St Edward King and Martyr
A hidden Grade II* church by the Guildhall, sometimes called the Cradle of the Reformation.
St Edward King and Martyr is tucked away on Peas Hill beside the Cambridge Guildhall, reached by a Y-shaped pedestrian alley, St Edward's Passage, that wraps around three sides of its tiny churchyard. It is Grade II* listed. The dedication is to Edward the Martyr, who reigned as king from 975 and was murdered in 978.
The Cradle of the Reformation
The Cambridge Reformation story runs through here. In the 1520s a group of evangelicals led by Thomas Bilney met to discuss the preaching of Martin Luther and Erasmus's New Testament. At the Christmas Eve midnight Mass of 1525, a member of the group, Robert Barnes, delivered what is believed to be the first openly evangelical sermon in an English church. Over the next decade the Oxford martyr Hugh Latimer was a regular preacher until he left Cambridge in 1531. The church held two public lectures to mark the 500th anniversary of Barnes's sermon.
The building
The present church dates from the 13th century on the supposed site of an Anglo-Saxon one, and it was rebuilt around 1400, giving the present chancel and nave arches. The arch at the base of the tower is older. After Henry VI cleared land for King's College and the church of St John Zachary was demolished, the living of St Edward's was given to Trinity Hall in 1445, and two 15th-century side chapels were added, the north one used by Trinity Hall and the south by Clare. George Gilbert Scott designed the east window during restoration in 1858-60. The theologian F. D. Maurice served as its chaplain in 1870-72.
In the 1930s the church became popular with students, who nicknamed it "Teddy's".
Practical notes
The church's website lists Holy Communion on Fridays at 10:30 (a traditional prayer-book service) and on Sundays at 11:00, and says all are welcome. Check its notices for the week.
Nearby
Within a few minutes' walk
