View source for Church of St Andrew the Great, Cambridge

{{Infobox church
|name=St Andrew the Great
|full name=Church of St Andrew the Great
|county=Cambridgeshire
|picture=Church Of St Andrew The Great.jpg
|picture caption=
|os grid ref=TL45085843
|latitude=52.205
|longitude=0.1217
|church=Church of England
|diocese=Ely
|built=
|architect=
|style=
|website=[https://www.stag.org/ stag.org]
}}
'''St Andrew the Great''' is a [[Church of England]] parish church in central [[Cambridge]]. Rebuilt in late Gothic style in 1843, it is a Grade II listed building. The congregation includes Cambridge residents, overseas visitors and students.

==History==
[[File:Cambridge, St Andrew the Great - geograph.org.uk - 626188.jpg|left|thumb|200px|The church from St Andrew's Street]]
A church on the site of St Andrew the Great is first mentioned by name in 1200, and is possibly recorded in the [[Domesday Book]] of 1086. Little is known of the first building, which was probably a wooden structure, and was replaced with a more substantial stone building in the early 13th century, which was given to the Diocese of Ely in 1225-1228 by Absolom, the then rector. During the 16th century the church was a centre of Reformation preaching, with William Perkins serving as "lecturer" from 1585 until his death in 1602,<ref>Ferguson, Sinclair (1996), "Foreword", The Art of Prophesying, Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh. {{ISBN|0851516890}}.</ref> when he was succeeded by Paul Baynes and Ralph Cudworth.

By 1650 the mediæval church building was in a poor state, and it was suggested that the parish be merged with that of [[Holy Trinity Church, Cambridge|Holy Trinity]]; it was however rebuilt largely at the expense of Christopher Rose (twice Mayor of Cambridge, in 1637 and 1654). Thomas Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1694, was curate of St Andrew's from 1662, where he set an example by his devoted attention to sufferers of the plague.<ref>{{CCEd |type=person |id=20476 |name=Tenison, Thomas (1660 - 1695) |accessed=13 January 2018}}</ref> Temple Chevallier, the theologian and astronomer, was curate and then vicar from 1822 until 1835.<ref>{{CCEd |type=person |id=6632 |name=Chevallier, Temple (1819 - 1835) |accessed=13 January 2018}}</ref>

To accommodate a growing congregation, the church was entirely rebuilt in 1842–3 in a 15th-century East Anglian style by the architect Ambrose Poynter.<ref>Bradley, Simon. "Poynter, Ambrose". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press.</ref> It was rebuilt with a nave of five bays with side aisles and a west tower of four stages; the south porch and vestries were added later in the 19th century. It does however retain elements of the earlier structure including early 12th-century double capitals in the heating chamber and some wall memorials, notably that of Captain James Cook and his family.<ref>{{NHLE|1331889|Church of St Andrew the Great|grade=@}}</ref>

==The Cook memorial==
[[File:Memorial tablet – Captain James Cook and his family, Church of St Andrew the Great, Cambridge.jpg|right|thumb|170px|The Cook memorial]]
The church building contains a number of memorial tablets, most notably one of the explorer Captain James Cook and family. The memorial records Captain Cook, his wife Elizabeth, and their six children. Elizabeth died in 1835, aged 93, and was predeceased by all of her children; she is buried in the church alongside two of her sons, James and Hugh. She left a bequest to pay the minister, support five poor aged women of the parish and to maintain the monument.<ref>{{cite web|title=St Andrew the Great Church, Cambridge|url=http://www.captaincooksociety.com/home/detail/st-andrew-the-great-church-cambridge|website=Captain Cook Society|accessdate=13 August 2017}}</ref>  The 'Charity of Mrs Elizabeth Cook', set up under her will, was registered<ref>{{charity|238280|Charity of Mrs Elizabeth Cook}}</ref> until 2021 when assets were transferred to the parochial church council.

==Recent history==
St Andrew's was declared redundant in 1984<ref>[http://www.stag.org/Groups/227235/Our_History_and.aspx History of St Andrew the Great]</ref> as the parish population had dwindled. However, the congregation of the nearby [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Cambridge|Holy Sepulchre Church]] ('the Round Church'), was looking for a new home as growth of the congregation had led them to run out of space. They raised the money to renovate St Andrew's, installing a new gallery, baptistry and rooms, and moved there in 1994. The parish associated with the church is now called Holy Sepulchre with All Saints. The Round Church is still used occasionally and is leased to Christian Heritage for exhibition and training courses.

==Present day==
The church is open for public services every Sunday: 10am, 11.45am (during University term time) and 5pm. Services are about an hour in length, with a strong emphasis on Bible teaching. There are six age-banded Sunday school groups for children and evening meetings for undergraduates (Tuesdays), 20s-30s (Wednesdays), internationals (Thursdays), and teenagers (Fridays and Sundays).<ref>[http://stag.org/Groups/225810/Sunday_Services.aspx St Andrew the Great website]</ref>

==Outside links==
*[http://www.stag.org/ Church of St Andrew The Great]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cambridge, Andrew the Great, Saint}}