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St Andrew’s Church, Cherry Hinton
St. Andrew's church, Cherry Hinton - geograph.org.uk - 876986.jpg
St Andrew’s Church, Cherry Hinton
52°11′31″N 0°10′41″E / 52.19194°N 0.17806°E / 52.19194; 0.17806
OS grid reference TL 48971 57096
Location St Andrew’s Church High Street, Cherry Hinton, Cambridge
Country England
Denomination Church of England
History
Status Active
Architecture
Functional status Parish church
Heritage designation Grade I listed
Style Gothic
Administration
Archdeaconry Archdeaconry of Cambridge
Diocese Diocese of Ely

St Andrew's Church in Cherry Hinton is a special old church in Cambridge, England. It's part of the Church of England. This church is so important that it's listed as a Grade I building. This means it's a very old and historically significant place. The church was first built a long, long time ago, in the late 1100s. Its main part, called the chancel, was added in the 1200s. The church was built using local materials like flint, a soft stone called clunch, and Barnack stone.

History of the Church

In the 1300s, a person named Simon Langham was the Bishop of Ely. He was very generous to Peterhouse, Cambridge, which is one of the colleges at Cambridge University. Bishop Langham gave the church's income from Cherry Hinton to Peterhouse College. This helped the college a lot.

Later, in 1880, the church was fixed up and rebuilt. This work was done by an architect named George Gilbert Scott Jr.. It was part of a big movement called the Victorian restoration, where many old churches were repaired. The chancel, which is the area around the altar, was restored a few years later in 1886 by John Thomas Micklethwaite.

In 1891, a new church was started. It was called St John the Evangelist's. This new church was built to serve the growing number of homes in the area between Hills Road and Cherry Hinton Road.

What the Church Looks Like

St Andrews Cherry Hinton Early English Lancet Windoes
Chancel with its Early English lancet windows

The chancel of the church is made of smooth, cut stone. It has pairs of tall, narrow windows called lancet windows. These windows were put in around 1230-1250. They are a great example of a style called Early English Gothic architecture.

The large window at the east end of the church was changed later. It was replaced in the early Tudor period with a five-light window. This means it has five sections of glass. This window is in a style called Perpendicular, which was popular in later Gothic architecture.

The church tower is also made of smooth, cut stone and is in the Perpendicular style. However, some parts of the tower show signs of an even older style. These parts are from the Norman period, which was before the Gothic styles. Inside the tower, there is a bell that dates back to the 1300s. This bell is the oldest one in the entire city of Cambridge!

You can also find a special stone tablet in the tower. It's shaped like a coffin and remembers Captain Serocold, who passed away in 1794. This tablet was made by a famous artist named John Flaxman.

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