Holy Sepulchre (the Round Church), Cambridge

Holy Sepulchre is one of four round churches in use in England. Normally associated with Orders founded to safeguard pilgrim routes and destinations in the Holy Land, this site was granted to the 'fraternity of the Holy Sepulchre' in the early 12th century, but little is known about this particular order.

The church comprises the small round nave, with an ambulatory and an aisled chancel. The structure has gone through significant changes over its lifetime: the original chancel - probably a short apse - was replaced by a longer chancel with north aisle in the 15th century. At the same time, the Norman Romanesque windows were replaced with larger Gothic windows, and a drum-shaped bell tower was added above the nave. 

The entire church was heavily restored in 1841 by Anthony Salvin (1799-1881), who reduced the upper storey of the bell tower and restored it to something closer to the likely original, as well as reinserting round-headed windows. In the chancel, a new south aisle was added, and the north aisle and east walls - which were in poor condition - were rebuilt. As a result, the church overall now contains as much 19th Century fabric as mediaeval.

Nevertheless, the round nave is suitably gloomy and atmospheric: huge drum piers support a gallery with twin-light openings, with eight ribs supporting the dome, each ending in carved corbels. The ambulatory is also vaulted. The chancel is - as seems common in Cambridge - thoroughly whitewashed.

In 1994 the congregation, having outgrown the church, moved to St Andrew the Great, and Holy Sepulchre became a visitor centre explaining Christian Heritage and how it has shaped Cambridge and Western culture. It is open daily (paid entrance), and hosts periodic talks and other events.

The Round Church, Bridge Street, Cambridge, CB2 1UB

St Bene't, Cambridge

St Bene't is Cambridgeshire's oldest church building, featuring substantial Anglo-Saxon elements.

The church (St Bene't is short for Benedict) was founded some time in the early 11th century, when Cambridge was developing as an important local market town. The exact date is not known, but there is good evidence for a date around 1020. The original church was the same length and half the width of the current church. The most substantial remains are those of the tower, the corners featuring characteristically Anglo-Saxon long-and-short work, the original bell openings with a crude, paired round arches. The corners of the nave, and south chancel wall, are also original. 

But it is inside that the chief glory of this church resides: the tower arch into the nave. This is a robust piece, with striking if oddly assembled architectural forms, such as the pillars of the arch flanking jambs of long-and-short work, rather than supporting capitals beneath the foot of the arch. Instead, each side of the arch rests on impressive carved beasts, possibly lions. As is the case elsewhere, it shows evidence of Anglo-Saxon masons attempting to adopt Romanesque forms, but with limited understanding. Nevertheless, it makes a bold statement and is a valuable survivor.

The rest of the church reflects changes made in the 13th-15th Centuries, including 13th Century aisles, and a 15th Century clerestory (dated 1452). The sedilia and double piscina date front he 14th century, with handsome ogee arches. The aisles were rebuilt in the 19th Century, along with the north and east nave walls. Apart from the tower arch, the whole interior is whitewashed, giving the church a surprisingly bright feel for somewhere so ancient.

The church has an active congregation, with provision for children, reading groups, study days and a 20s & 30s Group. There are daily Eucharists (two on Sundays) and daily Evening Prayer.

St Bene’t’s Church, Bene’t Street, Cambridge CB2 3PT

St Botolph, Cambridge

Cambridge is well endowed with mediaeval churches, albeit most of them modest in size. Sitting next to Corpus Christi College, St Botolph's west tower door opens straight onto Trumpington Street, its little churchyard an unexpected oasis of green.

The church itself is mostly early 14th Century, the tower of around 1400, and a later south porch and chapel. The nave has both north and south aisles, with an arcade of four bays, but is modest in scale. The chancel was rebuilt in 1872 to the designs of Bodley. He delivered one of his typically intricate decorative schemes, expressed particularly the painted and gilded ceiling and west wall. The side walls - also intended to be decorated - have however been whitewashed, along with the rest of the church's interior.

The church has a number of interesting furnishings: the rood screen is 15th century, and said to be the only mediaeval screen in the city, along with a charming wooden font case and canopy of 1637, which has  strikingly slender classical columns. The south chapel contains a large monument to Thomas Plaifere, Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, who died in 1609. A bust of his head and shoulder stares out from a classically styled niche, and is painted in muted pastels, although Pevsner is scathing, describing it as "an absurdly bad example [of the type]".

The church has an active community drawn from "all walks of life and many different nations". There are regular services each Sunday at 11:00, alternating between a sung Eucharist and Mattins with Holy Communion, using the Book of Common Prayer and King James bible. It's the style of service I was brought up on.

St Botolph, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1RG

St Andrew, Wiveliscombe

St Andrew, Wiveliscombe, is initially a puzzle: windows with classic Perpendicular tracery, but a tall north porch that looks almost arts-and-crafts in its styling, and a tower which is clearly late Victorian. Inside, the feeling is more that of a large chapel, and gives away the fact the church was thoroughly rebuilt (and more than doubled in size) early in the 19th Century. 

