Church Of St Clement

Church of St Clement, Cambridge

A parish church with origins in the late 12th century, probably rebuilt in the early 13th century when both the nave arcades and chancel arch were constructed. The wide eastern bays suggest the presence of earlier transepts. These bays were rebuilt in the early 14th century. At some point the remainder of the arcades were raised and the arches reset, probably in the early 16th century when the first pier on each side was rebuilt, a clerestory was added, and the aisles were widened. A date of 1538 in the north aisle roof likely dates this work. A 15th-century north chancel chapel, accessed through what is now a blocked arch in the east end of the north aisle, was demolished in the post-Reformation period, probably when the chancel was rebuilt in 1726. The west wall was taken down and a west tower built inside the nave in 1821 to designs by Charles Humphrey. The church underwent restoration in 1843 and 1863. A north vestry was added in 1866, and a spire on the tower was removed in 1928.

The building is constructed of rubble with some brick and stone dressings in the nave and aisles, with a brick chancel and a cement-rendered tower. The roofs are of tile, slate, and lead. The plan comprises a chancel with north vestry, a nave with north and south aisles, and a west tower within the western bay of the nave.

The exterior is dominated by the early 19th-century tower in thin Commissioner's Gothic style. The nave and aisles externally date entirely to the early 16th century, while the brick chancel is distinctly 18th century. There is a distinctive mix of building materials and blocked openings in the pre-19th-century work.

Above the nave roof, the tower is square with chamfered corners and an embattled parapet with pinnacles. The tall west window displays elongated Perpendicular-style tracery, and the west door has a broad Tudor-arched opening. Above this is a punning plaque reading "Deum Cole," commemorating the benefaction of Reverend William Cole. The tower replaced a 15th-century west window and a timber belfry in the churchyard. In typical Commissioner's style, the west wall of the tower is almost flush with the west ends of the aisles, both of which have early 16th-century three-light windows. Similar windows appear in the aisle walls and nave clerestory. Both nave and aisles have plain parapets. The south aisle east window is blocked and shows remains of both an early 16th-century window and a smaller early 19th-century window that replaced it before the whole was blocked in the later 19th century. A blocked 16th-century door exists in the west end of the north aisle. The south door is 13th century, reset in the 16th century and given a 16th-century door, then restored by Ambrose Poynter in 1843. A buttress against the east wall of the south aisle is probably the remains of a transept demolished when the aisle was rebuilt. A 15th-century buttress at the northwest corner of the vestry is presumably the remains of the former north chapel.

The brick chancel, added in the early 18th century, has no east window. The north and south chancel windows have stone dressings and comprise two rounded lights in a square frame in a Gothic Survival style. Some bricks in the northeast angle carry carved initials, possibly of 18th-century bricklayers.

The interior is high with tall arcades and a large clerestory, but very dark towards the east as there are no east windows in the chancel or aisles. The west end is dominated by the west tower, which projects into the nave and contains an internal west gallery.

The 13th-century chancel arch was repaired in the 18th century when the chancel was rebuilt. It has a chamfered inner order with 18th-century capitals. The north and south chancel windows were refashioned in the 19th century to appear as narrow lancets internally.

The five-bay north and south nave arcades are tall and multi-phase. The four western bays are 13th century in origin, with arches of two chamfered orders on polygonal piers with moulded capitals and bases. The east bays were built in the early 14th century and probably replace older transept arches. The first pier on each side was rebuilt in the early 16th century, at which time both arcades were raised, reusing the existing arches.

The north aisle roof has carved and inscribed wall plates dated 1538, reset on the south side. The flat, plastered nave roof is probably early 19th century. The boarded chancel ceiling has 19th-century painted decoration.

The church was refurnished in the 19th century. The most notable feature is the decoration of the chancel, which includes a large painting of Christ in Majesty surrounded by saints and angels on the chancel east wall, and the chancel ceiling is stenciled with decorative patterns. There is also a 19th-century timber pulpit with blind tracery panels, a delicate late 19th- or early 20th-century iron screen closing the sanctuary, and an early 20th-century timber screen in classical style closing off part of the south aisle. The octagonal font is 15th century with carved heads on the underside of the bowl. A partial medieval piscina exists in the north aisle east wall. The church contains several good monuments, including brasses for Alan Hoberd (died 1432) and Phoebe Withnoll (died 1658), and several good 18th- and early 19th-century wall tablets including one for Reverend William Cole, the noted Cambridgeshire antiquary (died 1782), who left money for rebuilding the tower.

The churchyard contains a number of good 17th- and 18th-century monuments, including several 17th-century slabs and some 18th-century table tombs.

The dedication to St Clement may suggest pre-Conquest, Danish origins. The name also carries seafaring associations, appropriate for a church near the quay area. The earliest fabric dates to the late 12th century, though the church is first mentioned in documentary sources in the early 13th century. Around 1218 it was given to St Radegund's nunnery, and revenues from St Clement's were used to provide clothing for the nuns. At least two guilds and two chantries existed in the church during the Middle Ages. The rebuilding in the 1530s, datable by the roof beam of 1538, occurred right on the eve of the Reformation, even as significant religious changes were beginning. At the Reformation, St Clement's passed to Jesus College along with the rest of St Radegund's property. The church was apparently in poor repair in the 17th century, and the chancel was rebuilt in 1726. In 1742, antiquary Reverend William Cole of Milton described it as "the lightest and most airy church and in the best repair that I ever saw for an old one." The west tower was built in 1821 using a bequest from Cole, who is commemorated by the punning inscription "Deum Cole" (from "Deum cole, regem serva": worship God, serve the king) on a plaque on the tower. The church underwent extensive restoration in the 19th century, and from the late 20th century has shared its space with a Greek Orthodox congregation.