Great St. Mary's church history

I want to tell you a brief history of Great St. Mary's Church. The article will also be short, I guess, but I think if one is going to visit the church if interesting to have a glimpse of its history.

Great St. Mary's Church is located in King's Parade, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire. The first mention of the church is a record of King John presenting Thomas de Chimeleye to the rectory in 1205. The first church where the current one is placed was built in 1205 and then it was soon destroyed and rebuilt.

It was used as the University Church for ceremonies and big events, but soon they realised, that the church could not deal with so many people because it was not as large as required, so on May sixteenth, 1478, at "forty-five minutes past six pm" a rebuilding of it began. Only the work on the tower started just in 1491. In 1526 the west window was put in place, the belfry was added in 1593, and in 1608 the tower reached its present height. There are 123 stair steps to go up on the towerand it is 114 feet (35 metres) high.

The clock was installed by the University of Cambridge in 1793.

The bells can be seen by people visiting the tower. Four of the bells had been installed in 1515 and one of them in the seventeenth century. The bellringers, the Society of Cambridge Youths, date from 1724 and is the oldest bellringing team in the country.

In 1697, "Father" Smith, the King's Organ-Maker, installed the organbeneath the tower at the west end of the church to be used by the parish and University alike. The "parish organ" was installed in 1892 and in 1991 it was replaced by one designed by Kenneth Jones and Associated.

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