Cambridge - Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Our schedule in Cambridge fell victim to a series of heavy downpours, for which we were not at all prepared. As soon as we left Cambridge, the weather improved

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre ( aka "The Round Church") was built around 1130, inspired by the rotunda in the church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem. It was built by the Fraternity of the Holy Sepulchre. It consisted of a round nave and an ambulatory, with a short chancel, probably in the shape of an apse. By the middle of the 13th century it had become a parish church under the patronage of Barnwell Priory. Around this time structural alterations were made to the church, with the rebuilding of the chancel and the addition of a north aisle. During the 15th century the Norman style windows in the nave were replaced by larger Gothic style windows. A polygonal bell-storey was built over the nave.

In 1643, during the Civil War, many of the "idolatrous" images were destroyed. By the 19th century the church was in a poor state of repair. Part of the ambulatory collapsed in 1841, and the Cambridge Camden Society offered to carry out repairs.