Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin

Details

TL 5646 LINTON CHURCH LANE (East Side)

16/91 Parish Church of 22.11.67 St Mary the Virgin GV I

Parish church. South aisle c,1200 part of a larger cruciform church rebuilt c,1300 and later. Chancel c.1300 and north nave arcade. West tower early C14 reducing length of earlier nave by c.7 feet with arcade remains in south face. Paris chapel late C15 added on south side of chancel, and north chapel c.1500 formerly known as the Millicent chapel now housing the organ. Aisle walls rebuilt and clerestory added c.1500 or later, blocking the earlier clerestory windows and uncovered in C19 above south arcade. Restoration work includes rebuilding of south arcade by removal of large pier (possibly of the original crossing), in 1870. Gallery, pews and three-decker pulpit removed 1872. Nave and aisle reroofed 1883-8, 1927 by Fawcett and 1936, 1891 tower strengthened and 1910 plaster removed from walls. (A spire is illustrated in Millicents map of Linton c.1600). Walls of flint rubble with dressings of clunch and limestone. Roofs of lead and red plain tiles. South elevation: Tower of three stages with moulded strings and plinth continuous around angle buttresses. Embattled parapet, lancet-light and asymmetric gargoyle. Embattled nave and aisle parapets, four cinquefoil three-light clerestory windows with drip moulds and four-centred arches, and five similar but larger aisle and chapel windows. Buttresses of two stages divide aisle bays. South porch restored with embattled parapet and two-centred arch to opening. Chancel without buttresses and cinquefoil three-light window with inset priest's door. Sundial in aisle parapet, C18 and two on buttress medieval and later. Interior: Nave, south arcade of five and a half bays with two-centred arches of two moulded orders with alternate round and octagonal piers with moulded capitals and restored bases, the two eastern most arches are C19 replacing an original pier, above the arcade are three c.1200 clerestory windows, circular and quatrefoil. North arcade of three bays with two-centred arches of two chamfered orders with quatrefoil piers and responds with moulded caps and modern bases. South doorway restored with moulded jambs and two-centred head. Chancel arch of two chamfered orders on triple shafted responds with moulded caps and modern bases; wide four-centred arched north wall opening to Millicent chapel with moulded caps and bases; vestry door C15 or C16 with patterned hinges; western half of south wall a two bay arcade to the Paris chapel. C17 panelling to north wall and vestry. Modern gothic-style reredos with some C15 tracery. Tower arch two-centred of three continuous orders. Belfry doorway with a C14 caernavon arch. Chancel roof C14, braced collar rafter type. Nave roof C15 of four bays, embattled cornice and tiebeam braced with carved braces to wall posts with octagonal pilasters on carved stone corbels, moulded principal rafters and cusped posts above tiebeam. Font, C14 octagonal bowl on shafted stem with late C15 or early C16 font cover crocketed at the corners. Pulpit with some C15 tracery. Monuments. In chancel to Mary Fisher and others 1807; in south chapel limestone floor slab defaced C17 or C18, black marble floor slab to Magdeline Paris 1650, monument of clunch and black marble with apron swags and deaths head and pediment with cartouche of arms surmounted by an urn to Timothy Bedford, Fellow of Trinity College 1691; south aisle large monument in white and grey marble of an obelisk and urn flanked by two figures standing on a bow fronted pedestal with an inscription panel to Eliz wife of Thos Bacon of Catley Park and her brother Peter Standley of Paxton Place Hunts. 1726, 1780, signed J. Wilton Scuplt 1782, nearby small floor slab of black marble inscribed 'Here under are interred the remains of Elizabeth Bacon and Peter Standley Esqr'. North chapel to east wall large monument of painted clunch with inset marble panels of two stages and embellished with architectural detail, to John Millicent and Alice his wife and others 1655, white marble composition with cartouche of arms to Charles Wright, Dr of Theology and Professor of Arabic at Cambridge University with no date, white marble slab to Elizabeth Owen 1805, grey marble to Edward Chapman 1695. North aisle white marble tablet with urn to Sarah Lonsdale 1806, Grecian composition to Robert Millicent 1740 and Rev. Christopher Lonsdale 1785, wall monument of marble of three colours, gilded with swag cartouche and two cherubs to Robert Flack 1704 and Anne his wife 1705, similar monument surmounted by a bust to Susanne Green 1693, and another similar monument to George Flack with no date. Wall monument in tower of white marble with oval in border of swags and cherubs with cartouche of arms to John Lone 1700 and his wife 1702, similar monument to John Line 1702. South aisle monuments, marble tablet in Grecian style signed by Westmacott London, to Elizabeth Owen 1803. Monument brass Henry Paris 1427 figure in armour, Sir John Millicent 1577 and his wife. Glass C15 or C16 reset in west window of south wall of south aisle.

R.C.H.M. Report 1951 V.C,fl. Vol. VI, p Fawcett. Linton Church P.C.A.S. Vol. VII, Church Warden Accounts, 1884-1928 Palmer, W.M. Linton Church, 1909 Pevsner. Buildings of England, p424 Cole, W. Notes on Monuments, 1742

Listing NGR: TL5618746676

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

51904

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Salzman, L F, The Victoria History of the County of Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely, (1978)
Palmer, W M, Linton Church, (1909)
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Cambridgeshire, (1970), 424
Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society in Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, Vol. 7, (1928)

Other
Cole, W , Notes on Monuments St Mary the Virgin Linton, 1742,
Reports on Buildings in the Parishes of Babraham Great Abington Hildersham Linton Little Abington and Pampisford Cambridgeshire, (1951)

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.

Print the official list entry