Leper Chapel, Cambridge

The Leper Chapel stands on the east side of Cambridge, just off Newmarket Road near Barnwell Junction. Built around 1125, it was part of a leper hospital outside the city on the Bury St Edmunds road. The east wall remains from the original structure, while most of the chapel was rebuilt in the 13th century with Romanesque features. In 1199, King John granted it permission to hold a three-day fair to fund the lepers. The fair later moved to Stourbridge Common behind the chapel, growing into Europe’s largest medieval fair. The fair’s success made the chapel’s priest one of England’s richest church posts. By 1279, lepers were moved to Ely, and the chapel no longer needed to hold services. After being closed in 1546, it served as a storage shed for fair stalls and even as a pub in the 18th century. Thomas Kerrich restored it in 1816 and gave it to the University, which later passed it to the Cambridge Preservation Society in 1951. The chapel is now a Grade I listed building cared for by Cambridge Past, Present and Future. Visitors find a small but historic chapel with original Romanesque details. It hosts cultural events, dramatic performances, and Shakespeare productions by the local theatre group In Situ. The Friends of the Leper Chapel promote its use for education and worship. Stourbridge Common behind it still hosts the revived annual fair. Nearby lie Barnwell Priory ruins and St Bene’t’s Church, making the area rich in medieval history.