bish ...

and follows the '

Anglo-Catholic Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches. The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic nature of Anglica ...

' or '

high-church The term ''high church'' refers to beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, liturgy, and theology that emphasize formality and resistance to modernisation. Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term originat ...

' tradition of the

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 Brit ...

. In addition to its main Sunday Mass, the church has a strong tradition of daily

morning Morning is the period from sunrise to noon. There are no exact times for when morning begins (also true of evening and night) because it can vary according to one's lifestyle and the hours of daylight at each time of year. However, morning s ...

and evening prayer, regular weekday Communion and the keeping of church festivals. The church has a particular ministry helping men and women to explore possible vocations to the priesthood. Little St Mary's has active overseas mission links, provides support to local

mental health Mental health encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being, influencing cognition, perception, and behavior. It likewise determines how an individual handles Stress (biology), stress, interpersonal relationships, and decision-maki ...

projects, and participates in Hope Cambridge's Churches Homeless Project. At present, the

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

is The Rev. Dr Robert Mackley.

History

There has been a place of worship on the current site since around the twelfth century. The earliest known records of the church state that the first church here was called St Peter-without-Trumpington Gate, to distinguish it from St Peter by the Castle (or ''ad castrum''). It was controlled by three successive generations of the same family until 1207. After that date it was given to the Hospital of St John the Evangelist and served by chaplains from that foundation. In the early 1280s,

Hugh de Balsham Hugh de Balsham (or Hugo; died 16 June 1286) was a medieval English bishop. Life Nothing is known of Balsham's background, although during the dispute over his election he was alleged to have been of servile birth, and his name suggests a conn ...

Bishop of Ely The Bishop of Ely is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire (with the exception of the Soke of Peterborough), together with a section of nor ...

, lodged some scholars in the Hospital but to his dismay found soon that the sick and the students could not live in harmony together. The students were moved in 1284 to the site of what is now

; this was the origin of the first Cambridge college. By the 1340s the church was in such a bad state that the fellows of Peterhouse decided to rebuild it. In 1352, the new building had the dual purpose of College Chapel (to Peterhouse) and Parish Church. At this time, it was rededicated to the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother ...

. In 1632 Peterhouse built a separate Chapel and St Mary the Less reverted to being solely a Parish Church.

Richard Crashaw Richard Crashaw (c. 1613 – 21 August 1649) was an English poet, teacher, High Church Anglican cleric and Roman Catholic convert, who was one of the major metaphysical poets in 17th-century English literature. Crashaw was the son of a famous ...

, the metaphysical poet, was a priest there from 1638 to 1643, at the same time that he was a Fellow of Peterhouse. In 1643, after his departure, many of the Church's ornaments and statues were damaged or destroyed by the

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

iconoclast

William Dowsing William Dowsing (1596–1668), also known as "Smasher Dowsing", was an English puritan, and was a particularly notable iconoclast at the time of the English Civil War.G. Goodwin, 'Dowsing, William (?1596-?1679), iconoclast', ''Dictionary of Natio ...

. The damage to the

sedilia In church architecture, sedilia (plural of Latin ''sedīle'', "seat") are seats, usually made of stone, found on the liturgical south side of an altar, often in the chancel, for use during Mass for the officiating priest and his assistants, th ...

and the archway leading to the present-day

Lady Chapel A Lady chapel or lady chapel is a traditional British term for a chapel dedicated to "Our Lady", Mary, mother of Jesus, particularly those inside a cathedral or other large church. The chapels are also known as a Mary chapel or a Marian chapel, ...

has never been repaired. In 1741 the church was refitted with wooden panelling,

box pew A box pew is a type of church pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other Protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th centuries. History in England Before the rise of Protestantism, seating was not customary in ch ...

s, choir gallery, and the present

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, acces ...

. From 1856–7

Sir George Gilbert Scott Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he started ...

restored the church and removed the 18th-century panelling. Further restoration work was carried out in 1876 and 1891, but by 1880 the church was much as it is now. The south, or Lady, Chapel was added in 1931 and designed by T. H. Lyon, the architect of

Sidney Sussex College Sidney Sussex College (referred to informally as "Sidney") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1596 under the terms of the will of Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex (1531–1589), wif ...

Chapel. The Parish Centre at the west end of the church was built in 1892 and enlarged in 1990 and again in 2011. The Reverend Godfrey Washington (the great uncle of US President George Washington), who died on 28 September 1729, is buried in Little St Mary's. His memorial is on the north wall close to the main door. The

coat of arms of the Washington family The coat of arms of the Washington family is first documented in the 14th century, borne by the Washington family of Washington Old Hall in County Durham, England before making its way to the Colony of Virginia in the 17th century with ...

, a black eagle atop a shield of red stars and stripes, adorns the tablet. It is from this coat of arms that the 'Stars and Stripes' of the U.S. National Flag, and the U.S. black eagle emblem, may derive. Little St Mary's has been a Grade II* listed building since 1950.

Stained glass

File:North-east window of Little St Mary's Church - geograph.org.uk - 1563060.jpg, North-east window, by

Charles Eamer Kempe Charles Eamer Kempe (29 June 1837 – 29 April 1907) was a British Victorian era designer and manufacturer of stained glass. His studios produced over 4,000 windows and also designs for altars and altar frontals, furniture and furnishings, lichg ...

File:Stained glass in Little St Mary's church - geograph.org.uk - 708570.jpg, Stained glass by Harry Stammers, depicting the Finding of Christ in the Temple File:SS Michael and Gabriel - geograph.org.uk - 708566.jpg, SS Michael and Gabriel by John Samuel Bucknall (1917-1989) File:SS Stephen and Martin - geograph.org.uk - 708560.jpg, SS Stephen and Martin by F. C. Eden, installed in 1936 in memory of Edwin Charles Ogle File:St Andrew and St Elisabeth - geograph.org.uk - 1608075.jpg, St Andrew and St Elisabeth by F. C. Eden File:St Teresa and St Nicholas - geograph.org.uk - 1608090.jpg, St Teresa and St Nicholas. Left-hand half of a four-light window by F. C. Eden, placed in memory of Mary Hamblin Clay (1860-1929) File:St Francis and St Monica - geograph.org.uk - 1608097.jpg, St Francis and St Monica. Right-hand half of a four-light window by F. C. Eden, placed in memory of Mary Hamblin Clay (1860-1929)

References

External links

Church website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mary The Less, Cambridge Church of England church buildings in Cambridge

Anglo-Catholic church buildings in Cambridgeshire Grade II* listed buildings in Cambridge