St Bene't's is an Anglican church in central Cambridge

Cambridge

The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, noted for its Anglo-Saxon

Anglo-Saxon architecture

Anglo-Saxon architecture was a period in the history of architecture in England, and parts of Wales, from the mid-5th century until the Norman Conquest of 1066. Anglo-Saxon secular buildings in Britain were generally simple, constructed mainly using timber with thatch for roofing...

 tower. The church is on the south side of Bene't Street

Bene't Street

Bene't Street is a short but historic street in central Cambridge, England. There is a junction with King's Parade to the north and Trumpington Street to the south at the western end of the street. Free School Lane leads off to the south. To the east, the street continues as Wheeler Street.The...

 adjacent to Corpus Christi College

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

Corpus Christi College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is notable as the only college founded by Cambridge townspeople: it was established in 1352 by the Guilds of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary...

. Bene't is a contraction

Contraction (grammar)

A contraction is a shortened version of the written and spoken forms of a word, syllable, or word group, created by omission of internal letters....

 of Benedict, hence the unusual apostrophe in the name. The church is the oldest standing building in Cambridge.

History

The Anglo-Saxon tower of St Bene't was built sometime between 1000–1050AD. The nave arcades and roof are Perpendicular and much of the rest of the church was rebuilt in Victorian times

Victorian architecture

The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...

.

Location

The main site of Corpus College is also located on the south side of Bene't Street. St Bene't's served as the college chapel until 1579 and the college remains the patron.

The Eagle pub is on the north side of the street opposite the church. It was here in 1953 that Francis Crick

Francis Crick

Francis Harry Compton Crick OM FRS was an English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist, and most noted for being one of two co-discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule in 1953, together with James D. Watson...

 announced that he and James Watson

James D. Watson

James Dewey Watson is an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist, best known as one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA in 1953 with Francis Crick...

 had discovered the structure of DNA

DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...

.

Personnel

Michael Ramsey

Michael Ramsey

Arthur Michael Ramsey, Baron Ramsey of Canterbury PC was the 100th Archbishop of Canterbury. He was appointed on 31 May 1961 and was in office from June 1961 to 1974.-Career:...

, who became Archbishop of Canterbury, was Vicar in 1938. Brothers of the Society of Saint Francis

Society of Saint Francis

The Society of Saint Francis is a Franciscan religious order within the Anglican Communion.The Society of Saint Francis comprises: The Brothers of the First Order; The Sisters of the First Order; The Sisters of the Second Order; The Brothers and Sisters of the Third Order...

 (among them Reginald Fisher) served at St Bene't's from 1945 until 2005. The present Vicar, The Revd Angela Tilby

Angela Tilby

Angela Tilby is an author and Anglican priest, who works in Cambridge. She has made fairly regular appearances on television and radio, including "Thought for the Day" on BBC Radio Four. She has also appeared on The Brains Trust, when the programme was presented by Joan Bakewell...

 is a regular contributor to BBC's Thought for the Day

Thought for the Day

Thought for the Day is a daily scripted slot on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 offering "reflections from a faith perspective on issues and people in the news", broadcast at around 7.45 each Monday to Saturday morning...

.

Fabian Stedman

Fabian Stedman

Fabian Stedman was a leading figure in campanology and bell-ringing. His two books Tintinnalogia and Campanalogia are the first two publications on the subject, and introduce the idea of change ringing.Early LifeFabian Stedman was the second son to Reverend Francis Stedman...

 (1640-1713), a leading figure in the history of bell-ringing was clerk of the parish in the mid 17th century.

See also

• Leper Chapel of St Mary Magdalene
  Leper Chapel, Cambridge
  The Leper Chapel in Cambridge, also currently known as the Leper Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene, lies on the east side of Cambridge, England, off Newmarket Road just after crossing over the railway line at Barnwell Junction...
  
  , dating from 1125
• School of Pythagoras
  School of Pythagoras
  The School of Pythagoras is the oldest building in St John's College, Cambridge, and the oldest secular building in Cambridge, England. To the north is Northampton Street....
  
  , the oldest secular building in Cambridge, dating from around 1200