The Anglo-Saxon Foundations of the Church
In 1020, Cambridge was a market town of increasing importance in the East of England. Christianity had come to the British Isles over 800 years before, but only spread widely among Anglo-Saxons after the mission of Augustine of Canterbury, sent in 597 by Pope Gregory the Great. The patron saint of this parish, Benedict of Nursia, came to prominence in England in the wake of monastic and religious reforms of the tenth century.
Archaeological investigation of burial sites suggest that other churches may have dotted the main streets of Cambridge in the early eleventh century, but the building of St Bene’t’s around 1020 was a distinct effort. The tower, still standing today, was part of a stone church the same length and roughly half the width of the present church. Remnants of the original stone walls remain in the east wall of the chancel, in the corners of the nave, and elsewhere.
Domesday Book
Tower Arch Detail
Rhenish helm, Sompting. Photo by Stephen: Pictures of England
As a substantial and costly build, the original shape of St Bene’t’s testifies to the wealth of Cambridge in the eleventh century and to architectural and cultural ambitions in the town. Later in the same century, the Domesday book recorded wealth in Cambridge on a scale rivalled only by London, Bristol, Norwich, and York.
The tower exhibits typical Anglo-Saxon features, such as long and short stonework, paired belfry openings, and a distinctive arch with double hood moulding and decorative beasts. Architectural historians have theorised that the tower originally possessed a Rhenish helm, making it significantly taller than it is today. From the beginning, it is likely to have housed bells for ringing out services and festivals, already a notable and cherished English custom.