The architect was Richard Carver, and the date 1829. But he reused some of the earlier windows, hence the confusing tracery. Both nave and aisles (the south has an outer aisle, now walled off with glass to form a cafe) are spacious, with arcades with four-centre arches, the nave filled with the original box pews of 1829. The aisles have largely been cleared of fixed seating, which lends a rather empty feel when the chairs are stacked (as they were, on my visit, all over the place). No date is known for the tower.

Carver's chancel was replaced in 1872 by a short polygonal apse by Giles & Gane, but the rose window - with Pevsner describes as "singularly uncongenial and unattractive" dates from 1915. It was a memorial to Lt Ralph Hancock DSO, and replaced a large oil painting of Jesus by the distinguished Totnes-born artist, travel writer and inventor, William Brockedon (1787-1854). 

The church contains an impressive monument to Humphrey Wyndham (d. 1622) and his wife, comprising their alabaster effigies beneath a classical wall monument. The south aisle has the 12th century octagonal font from the original church. Outside are the eroded remains of a mediaeval cross.

The church has weekly Sunday services, a cafe on Thursday mornings and periodic concerts and other events.

St Andrew, Church Street, Wiveliscombe TA4 2LR

St Michael, Milverton

Milverton's spacious and imposing church befits this charming village, with its handsome Georgian houses built from the local red sandstone.

The church sits on a grassy hillock in the centre of the village, between the two main thoroughfares. Like the rest of the village, it is in red sandstone, with golden Ham stone dressings. The base of the tower dates from the 13th century, otherwise the building is all of the 14th and 15th centuries, except for the 19th century south aisle.

The interior has a surprising sense of spaciousness, although Pevsner records that 'the octagonal arcade piers do not give it enough weight or character'. You may or may not agree, but the real treasure of the church is its large collection of early 16th Century pews, with carved fronts, backs and bench-ends. These include a wide range of subjects, including profile portraits of a couple said to be Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, although my favourites include a magnificently rigged ship, and a man downing a pint of ale, holding an even larger flagon! 

The later (20th Century) rood screen incorporates further mediaeval panels, one dated to 1540, so one assumes the bench ends may be of similar vintage. There is more contemporary carving in the choir stalls, depicting the 12 apostles, though these were probably recut in the 17th century. They quite overshadow the nearby Norman font, decorated with saltire crosses and cable mouldings.

The church is part of a larger benefice with regular services on the first, second and third Sundays of the month, and an active social life (details on Facebook). On our visit, we were warmly welcomed by one of the congregation, though sadly, despite her help, we were unable to locate the graves of my 18th and 19th Century ancestors who once worshipped here.

St Michael, St Michael's Hill, Milverton TA4 1LR

St Pancras, West Bagborough

West Bagborough is tucked under the south-west slopes of the Quantock Hills, and its church is a steep walk up from the village. (The Lord of the Manor had a rather less arduous walk - the handsome late-Georgian Bagborough House is immediately adjacent.)

The church dates from the late 14th and early 15th Century, and most of the details are therefore Perpendicular, including the robust and (for Somerset) rather plain tower. There is a nave arcade of three bays is later, the north aisle being added in 1872. The wagon roofs in the nave and chancel original, but one comes here for its furnishings: the 16th Century bench ends are a delight, many with almost Renaissance flourishes, and the west screen, font cover and rood were designed by Sir Ninian Comper in in 1922.

I have a soft spot for the church, since one branch of my family tree were baptised, married and buried here for at least 200 years. It is now in a united benefice with Bishop's Lydeard, and worship is in the Catholic style.

St Pancras, West Bagborough Road, West Bagborough TA4 3EG

St Dyfan & St Teilo, Merthyr Dyfan

This little church sits in a small island of greenery, surrounded by the modern suburbs of Barry, a mile inland from the docks and well-known Barry Island.

The origins of the church are both colourful and disputed: until relatively recently, it laid claim to be the oldest Christian site in Wales, on the assumption that the name referred to the resting place of St Deruvian, one of two priests (the other being St Fagan) sent by the Pope in the second century AD to convert King Lucius of the Britons. (Merthyr means "martyr" in Welsh, and can also mean 'Martyrium" denoting the burial site of a martyr.) However, apart from the fact that the story of King Lucius is itself now regarded as a pious legend, the connection between Deruvian and Merthyr Dyfan was one made in the 18th Century by the Welsh antiquarian Edward Williams (also known as "Iolo Morganwg"), much of whose work has subsequently been discredited as being based on forgeries.

Whatever the myth and legend, there is good evidence for there being a thriving village here in the mediaeval period, and the current nave and chancel date from the 13th Century: Bishop William de Burgh of Llandaff is recorded as consecrating the church in 1250. The tower was a later addition (possibly 16th century), along with some 15th century windows. The cosy interior is whitewashed and homely, with a chamfered pointed arch to the chancel and tower, and an ancient tub font.

In recent years, the church has been subject to periodic vandalism, but is maintained by a faithful congregation, with a weekly sung mass, and is now part of the United Benefice of Barry.

SS Dyfnog & Teilo, Merthyr Dyfan Road, CF62 9TJ