Church of St Mary is a Grade II* listed building in the South Cambridgeshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 22 November 1967. Church.

Church of St Mary

WRENN ID
silver-plaster-mallow
Grade
II*
Local Planning Authority
South Cambridgeshire
Constituency
St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire MP: Ian Sollom (LD)
Country
England
Date first listed
22 November 1967
Type
Church
Address
Church of St Mary, School Lane, Longstowe
OS grid reference
TL 310 554
Coordinates
52.18157, -0.08446
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Church of St Mary is a parish church that dates from the 14th to 15th centuries, with a rebuild of the nave, chancel, south porch, and vestry completed in 1864-65 under the supervision of W M Fawcett. The building is constructed from carstone, limestone rubble, and fieldstone, featuring some limestone and clunch dressings, and has plain tiled roofs with crested ridge tiles.

The west tower, which is of three stages, has embattled parapets on a plinth and is supported by four-stage diagonal buttressing. The restored windows include a west window with three cinquefoil lights set in a four-centred arch. The bell stage has two cinquefoil openings of clunch in a four-centred arch. The nave, made of fieldstone with Ketton limestone dressings, features two-light windows with quatrefoils in two-centred arches. The gabled south porch has a two-centred outer arch that is moulded and supported by two engaged shafts with stiff-leaf foliage capitals.

The chancel has three lancet windows on the south wall and three graduated lancets in the east window. Inside, there is a two-centred tower arch of two orders, with a wave-moulded outer order and an ogee-moulded inner order on engaged shafts with moulded capitals and bases. The nave has patterned brickwork and a crown post roof in three bays.

The north chapel, added in 1863-64, contains a reset wall monument of Sir Ralph Bovey from 1679, featuring a white marble semi-domed niche with enriched scrolls on a gadrooned shelf, flanked by winged cherubs and a cartouche. In the recess, there is a half-effigy of the deceased rising from the sea and reaching for a wooden anchor offered by a hand from the clouds. Additionally, there are recumbent effigies of Antony Cage, who died in 1603, and his wife, made of clunch and alabaster, with miniatures of ten children in relief at the base.

Local climate

Church of St Mary sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 690 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 97% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 87% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 33 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 55% of listed buildings. Of these, 15 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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