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
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