Inside the Leper Chapel of St Mary Magdalene - geograph

The Leper Chapel, also known as the Leper Chapel of St Mary Magdalene, is a chapel on the east side of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, England, off Newmarket Road close to the railway crossing at Barnwell Junction. It dates from about 1125. The chapel was part of the buildings of a

leper hospital A leper colony, also known by many other names, is an isolated community for the quarantining and treatment of lepers, people suffering from leprosy. '' M. leprae'', the bacterium responsible for leprosy, is believed to have spread from East ...

that stood a little beyond the outskirts of the city on the road to

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as ''Bury,'' is a cathedral as well as market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk District, West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St. Edmunds an ...

. Parts of the east wall are original, but most of the rest of the chapel was rebuilt in the 13th century. It still retains many Romanesque features. In 1199 the chapel was given royal dispensation by King John to hold a three-day fair in order to raise money to support the lepers. Starting in 1211, the fair took place around the Feast of the Holy Cross (14 September) on Stourbridge Common which lies a little way behind the chapel and continues down to the

River Cam The River Cam () is the main river flowing through Cambridge in eastern England. After leaving Cambridge, it flows north and east before joining the River Great Ouse to the south of Ely, Cambridgeshire, Ely, at Pope's Corner. The total distanc ...

. Stourbridge fair grew to become the largest

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

fair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Fairs showcase a wide range of go ...

in Europe and raised so much money that the post of priest at the Leper Chapel became one of the most lucrative jobs in the English church. The job was also a

sinecure A sinecure ( or ; from the Latin , 'without', and , 'care') is a position with a salary or otherwise generating income that requires or involves little or no responsibility, labour, or active service. The term originated in the medieval church, ...

, since the leper hospital had ceased to admit new lepers in 1279, and what few lepers remained were moved to a new colony near Ely. The chapel had no

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

, so there was no need to maintain any religious services. Under legislation of 1546, the chapel was closed and its property assumed by the Crown. Town and University battled over the rights to the Fair until Queen Elizabeth I ruled in favour of the town, reserving the University's rights to control weights, measures and quality of goods. The chapel was thence used only to store the stalls for the next fair and, in the eighteenth century at least, as a pub during the Fair. After 1751, there were no further religious services held at the chapel. In 1783 it was advertised for sale as a storage shed. The fair was abolished in 1933, though it was later revived in the 21st century and is now held annually at the Leper Chapel. In 1816, the Chapel was bought and restored by

Thomas Kerrich Thomas Kerrich (4 February 1748 – 10 May 1828) was an English clergyman, principal Cambridge University librarian (''Protobibliothecarius''), antiquary, draughtsman and gifted amateur artist. He created one of the first ''catalogue raisonnés' ...

. Kerrich gave the Chapel to the University, which in turn gave it to the Cambridge Preservation Society in 1951. The chapel is a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

and is maintained by Cambridge Past, Present and Future (CPPF). It is again being used for worship and it is now part of the Parish of Christ the Redeemer. The "Friends of the Leper Chapel" was formed in 1999 to promote use of this chapel for education, cultural events and worship. The chapel also plays host to a range of local cultural activities such as dramatic performances, and it is frequently used by the local theatre group In Situ for their performances of Shakespeare.

References

External links

Barnwell Leper Chapel
on the CPPF website, with contact details for visiting the chapel. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cambridge, Leper Chapel 12th-century church buildings in England 1125 establishments in England Chapels in England Leper Chapel Leper hospitals Grade I listed churches in Cambridgeshire Leper Chapel

See also

References

External links