Great St Mary’s Church

Great St Mary’s Church

Highlights: Climb the tower’s 123 steps for panoramic views of the city. Great St Mary’s is most famous for its bells. If you’re lucky, you might catch the Cambridge University Guild of Change Ringers performing a full peal. The chimes of the UK’s most iconic Big Ben were modeled after those of Great St Mary’s. Introduction: Great St Mary’s Church was rebuilt on the site of an older church after 1478. The church is grand in scale, featuring exceptionally high arcades and vertically proportioned windows. As a university church, it served early on as the parish church for Cambridge. Until the construction of the Old Schools in the 15th century, the college’s master and fellows held their meetings here, and the university stored its records in the church, making it effectively the center of governance at the time. Debates, degree ceremonies, and other university events continued to be held here until 1730. Great St Mary’s is one of the few churches in the UK with a movable pulpit, which can be slid along its track into the main chancel. Transportation: Located in the heart of central Cambridge, at the end of King’s Parade where it meets Trinity Street. The church backs onto the market square, opposite the Senate House and the Cambridge University Music Faculty, with King’s College diagonally across the way. Admission/Opening Hours: £2 to climb the tower.

Cambridge, UK