Church of St Mary the Virgin

The Church of St Mary the Virgin stands in the quiet village of Gamlingay in Cambridgeshire. Built mainly in the 13th century, it was enlarged and remodelled in the 14th and 15th centuries. Nikolaus Pevsner called it the most impressive church in that part of the county. The tower contains eight bells, and the nave arcades and chancel remain from the 13th century. The church is built in Early English style with fieldstones and local ironstone. The building shows work by Merton College, Oxford, which paid for repairs in 1442–43. Walter Taylard, the college’s steward, paid for remodelling of the North transeptal chapel in the 15th century. The guilds of the Blessed Trinity and Gamlingay Guild remodelled the South transept chapel between 1460 and 1490. Bishop John Alcock consecrated two altars in 1490, marking the likely end of these changes. Inside, the rood screen has medieval paint traces in red, green, cream and gold. The chancel roof rests on eight 15th-century corbels carved as half angels. The nave has a squint to the chancel, and the North aisle contains a 13th-century tomb recess fragment. Outside, a medieval preaching cross once stood in the churchyard before it was destroyed in 1643. The churchyard also holds the remains of a medieval cross and several stone coffin lids.