Parish Church Of St Peter South West Of Babraham Hall

A parish church of mixed medieval periods, sited on the north-west side of Babraham High Street. The building comprises a west tower dating from around 1200, with a chancel added in the early 13th century. The nave and north and south aisles were constructed in the mid-15th century, as was the south porch. The clerestory and north porch date from the 16th century. The tower underwent restoration in the early 17th century, when its east wall was enclosed and two buttresses were built projecting into the nave. Further restorations occurred in 1770–1774, including the rebuilding of the nave roof by Robert Jones, and again in the late 19th century, possibly under J.T. Michlethwaite's direction, with north aisle windows dated 1899.

The walls are constructed of flint rubble with clunch and Barnack limestone dressings. The roofs are slate, with the chancel roof pantiled.

The south elevation displays a three-stage west tower without buttresses, featuring clunch bands, limestone quoins and an embattled parapet. The belfry contains one quatrefoil-light window and one two-light window. Four two-light clerestory windows with square-headed labels sit above. The south aisle has 19th-century panelled buttresses and three restored three-light windows. The south porch, largely rebuilt, preserves a mid-15th-century two-centred arch with semi-octagonal responds. The chancel, unbuttressed, has a west window of two transomed trefoiled lights with quatrefoil in plate tracery within a two-centred arch; the east window, restored, is 15th century with three cinque-foiled lights. Blocked lancet windows remain visible in the east and north walls. A priest's doorway with a chamfered two-centred arch sits between the windows.

Internally, the nave arcades consist of four bays of mid-15th-century date, with two-centred arches of two orders; the outer order features continuous double ogee moulding on semi-octagonal responds with moulded capitals and bases. The chancel arch, mid to late 13th century, has two chamfered orders with moulded labels on both sides, supported on semi-octagonal responds with moulded capitals and abaci that continue into the side walls. The west wall of the chancel contains a large trefoiled 13th-century niche with shafted capitals. Mutilated sedilia and piscina are visible. Hinges for shutters survive on the south window. An aumbry in the north wall is divided into two compartments.

The reredos consists of bolection-moulded panelling with cornice and pediment, decorated with angel heads over the side panels and a cartouche in the pediment bearing the painted inscription 'Dua Juditha Levini Benet Bar Vidva una cum Juditha utrius filia Deco et Ecclesiae obtulere 1700'. The panels are painted with the Creed, Commandments and Lord's Prayer, with quotations in small panels above.

The octagonal font, dating from around 1200, rests on an octagonal pedestal with chamfered base and is accompanied by a font cover with crocketed ribs and moulded flat-topped finial. The church retains mid-15th-century pews, a pulpit and a two-decker reading desk. Fragments of 14th-century glass survive in the north window of the chancel, whilst the east window contains modern memorial glass by John Piper.

The church contains numerous monuments. In the chancel is a table tomb with black marble slab inscribed to Thomas Feltham (1631). Wall monuments include a white marble tablet with urn and drapery to Katharine Judith, wife of Henry John Adeane (1825), a white marble pedimented tablet to Robert Jones Adeane and his wife (1823, 1842), and a neo-gothic monument inscribed to General James Whorwood Adeane of Babraham and Chalgrove (1802) and his wife Anne (1832).

The south aisle contains a table tomb by J. Bushnell (died 1701), constructed of black and white marble with an inscribed front panel reading 'Here lie buried Richard and Thomas Benet two brothers and both of them Baronetts. They lived together and were brought up together at Schoole, at the university and at Inns of Court. They married two sisters the Daughters and Heirs of Levinus Munch Esq. 1658, 1667'. The tomb bears two life-size figures with a circular plaque in a wreath between them, backed by full-height black marble drapery. Wall monuments in the south aisle include a white marble plaque flanked by Corinthian columns with flowered apron and two putti supporting a cartouche, inscribed to Judith Benet (1713), and a white marble tablet to John Henry Adeane and his wife (1847, 1850). A 20th-century tablet commemorates John Hallier, Vicar of Babraham, who was burnt in Cambridge during the Marian persecution in 1556.

A floor slab in the chancel is inscribed to Gulielmus Cole (died 11 January 1734, aged 63), father of William Cole. Four hatchments bearing the Adeane arms are displayed in the north and south aisles. A brass indent for a small figure of 15th-century date survives, as does a broken fragment of coffin with a raised cross in the south porch.